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Smoke billows across Manchester city centre as historic mill goes up in flames

BREAKING NEWS: Neighbouring buildings are being evacuated.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 23rd June 2025

Smoke is billowing across the Manchester skyline this evening after a huge fire has struck the historic Hotspur Press building.

The former mill just off Whitworth Street West has gone up in flames, with smoke seen for miles.

People have been sharing pictures and videos of the blaze from all over the city centre.

The Hotspur Press stands just below the train lines between Manchester Oxford Road and Deansgate train station, meaning that the fire has caused significant travel disruption.

Trains out of Manchester Oxford Road are currently all showing as delayed.

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The building was set to be redeveloped into a student accommodation tower block, with a recent planning application requesting to change the original consented brick cladding to an aluminium façade. A large emergency services response is on the scene.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) told The Manc: “Firefighters are currently tackling a large fire at the derelict Hotspur Press building on Cambridge Street in Manchester. An evacuation of the neighbouring apartment buildings is taking place.

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“The public are advised to stay away from the area while crews continue to tackle the fire.”

A further update from the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service at around 7pm said: “Crews are working hard to tackle the fire at the Hotspur Press building. 20 fire engines from stations across Greater Manchester are at the scene, where three floors of the building are alight. Multiple jets and the air unit are in use to prevent the spread of the fire.

“All floors of the two apartment blocks at 1 Cambridge Street have been evacuated.”

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National Rail has said: “There is a fire next to the track at Manchester Oxford Road, closing all lines at this station. As a result, trains may be cancelled, severely delayed by up to 100 minutes or revised.

“If you are travelling this evening, your train may not run its full route and may terminate / start from a different station.

“Please check before you travel as major disruption is expected to continue until the end of the day.”

As the police cordon has expanded, local businesses have been impacted – Bunny Jackson’s on First Street has been evacuated and is closed.

They shared: “We have had to evacuate due to a fire near by! We’re unsure of when we will be able to reopen. Safety first, folks!”

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Plumes can be seen for miles, with residents in Salford, Hyde, Bolton, and further afield reporting sightings, including some even in Cheshire – fair to say it’s one of, if not the largest, fire in Manchester city centre for some time.

Witnesses have said that crowds are now being cleared from the area due to a risk of asbestos.

A witness at the scene told The Manc that a police officer wearing a mask was urging bystanders to exit the vicinity immediately, stating that “smoke is asbestos-contaminated because of the roof.”

If nearby, please keep away and urge others to stay safe.

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

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Government sets out multi-million-pound plan to move UK away from animal testing in science

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A £22m push to ramp up the UK’s move away from animal testing in science is set to bring together cutting-edge tech and research. 

The latest figures show there were 2.54 million animal testing procedures in Great Britain in 2025, which is down 3.8% on 2024, but with a further update due to be released later this year, the Government is now moving to ‘capitalise’ on that momentum with funding to shift the nation onto alternative testing options.

A dedicated national research hub and nine new high-tech projects are planned to develop ‘better ways’ to test medicines on human biology rather than animals.

According to the Government, this means treatments for conditions like cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could be developed ‘faster’ and ‘more precisely’ to not only help patients but crucially also move science away from traditional animal testing. 

At the heart of the plans is a new Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub – based in Cambridge and backed by £20 million in Government funding, which will work to build and share models of human tissue, grown from NHS patients, to test new treatments.  

The new hub will accelerate the development of testing on ‘organoids’ – tiny, simplified versions of a human gut, tumour or brain, using cells donated by patients.

Because these ‘organoids’ retain crucial features of a patient’s own biology, they will help researchers learn how a real person may respond to a drug and provide additional insights that can complement information that is currently obtained from animals.  

Scientists will then be able to use these cutting-edge techniques in their own labs to work out which medicines are worth pursuing.

Overall, it’s hoped that the move will slash the time it takes to get ‘potentially life-changing’ treatments to market.

Alongside the funding for the new Hub, nine cutting-edge projects aimed at identifying new methods of animal-free scientific testing – from beating heart cells in a dish, to lab-grown human ear models, and AI that predicts how medicines move through the body – are being funded.

Sadly, many of these still rely on testing on dogs and monkeys, as it stands.

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“This marks another significant step forward in the UK’s move away from animal testing in science and research,” commented Science Minister Chris McDonald.

“This is all about backing our world-leading researchers and innovators to improve lives, giving them the tools they need to deliver more effective treatments for horrendous diseases like cancer, while also preventing the need for animal testing wherever possible. 

“It’s also a boost for our life sciences sector, fuelling opportunities for new investment and new jobs, and ensuring Britain is better off.”

Featured Image – Pixnio

News

Elbow get behind campaign to save Jodrell Bank from closure

Danny Jones Danny Jones Elbow and celebs backing

Manc band Elbow are among the latest to get behind the campaign to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from closing permanently.

The Greater Manchester natives famously played a sold-out gig at the important scientific and cultural landmark for a very special live album recording well over a decade ago, and know all too well the site’s national and, indeed, global heritage.

Choosing the Observatory and the rare chance to perform a show in the shadow of the world-renowned James Lovell Telescope, it probably remains one of their most significant standalone UK date ever.

With that in mind, the local lads have been left just as worried by the news of its impending closure as everyone else, and have therefore issued a fresh appeal to help keep it open.

Posting a timely statement on social media, the group wrote: “Jodrell Bank has long been close to elbow’s heart. In 2012, the band played beneath the Lovell Telescope for one of the most memorable shows in our history.

“The recent news that funding for the e-MERLIN radio telescope network is set to end in 2028 puts the future of the scientific work at Jodrell Bank under serious threat. It is a remarkable place, with an extraordinary history, and one that continues to play an important role in science, culture and education.”

In addition to reliving clips and images from the historic live set all the years later, they also pointed people towards their ‘elbow – Live at Jodrell Bank‘ album documentary, which has now been made available online for the very first time as part of wider efforts to raise awareness around the cause.

Directing people to key online resources shared by the institution and astrophysics centre itself following their unfortunate update late last month, the push to not only find the funding but sustain support for the facility continues to ramp up throughout the world of science, arts and industry.

For anyone who somehow missed the news – 2028 being the current deadline handed down as per budget cuts across the sector – concerned parties here in the North West and all over the country have since started petitioning to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from shutting down for good.

Brits start petition to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from closure amid budget cuts
Jodrell Bank won’t go down without a fight.

In addition to being described as a “huge blow” to the field by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), some have even gone so far as to describe the decision as a form of “vandalism” when it comes to research and British culture as a whole.

Having also served as the host venue for the annual bluedot Festival since 2016, the multi-genre science and arts celebration could soon be forced to find a new home.

The battle is far from over yet, and the community has time to rescue Jodrell Bank Observatory from its fate, but it will take lots of money and more notable public figures to make it happen.

Once again, you can do your bit by signing the petition mentioned above right HERE.

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Featured Images — Emma Farrer (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group

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