Mollie’s Motel has announced the opening date of its hotel and diner in Manchester.
The brand, which promises value-luxe, design-led accommodation, will be opening in the Old Granada Studios next month.
This will be the most ambitious Mollie’s Motel to date, and its first city centre hotel and diner (the first were roadside sites in Oxfordshire and Bristol).
Inside, there’ll be 128 rooms across five floors, ranging from doubles to twins to bunk rooms, with prices starting at an incredibly reasonable £139.
There’ll also be studios and a selection of luxe suites featuring freestanding bathtubs, walk-in wardrobes and Peloton bikes – a new chapter for Mollie’s.
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Also opening in the iconic former TV studio before the end of this year will be Soho House, with the members’ club taking over the top three floors.
Soho House Design has worked on the build of Mollie’s Motel to preserve the modernist facade of Old Granada Studios and make playful nods to the building’s vibrant history.
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Studio IV at Mollie’s Motel in ManchesterStudio IV at Mollie’s Motel in ManchesterA VIP room at Mollie’s Motel ManchesterA VIP room at Mollie’s Motel Manchester
It’s part of St John’s, the neighbourhood that is also home to venues like Caravan, Fenix, The Trading Route and Courts Club, and will have cultural institutions like the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester Opera House and Aviva Studios on the doorstep.
Mollie’s Motel rooms in Manchester will nod to the building’s heritage with dark wood panelling, terrazzo and aged brass finishes, plus rainshowers, super king bed, Dyson Airwraps, GHD straighteners and Cowshed toiletries.
The sixth floor will be home to 23 bedrooms designed specifically for Soho House members, plus an 80sqm private apartment with two bedrooms and an open plan living room with kitchenette.
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On the first floor, guests will have access to a state-of-the-art Soho House gym, with a free weights area, studio space, steam and sauna, plus a balcony with casual seating.
Mollie’s DinerThe green room at Mollie’s Motel ManchesterMollie’s Motel Manchester now has an opening date
As for the diner aspect, Mollie’s Diner will have 110 seats plus private dining for 30, all designed in a mid-century style with classic counter seating and luxe leather banquettes inspired by the interior of a vintage Cadillac.
It continues with Studio IV, an open-plan cocktail bar with live music and entertainment, VIP bar and snug, and an outdoor heated terrace.
Mollie’s Motel will work with local artists to create bespoke artworks for the rooms and public spaces.
Bookings for Mollie’s Motel Manchester are now open HERE.
No trams to run on three major Greater Manchester lines this Easter bank holiday weekend
Emily Sergeant
People are being urged to ‘plan ahead’ as no trams are set to run on three major Greater Manchester Metrolink lines this weekend.
As part of a continuing £150 million investment in the Metrolink network across the region, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has announced that more than 1km of track will be replaced on the Altrincham line, and work will also take place between Trafford Bar and Deansgate-Castlefield to prepare for full track replacement later in the year.
As a result, there will be no trams on the Altrincham, Eccles, and Trafford Park lines this Easter bank holiday weekend all day from Friday 3 to Monday 6 April.
On top of these line closures, there is also set to be disruption across other parts of the network too, as on the East Didsbury and Manchester Airport lines, trams will run to Firswood only, and services on the Rochdale line will terminate at Exchange Square.
To keep people moving over the four-day weekend, replacement buses will run between all the affected stops, TfGM has confirmed.
Anyone using a replacement bus, however, will still need a valid Metrolink ticket or a one-day Bee bus ticket to travel, and customers will be able to use all existing options to buy these, as they will not be able to buy a ticket or pay for the fare on the replacement buses themselves.
No trams will be running on three major Greater Manchester lines this Easter bank holiday weekend / Credit: TfGM
Replacement buses are said to be calling at ‘all affected stops’ along the lines, so customers are being told not to worry about that.
Speaking ahead of the improvement works being carried out this weekend, Ian Davies, who is the Network Director for Metrolink at TfGM, said: “The first main upgrades of the year get under way over the Easter weekend, as our £150m programme to improve our network continues.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to minimise disruption to passengers while we carry out this essential work to ensure our tram network remains reliable, resilient and safe for years to come.”
TfGM has assured that staff will be out and on-hand across the network this weekend, but is urging anyone travelling to plan for their journeys ahead of time to make sure they go as smoothly as possible.
Looking ahead to the rest of the month, no trams will run between Piccadilly Gardens and Ashton-under-Lyne on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 April while the track is repaired, and a further weekend closure for track repairs on the Ashton line will take place on Saturday 25 April and Sunday 26 April.
Find out more and plan ahead on the Bee Network’s dedicated webpage here.
Featured Image – Janus Boye
Travel & Tourism
One of Manchester’s grandest restaurants has finally reopened TWO YEARS after fire
Daisy Jackson
One of the most historic restaurants in Manchester has reopened at last, two years after a fire forced its closure.
Mount Street Dining Room & Bar – which many of us may remember as Mr Cooper’s – stands within the Grade II-listed Midland Hotel.
The grand dining room dates all the way back to 1903, when it opened with the hotel as the Grill Room.
The restaurant was at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution and was frequented by railway travellers, perhaps best-known for hosting a lunch between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce in 1904, who went on to form the world-famous Rolls-Royce brand.
The Midland’s restaurants has gone through several changes in the decades since, undergoing a major £14 million refurb in 2020 to relaunch as Mount Street Dining Room & Bar.
Its interiors are inspired by the hotel’s early 1900s art deco and railway heritage, with a menu that focuses on locally-sourced British produce.
But the restaurant has been shut since early 2024, when a fire damaged the entrance and trellising around its main entrance on Mount Street.
The beautiful bar areaA glimpse of the menu at Mount StreetCocktails and British food
The Midland has finally managed to get the restaurant back open again this month, with a new food and cocktail menus, which aims to offer refined but simple British dining.
Expect dishes like pork and black pudding bonbons, white onion soup with crispy potatoes, smoked British salmon with lemon gel and dill mascarpone, and slow cooked beef daube with confit garlic mash.
Plus desserts such as rice pudding with Anise glazed pearsand Bakewell pudding with cherry syrup.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen inside this beautiful, storied dining room – and it looks just as beautiful as we remember.
Daisy Jackson -
13th November 2025 
