#manchester

Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, Piccadilly Plaza, 2025

A narrow city street is flanked by modern buildings with glass and concrete façades. At the end, a tall, blocky hotel with the sign “Mercure Hotel” rises over a skybridge and flyovers, under a cloudy, grey sky. The street is empty and wet.
A modern, multi-storey building with Mercure Hotel in red letters on a cantilevered section. The structure has large windows and geometric shapes. Another tall building, City Tower, is visible in the background under a cloudy sky. People walk on the wet street below.

One of my favourite buildings in Manchester, one which I photograph almost every time I pass (dangerously so for my camera roll, given I used to live in the Northern Quarter) – and I’m really happy with how these ones have turned out.

From January 2026, our hotel will be undergoing a full room refurbishment to enhance your stay. Renovations will be carried out in phases, so only a portion of bedrooms will be unavailable at any given time. All other services, including breakfast, dining, and room service, will continue as usual.

Excellent! I keep meaning to stay there. What appear from afar to be slender-framed aluminium windows, though obviously attractive from outside, do not suggest a cosy indoor environment.

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24-36 High Street, Manchester, 2025

A group of people walk past a large, grey, multi-storey building with many windows and graffiti along its lower level. The weather is overcast, and the building appears old and worn, with a red brick structure on the left and street signs visible.
A tall, rectangular brutalist building with dark and light concrete sections stands under a partly cloudy sky. The lower facade is covered in graffiti. A blurred yellow tram passes in the foreground. Other modern buildings are visible to the sides.
A cityscape view shows a blocky, modernist grey building with many windows. Surrounding it are older brick and contemporary buildings. The nearest wall at street level features colourful graffiti. The scene is cloudy with sparse traffic on the roads.

24-36 High Street is a poorly (sic) quality example of utilitarian Brutalist Architecture.

Manchester City Council planning report

Don’t hold back! Today’s rabbit hole is courtesy of Reddit user 3ssar, who commented:

Saw Lana Del Rey’s first ever UK show in (under) there, among others. Always stunk as a venue and had pillars in the middle, blocking the view of the stage

Lana Del Rey’s first UK show! They should be putting a blue plaque on it, not demolishing it in favour of 361 apartments with commercial space on the ground floor 💔

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76 – 80 Deansgate, Manchester, 2025

A city street with modern and older buildings. Visible venues include BE AT ONE bar with black signage, a bright blue restaurant with pink and red details, and other shops. People walk on the pavement. The sky is clear and the road has bollards.

Pinned by manchesterhistory.net as being circa 1930, which feels about right. At least in the main part of the building, the windows appear to have been refurbished, but retain their original charm and slender frames.

The manchesterhistory.net post references historical photos of the building, but the links have broken – here are the updated links for 1938 and 1976.

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