Corn Exchange, Manchester facts for kids
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The Corn Exchange
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| Location | Manchester, England |
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| Address | Exchange Square |
| Opening date | 1903 (redeveloped 2000 and 2015) |
| Architect | Ball & Elce Potts, Son, & Hennings |
| No. of stores and services | 17 |
| Total retail floor area | 141,722 sq ft (13,166.4 m2) |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Website | cornexchangemanchester.co.uk |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name: Former Corn and Produce Exchange | |
| Designated: | 30 March 1973 |
| Reference #: | 1282970 |
The Corn Exchange, Manchester is a cool place in Exchange Square, Manchester, England. Today, it's a popular food court where you can find lots of different restaurants. But it wasn't always like this!
This building used to be a place where people traded corn and other farm goods. It was called the Corn & Produce Exchange. Later, it became a shopping centre known as The Triangle. After a big incident in central Manchester in 1996, the building was fixed up and became a modern shopping spot. In 2014, it was sold and changed again, becoming the awesome food hub it is today. The Corn Exchange is also a very important old building, officially called a grade II listed building.
Contents
A Look Back: The Corn Exchange's Story
How the Building Began
The very first Corn Exchange on this spot was designed by Richard Lane. It was finished in 1837. But as time went on, it became too small for all the trading happening. So, city leaders decided they needed a much bigger building.
The building you see now was designed in a fancy style called Baroque. It was built in two main parts. Different architects worked on each section. The first part was designed by Ball & Elce and built between 1896 and 1899. The second part was designed by Potts, Son, & Hennings and finished between 1899 and 1903.
Changes Over the Years
Trading corn became less common after a tough time for farming in Britain. So, the building wasn't used as much after World War II. In the 1960s and 1970s, even though the inside wasn't busy, the back of the building became home to fun nightclubs. One famous club was Pips, which was a big part of Manchester's music scene. A famous band called Joy Division even played their first show there in 1978!
Some shops on the basement level of the building stayed open during this time. The Corn Exchange was also used briefly by the Royal Exchange Theatre Company in 1976. It even appeared in a TV show called Brideshead Revisited in 1981.
Over time, the inside of the building turned into a large market. It was a popular meeting place for different groups of people. Small shops sold all sorts of things like clothes, jewellery, old treasures, and second-hand records. Most of these shops were temporary stands in the main trading area. There was also a café in the basement.
A New Beginning After a Big Event
In 1996, a serious incident happened in central Manchester. All of the Corn Exchange's windows were broken by the blast. The big glass dome shattered and fell onto the market area below. The building also had damage to its structure and walls. Because of this, all the businesses had to leave. Some moved to new places, but many struggled.
The Corn Exchange was then completely renovated and reopened as The Triangle Shopping Centre. It got this name because of the building's unique shape. In 2005, the owners sold the complex for £67 million.
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In 2012, The Triangle was relaunched as the Corn Exchange, Manchester. There were plans to turn the building into a food court and a hotel. Work began in 2014 to remove the modern parts of the inside. The new food court opened in 2015. An apartment hotel, called Roomzzz Aparthotels, also opened in 2018. It has a reception area on the ground floor and 114 rooms on the upper floors.
