Inside the Manchester landmark left derelict for 40 years – which almost became a Britannia Hotel

At one time it would have been unthinkable that such a magnificent and important part of Manchester’s history would one day be abandoned, in ruins for over 40 years.

London Road Fire Station is an excellent example of Edwardian Baroque architecture. The beautiful terra cotta and red brick building opposite Piccadilly Station has stood at the gateway to the city since its construction was completed in 1906.

Designed by Woodhouse, Willoughby & Langham, the Grade II* listed building also housed a police station, an ambulance station and a coroner’s court. There were also around 40 spacious apartments on site, where firefighters lived with their families in the days when premium accommodation was hard to come by and most ordinary people rented their homes.

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A training tower kept firefighters in shape and in its heyday the station also boasted its own library, stables, bank and gymnasium. During the year of its opening, the Manchester Evening News said of the imposing new building: “The structure is commonly described as the new fire station, but in fact it is much more than that as it includes a bank, a coroner’s court, a gas meter testing department and a police. The department is indeed a most important addition to the municipal equipment of the city, and one, moreover, which has been long needed.”

Upon its completion, the opulence of the station was in stark contrast to the neighborhood of which it was a part. Chorlton-on-Medlock, or ‘Little Ireland’ as it was known due to its huge Irish Catholic population in the early 20th century, was very poor and full of pubs, pawnshops, mills and factories.

But during World War II, the station’s crews faced the most desperate tasks of all. Night after night they were called to put out hundreds of devastating fires caused by German bombing of key commercial and manufacturing centers.

A stray bomb destroyed St Augustine’s Church in nearby York Street and killed the parish priest. At the height of the Blitz, firefighters rescued thousands of people trapped in their homes, performing incredible acts of bravery as crucial as those fighting on the front line.

The area immediately surrounding the fire station also sustained heavy damage, including a direct hit, part of the roof destroyed and several chimneys destroyed. The bravery of the firefighters was recognized when King George VI and the Queen (later the Queen Mother) visited the town.

Some of the post-war tragedies to which the station’s fire crews were called involved a fire included the twin disasters of the China Lane fire in 1977 and the Woolworths Blaze in 1979. Together they claimed 17 lives within a quarter of a mile of Street London.

London Road Fire Station was so important to the smooth running of the city that at one time it would have been unthinkable that the building would one day become redundant. By the end of the war the ambulance station had disappeared, while the police occupying the Whitworth Street side of the building left in the early 1980s.

In the mid-1980s, the station’s fire school, which trained firefighters from around the world, moved to new premises in Thompson Street. And in March 1986, the last firefighter slid down the brass pole and the landmark station building closed its doors for the last time.

The building had been bought by Britannia Hotels Group, which published ambitious plans to turn it into a hotel. But since the coroner’s court closed in June 1998, the London Road site has faced an uncertain future.

Over the next 30 years after Britannia Hotels bought the landmark, a series of complex and frustrating planning applications meant the building sat derelict and decaying for decades. In 2001 the building was placed on English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk Register and while Britannia wanted to turn the building into a hotel, campaign group Friends of London Road Fire Station (FLRS) called for it to be used as community space.

In 2015, the historic Manchester city center building was finally back on the market after years of wrangling between Manchester council and owner Britannia Hotels. In November 2015, the current owners, Allied London, bought the building and announced the full restoration of the landmark to public and private use.

In 2017, councilors gave the green light to plans for a Grade II* listed building converted to host a range of attractions, including a 91-room boutique hotel, offices, apartments, a cinema, luxury spa and bars and restaurants . Although it was initially reported that the facility could open by 2019, work remains ongoing on the site.

New photographs taken of London Road Fire Station offer a fascinating glimpse into the landmark’s past

Recently, photographer Pam Parish was given access and took photos of the ongoing construction to bring the Manchester landmark building back into use. Pam, 54, who is a coroner’s officer in Bolton, told the MEN: “I have always been fascinated by London Road Fire Station. When I was given the opportunity to look around I was delighted – and I was particularly interested in the old Coroner’s Court because of my job.”

As well as vital work to support the construction of the building, Pam’s photographs reveal the surviving ornamental features of the fire station, as well as the old dungeons that formed part of the Whitworth Street Police Station.

The Manchester Evening News has contacted Allied London requesting a progress update on when work on the fire station building is expected to be completed.