| Manchester city centre | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of Manchester city centre from the southwest in 2008 | |
  Manchester city centre Location within Greater Manchester | |
| OS grid reference | SJ839980 |
| • London | 163 mi (262 km) SE |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M1 - M4 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
Manchester city centre is the central business district of the City of Manchester, in North West England. It is variously rendered as central Manchester, the City Centre,[1] or as the 2.2-square-mile (5.7 km2) Manchester Central electoral ward.[2]
Manchester city centre evolved from the civilian vicus of the Roman fort of Mamucium, on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell.[3] It has "traditionally been defined as being within the boundaries of Market Street, the River Irwell, Peter Street and Portland Street, including Piccadilly".[4] It has since been defined as those parts of the city within the Manchester Inner Ring Road,[5] or even the whole area within Manchester Inner Ring Road, thereby encompassing a part of the administratively separate City of Salford,[6] plus an area of Oxford Road to the south.[7] As of 2013, politicians propose to develop and extend the city centre northwards in an arc between Victoria and Piccadilly.[8] Political and economic ties between the city centre and neighbouring Salford and Trafford have strengthened with the shift from town and district centres to metropolitan-level centres in England.[6][9] Manchester city centre is the commercial heart of Greater Manchester,[7][10][11] and together with the adjoining parts of Salford and Trafford, is defined as Greater Manchester's "Regional Centre" for purposes of urban planning and public transport.[7][11][9][12][13]
After the Industrial Revolution, the city centre became the global centre of the cotton trade which encouraged its "splendidly imposing commercial architecture" during the Victorian era,[14] resulting in ornate buildings such as the Royal Exchange and Corn Exchange, which housed the region’s main trading floors for cotton and corn respectively.[15] The Great Northern Warehouse was the docking and transhipment centre which tied the city centre’s road, rail and canal networks together in the late-19th century.[15] The Free Trade Hall remains an icon of manufacturing-minded Victorian Liberalism in Manchester – and was the site of the Peterloo Massacre of 1819.[15] After the decline of the cotton trade and the Manchester Blitz, the city centre suffered an economic decline during the mid-20th century,[16] but the CIS Tower did rank as the tallest building in the UK when completed in 1965.[17] The 1996 Manchester bombing provided the impetus for the redevelopment of the city centre,[18] fostering an upturn in retail, leisure and urban lifestyle in Manchester.[10] The revival of the city centre in the 2000s prompted proposals and construction of skyscrapers above 150 metres (490 ft) in height, of which only the Beetham Tower has been completed as of 2013.[19]
refs
edit- ^ Ordnance Survey. "Source data - 1:25,000 Scale Colour Raster; Grid reference at centre - SJ 837 981 GB Grid". Retrieved 7 November 2008.
- ^ Central (Key Figures), neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. URL accessed March 20, 2007.
- ^ Gregory 2007, pp. 1–3.
- ^ "Manchester City Centre Office Market Report" (PDF). GVA Grimley. Spring 2008. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
- ^ "City Centre Map" (PDF). 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ a b Kellie 2010, pp. 4–5, 243.
- ^ a b c Manchester City Council (11 July 2012). "Manchester's Local Development Framework: Core Strategy Development Plan Document" (PDF). manchester.gov.uk. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
Part of the City Centre is in Salford and both the Regional Centre and Inner Areas cover areas of Manchester, Salford and Trafford... Manchester City Centre is defined as the area inside the Inner Relief Route and extends to the south to encompass the Oxford Road Corridor. The City Centre also extends to Chapel Street, within the administrative boundary of Salford City Council.
{{cite web}}: line feed character in|title=at position 19 (help) - ^ Williams, Jennifer (20 June 2013). "The future's northern: Booming city looks north with plan for 55,000 new homes". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
- ^ a b "Greater Manchester councils plan "unique" town centre investment strategy". localgovernmentexecutive.co.uk. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
- ^ a b Ravetz 2000, p. 50.
- ^ a b Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (August 2009). "Prosperity for all: The Greater Manchester Strategy" (PDF). agma.gov.uk. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
{{cite web}}: line feed character in|title=at position 20 (help) - ^ Manchester City Council (1995), Manchester Unitary Development Plan, p. 105
- ^ TfGM; GMCA (2011). Greater Manchester's third Local Transport Plan 2011/12 – 2015/16 (PDF). Transport for Greater Manchester.
- ^ http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/m_display.php?irn=71&sub=cottonopolis&theme=places&crumb=City%20Centre
- ^ a b c "Industrial heritage in the Manchester region". International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine. 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
- ^ Kellie 2010, p. 26.
- ^ "Green light for high living". BBC News. 27 October 2003. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
- ^ Kellie 2010, pp. 56–61.
- ^ Kellie 2010, pp. 142, 153.
- Ravetz, Joe (2000). City-Region 2020. Earthscan. ISBN 978-1-85383-606-0.
- Kellie, Euan (2010). Rebuilding Manchester. Derby: Derby Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-786-3.