{"id":277752,"date":"2025-07-20T16:08:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T16:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277752\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T16:08:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T16:08:14","slug":"has-the-northern-quarter-changed-as-we-know-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277752\/","title":{"rendered":"Has the Northern Quarter changed as we know it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Quarter now has a skyscraper, and it’s a 100m, 32-storey tall luxury complex with a swimming pool, gym, and public spaces. Soon, an 18-storey tech hub will join the area. Reporter Ethan Davies examines if this heralds the end of NQ as we know it(Image: Joel Goodman)<\/p>\n

The redbrick two-and-three storey bars, shops, and restaurants that make up the Northern Quarter<\/a>\u2019s vibrant Stevenson Square heart have a new neighbour.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a 100 metre tall apartment complex on Port Street, which boasts private residents\u2019 amenities and a public garden featuring a children\u2019s play area.<\/p>\n

Although some of the three-building development will be open to the public, it\u2019s an exclusive place to live: Nik Bremner, director at developer Select Property, said it was being pitched to high-powered executives chasing a taste of city life.<\/p>\n

Asking prices reflect that ambition. A two-bedroom corner flat will set buyers back \u00a3450,000, standard two-beds cost \u00a3380-390,000, and a single bedroom unit is \u00a3310-320,000, depending on the view they enjoy.<\/p>\n

The \u00a3195m One Port Street\u2019s plush amenities include a 20m swimming pool with a sky light, spa pool, \u2018not your standard tick box gym\u2019, and a club room called \u2018Paganini\u2019s\u2019, a nod to an 19th century tavern which stood nearby, itself named after an Italian composer, said Nik Bremner on a tour for the Local Democracy Reporting Service last week (July 10).<\/p>\n

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(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

Although Nik was not \u2018part of the planning proposal\u2019 when the development\u2019s building heights were set at 32, 11, and nine storeys, leading it to be nicknamed \u2018Ancoats\u2019 sundial\u2019 by one councillor, he said the skyscraper size was introduced \u2018presumably [because] you’re trying to build something that will benefit as many people as possible\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaturally with a footprint [of] about 1.2 acres, it’s not massive compared to some sites, so you ultimately need to build up to be able to do that. If we had three comparable sized buildings, we’re probably talking about approximately half of those apartments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although One Port Street will become the Northern Quarter\u2019s first true skyscraper, it is not the first tower in the area.<\/p>\n

At the creative district\u2019s opposite end, the \u2018Shudehill Shard\u2019 prompted an outcry from residents<\/a> and councillors when it was unveiled. Petitions and appeals to stop the 16-storey building\u2019s construction were ultimately unsuccessful, and it was finished in 2021.<\/p>\n

(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

More towers are coming to the Northern Quarter, too. The 18-storey, \u00a377m \u2018upside down\u2019 NXQ \u2018tech hub\u2019 office block got planning permission for a site on Great Ancoats Street in January.<\/a><\/p>\n

But both One Port Street\u2019s intended executive residents and NXQ\u2019s tech tenants are a world away from the typical Northern Quarter inhabitants when the area was making a name for itself.<\/p>\n

In the early-90s, when fewer than 500 people lived in town, the Northern Quarter was in gestation.<\/p>\n

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So when Tony Wilson opened Dry Bar in 1989 and music venue Night & Day opened in 1991<\/a>, they were pioneers on the rugged edge of the city centre. It was in a land of cheap rents, easy parking, and wholesalers, attracting creatives who didn\u2019t mind slumming it.<\/p>\n

It seems, as the Northern Quarter\u2019s stature has grown and grown to being the land where Chanel puts a catwalk down, the clientele calling it home are growing in wealth.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not to say the Northern Quarter\u2019s spirit is going completely.<\/p>\n

Also last week (July 9), the council revealed plans to demolish the early-70s \u2018eyesore\u2019 Church Street car park,<\/a> and replace it with 300 new homes and commercial units.<\/p>\n

(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

So far, so 21st century Manchester city centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What sets Church Street apart is an expectation that four public squares will be included, alongside a \u2018new flexible community and gallery space\u2019, and those commercial spots will include \u2018smaller, more affordable units to ensure local independent businesses can access the neighbourhood\u2019.<\/p>\n

(Image: Manchester City Council)<\/p>\n

That was a deliberate move, council leader Bev Craig told the LDRS on Tuesday (July 15): \u201cWe would not have been embarked on the move that we’ve made, and I always said, as leader of the council really clearly internally, that if we couldn’t get something that played to the heart of the soul of the Northern Quarter, that strengthened it, and that protected it, then we wouldn’t sell or developed the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be clear that anyone that builds there, anyone that moves in there, any hotel that’s there, and moving into the heart of the Northern Quarter, you need to go and have a look at the Northern Quarter at 1 o’clock in the morning and a Saturday night to see if you think it’s the area for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projects like Church Street mean what the Northern Quarter is known for \u2014 a hub of creativity and nightlife, will continue. But undoubtedly, as luxury apartments and tech hubs move in, the kind of people in it will change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Northern Quarter now has a skyscraper, and it’s a 100m, 32-storey tall luxury complex with a swimming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,8829,2465,8086,8828,29712,9158,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-277752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-m-e-n-explore","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-city-centre","14":"tag-manchester-council","15":"tag-manchester-development","16":"tag-northern-quarter","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114886430610257988","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}