{"id":443611,"date":"2025-09-22T16:01:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/443611\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T16:01:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:01:16","slug":"historic-pub-to-close-for-new-library-thats-mancs-have-visited-for-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/443611\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic pub to close for ‘new’ library that’s Mancs have visited for decades"},"content":{"rendered":"

The library is around 125 years older than the city’s Central Library(Image: Purcell for The Portico Library via planning documents)<\/p>\n

A historic pub is set to close to make way for a \u2018new\u2019 library \u2014 but it\u2019s one Mancs have enjoyed for centuries.<\/p>\n

The Portico Library first opened on Moseley Street in the city centre back in 1806, around 125 years before the Manchester Central<\/a> Library opened on St Peter\u2019s Square.<\/p>\n

Despite being a trailblazer, the Portico ran into financial difficulties in 1920, and leased out its ground and basement floors. The first floor is still the Portico Library\u2019s reading room and exhibition space.<\/p>\n

To see planning applications; traffic and road diversions and layout changes; and more, visit the Public Notices Portal HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

But there are now plans to \u2018reunite\u2019 the grade-II* listed building so it becomes all-library for the first time in more than a century.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposals seek to transform the historic library into an accessible, sustainable, and dynamic arts, learning and heritage hub for all of Manchester\u2019s residents and visitors,\u201d a planning application said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to achieve this vision, the proposals seek to reunite the ground floor of the building (currently leased out as a pub\/restaurant and formerly a bank) with the historic library which is still housed on the upper floors of the building.<\/p>\n

(Image: Purcell for The Portico Library via planning documents)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn doing so, the proposals seek to bring back into use the historic principal entrance and portico.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the upstairs reading room is set to remain largely unchanged, including its breath-taking skylight, the ground floor will be converted into a cafe, bookshop, and events space. The basement will become toilets.<\/p>\n

Another eye-catching change is a move to wrap the Portico\u2019s middle two outside pillars in \u2018book pages\u2019 to \u2018break down the austerity of the architecture and encourage diversity and inclusion of audiences.\u2019<\/p>\n

(Image: Purcell for The Portico Library via planning documents)<\/p>\n

Although the ground floors were initially leased out to a bank until the 1980s, Nicholson\u2019s opened a pub called \u2018The Bank\u2019 downstairs in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

But The Bank\u2019s days appear to be numbered with the planning bid. It is not known when the pub would close and building work begin if the proposals receive planning permission.<\/p>\n

You can see and comment on the plans until October 13, 2025, online here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The library is around 125 years older than the city’s Central Library(Image: Purcell for The Portico Library via…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,8086,8828,29712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-443611","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-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-city-centre","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-manchester-development","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115248790975220116","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443611","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=443611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}