{"id":589978,"date":"2025-11-24T03:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/589978\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T03:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:16:14","slug":"the-failed-manchester-shopping-centre-where-thousands-of-animals-went-to-their-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/589978\/","title":{"rendered":"The failed Manchester shopping centre where thousands of animals went to their deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some, it was ‘a landmark’. For others, a remnant of the city’s industrial past which became obsolete. Either way, it’s got a grizzly historyThe abandoned shopping mall was once a thriving centre for animal slaughter and butchery(Image: Joel Goodman)<\/p>\n

Shortly before 4pm on Thursday (November 20), Manchester council approved a plan to build 498 homes on the \u2018former Riverpark Trading Estate\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sandwiched between Newton<\/a> Heath and The Etihad complex, the industrial estate is better known by another name locally: \u201cThe Abs.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a reference to the 20-sided building once at its heart, purpose built in the sixties but rendered obsolete a little over 30 years later. It was a building which could have formed part of a new shopping centre for east Manchester \u2014 but instead housed GMP\u2019s Commonwealth Games operations and became the backdrop for post-apocalyptic TV and film dramas.<\/p>\n

As a nickname, \u2018The Abs\u2019 masks the complex\u2019s intended purpose. Built by the council in 1968, the building was designed to be Manchester\u2019s \u2018comprehensive\u2019 abattoir, consolidating a network of slaughterhouses into one new facility.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of animals met their end inside these 20 walls. They would arrive, mainly from Ireland, via trains pulling into specially-built railway sidings.<\/p>\n

The sloped channel down which animals deemed unfit for consumption would be passed(Image: Joel Goodman)<\/p>\n

From there, they would descend down a ramp to \u2018block one\u2019, where they would be held before ultimately being killed.<\/p>\n

After the slaughtering stopped in 2000, there was an attempt to convert one of the former meat markets into a shopping centre which never materialised.<\/p>\n

But life went on as the complex became used for TV and film productions, such as Channel 4\u2019s Utopia and Sky\u2019s Cobra, starring Robert Carlyle.<\/p>\n

Day-to-day, it was used as offices and warehousing well into the 2020s. One of the last on-site was Jimmy Mills, who started life as a \u2018slaughterman\u2019 in 1980 before working various jobs, called the \u2018strange building\u2019 a \u2018landmark\u2019 when the Manchester Evening News visited in early 2020.<\/p>\n

The ‘bullring’ centre of The Abs(Image: Joel Goodman)<\/p>\n

He said: “Everyone around here knows ‘the Abs’. It\u2019s iconic.<\/p>\n

“It’s a strange building but that’s what makes it absolutely unique. “I have lots of memories here but thinking back to the days it was ‘the Abs’ is a bit strange really because it was so long ago and such a different time.”<\/p>\n

But The Abs is no more. After its demolition last year<\/a>, Kellen Homes and Great Places housing association now have permission to raze the site and build 498 homes in its place.<\/p>\n

How the Riverpark homes could look(Image: AEW Architects for Great Places)<\/p>\n

More four in 10 of the 277 flats and 221 houses will be available for social rent or via shared ownership, Great Places said, encouraging families from all walks of life to settle down.<\/p>\n

It means, in the not too distant future, Mancs will raise new families on the site of an icon \u2014 even if it was one Manchester preferred to forget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For some, it was ‘a landmark’. For others, a remnant of the city’s industrial past which became obsolete.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[108093,748,1936,393,62517,4884,2465,8828,29712,285,16,15,185318],"class_list":{"0":"post-589978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-beswick","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-co-op-live","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-etihad-stadium","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-manchester","15":"tag-manchester-council","16":"tag-manchester-development","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unmissable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115602508216855397","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589978","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=589978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}