![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_070525campfield18.jpg\")
(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\nIt’s in a familiar spot – but the work means it feels like a completely new place to work and relax(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
This is what Manchester\u2019s new \u2018iconic\u2019 cafe-bar and offices housed in a grade-II listed \u2018solarium\u2019 looks like.<\/p>\n
The former Campfield market halls, on Liverpool Road in the city centre, will reopen as offices, studios, events spaces, and a cafe-bar-restaurant in late June.<\/p>\n
Their multi-million-pound refurbishment is part of the wider St John\u2019s project<\/a>, which developers hope will have a similar effect on Manchester as opening the Guggenheim gallery had on Bilbao<\/a> in the late 90s.<\/p>\n The Local Democracy Reporting Service had a behind-the-scenes first look at the spaces, with the Lower Hall now just called Campfield.<\/p>\n Its central atrium is where Mancs will be warmly welcomed, as it\u2019s where a cafe-bar open to the public called Campfield House sits. It will serve a full menu of food, serve as a place to work and meet over coffee in the day, but become a trendy cocktail bar in the evening.<\/p>\n Final plans on the menu and seating areas are still under wraps, but bosses also say Campfield could soon do what it was designed for \u2014 markets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to do well-curated markets at weekends,\u201d said Tanya Grady, executive director of Campfield for developer Allied London, on Wednesday (May 7).<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be a bit more curated than a maker’s market. It could be a flower market or night market.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they are successful they could be regular. There\u2019s the ambition to do that and that\u2019s why we have designed it flexibly.\u201d<\/p>\n Although much of Campfield will largely remain closed off to the general public as it becomes office space for the media and creative industries, Tanya added the firm \u2018will explore different cultural uses\u2019 from July onwards, meaning events could be hosted inside.<\/p>\n Both the Upper and Lower halls, originally built in 1882 and 1878 respectively, started life as exhibition and market areas, but became a barrage balloon factory during the Second World War.<\/p>\n Thousands then visited the Lower Hall for decades when it housed the Science and Industry Museum\u2019s aerospace collection from 1985. But the museum left in 2021 as the hall needed \u2018substantial\u2019 restoration.<\/p>\n The work has involved enlarging the mezzanine level by more than a third, and creating interconnected bridges across the hall so people can move more freely. Wood panelling on the walls has been reused from when it was the Air and Space Hall of the museum.<\/p>\n But the biggest change is in the ceiling, as teams \u2018repaired the roof and replaced\u2019 vinyl panels where needed.<\/p>\n The effect is that both Campfield and Campfield Studios \u2014 the new name for the Upper Hall \u2014 are flooded with light, even during the overcast day of the LDRS\u2019 tour.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like being in a solarium. It makes you feel good being here,\u201d explained Tanya.<\/p>\n Having a panoramic sunroof just off Deansgate also means the views looking out can be spectacular, with Beetham Tower clearly visible from Campfield Studios.<\/p>\n That view will be enjoyed by children\u2019s television royalty, too, as Campfield Studios is where Blue Peter will be filmed from September.<\/p>\n Ultimately, bosses want the buildings to become \u2018a cultural destination as well as an industrial destination\u2019 \u2014 so they will hope the BBC\u2019s arrival is the first of many big names, local brands, and Mancs to come inside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s in a familiar spot – but the work means it feels like a completely new place to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,17630,393,4884,2465,8086,29712,285,10968,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-82493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-deansgate","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-city-centre","14":"tag-manchester-development","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-things-to-do-manchester","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114467918799903808","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82493","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=82493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_070525campfield1.jpg\")
(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_070525campfield12.jpg\")
(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_070525campfield4.jpg\")
(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Campfield-Internal-Campfield-House-Cafe-And-Event-Space-Cgi-March-25.jpg\")
(Image: Allied London)<\/p>\n