With tourism a key component in Manchester’s Olympic bid, John MacRae reports on a leisure industry which is gearing itself up for 2000.
Manchester’s bid for the Olympics aims to use tourism and leisure development as part of a strategy of urban regeneration.
Julian Troup, of the Manchester office of Christie & Co, believes that, regardless of the outcome, the national and international profile of the city and region as a whole will have been enhanced and “this should have long-term benefits for the leisure sector”.
John Nelson of Chesterton reports a noticeable increase in inquiries in the hotel market since the new year and a growing mood of optimism, partly because of a feeling that values have bottomed out.
“We have had more private and corporate inquiries for both smaller and more substantial properties, and we are also getting inquiries from overseas, including the Middle and Far East.”
Nelson says that there is an increasing emphasis on the health and leisure aspect of hotels in the Manchester area. Saunas, swimming pools and gyms are becoming essential.
Last month saw the opening of Climat de France’s 90-room budget hotel on Hyde Road, strategically positioned to benefit from scheduled improvements to the motorway systems to the east of the city. It is also close to the proposed site of the Olympic Stadium.
Granada Leisure’s 132-room Victoria & Albert Hotel opened last October and the £12m cost was partly met by a £2m grant from CMDC. It overlooks the River Irwell in the Castlefields Urban Heritage Park at Water Street and is close to the Granada TV studios, which offer sightseeing tours.
The 48-bed Castlefields Hotel, developed and operated by the YMCA, cost £4.14m, but was backed by a £403,000 grant from the CMDC and £195,000 from the English Tourist Board. It is located opposite the Museum of Science and Industry.
Charterhouse Group has developed a new 58-room hotel in the listed former Refuge Assurance building in Oxford Street. A second French budget hotel operator, Campanile, has consent for a 112-room hotel at the corner of Regent Road and Ordsall Lane.
A five-star hotel is included in the proposed 600-ft Victoria Tower at Victoria Station. However, Troup says that “this is a peculiar area in which to put a five-star hotel”. Two new hotels are also proposed as part of the Great Bridgewater initiative, which will include the new international concert hall for the Halle Orchestra.
According to the bid document, Manchester has 14,000 hotel rooms with about 28,000 beds. There are more than 200,000 rooms within one hour’s drive, including 1,800 rooms in golf-course hotels. Proposed hotels which were granted planning consent in 1992 would provide an extra 3,800 rooms with 7,500 beds, including 1,000 luxury rooms in the city centre.
Provisional bookings have been made with the major chains for 90% of the Manchester area’s available rooms from July 26 to August 6 2000. Several thousand beds would be available in cruise liners docked in the Ship Canal.
Major developments are contributing to the “feel good” factor in Manchester. The National Cycling Centre in Eastlands, Britain’s first fully covered, purpose-built velodrome, and the 16,400-seat Victoria Arena at Victoria Station are under construction as a direct result of the Olympic bid.
The North West Tourist Authority aims to transform Manchester into a “focused destination of international standing”. Its report, which was published in January, divides the area into seven districts: Liverpool Road; GMEX; Canal district; Chapel Wharf/Exchange Station; Pomona Docks/Ordsall Lane; and Salford Quays/Trafford Park.
According to the report, the GMEX district, bounded by Deansgate, the Rochdale Canal and Windmill Street, along with Liverpool Road, Granada and the Canal district, “clearly has the potential to be one of the most exciting and comprehensive visitor magnets in the United Kingdom”.
The £128m Great Bridgewater initiative at GMEX, which includes the 2,400-seat concert hall, is likely to account for 20% of the £92.5m allocated to the development corporation and is expected to shift the city’s centre of gravity south from the cramped financial core. Other funds will be provided by the city council and the DOE.
Plans have been approved for a £3m seminar centre between GMEX and Watson Street to be developed by Central Station Properties. Due to open in spring 1994, it will have a restaurant, exhibitors’ club and meeting rooms.
A pedestrian plaza and garden are planned for the area in front of the Great Northern Warehouse. The proposed compulsory purchase order on Merlin’s 16 acres by the CMDC is now being reviewed by the DOE.
Meanwhile, the corporation has announced an agreement with NCP for a third of the site if the CPO is confirmed. The scheme would include complete internal and external refurbishment. The ground floor will have up to two leisure or retail operators and the other floors are for parking. The Peter Street frontage will be restored for shops on the ground floor and office or residential uses on the two upper floors.
A conference centre is also planned for the listed warehouse building and the tourist authority says that this will create demand for additional retail and hotel accommodation in the Castlefield area. In the longer term, the underground canal which connects the warehouse with Granada is seen as a dramatic new tourist attraction.
However, the report points to continuing weaknesses, including: derelict areas and buildings; the need to enhance the canal network; the necessity for improved pedestrian links from the central area to Castlefields; the requirement for attractions to be open outside normal working hours; and the need for more restaurants, pubs and small venue entertainment.
