Manchester's lost 'Soho' district demolished to make way for the Arndale Centre
manchestereveningnews.co.ukA warren of characterful Victorian streets and alleyways was sacrificed for the building of Manchester's Arndale Centre. Still one of the biggest shopping centres in the UK, construction started on Manchester's Arndale centre over 50-years ago.
Built in phases between 1972 and 1979, the mammoth indoor shopping centre has seen many changes in its lifetime, not least the major redevelopment that followed the damage caused by an IRA bomb in 1996.
But early plans to completely transform this part of town began before the end of the World War Two, when the city council recognised that the area around Market Street was in need of major redevelopment.
No progress was made until the city surveyor stated in 1962 that redevelopment of the area was now "long overdue". Read More: Enjoy a stroll and some window shopping on Manchester's King Street in the 1980s Read More: The Manchester pub where Johnny Vegas, Peter Kay and Jo Brand played lost to city centre development In the mid-20th century, the area where the Arndale Centre now stands, between Market Street and Withy Grove, was still a warren of mostly Victorian buildings and warehouses along winding streets and alleyways.
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