Trafalgar swaps offices for hotel in Manchester 

Premier Inn is to operate a 13-storey hotel at a long-vacant site close to Piccadilly Gardens that was previously earmarked for offices. 

Plans from the site’s previous owner KMJ for an office development at 43 – 47 Piccadilly were approved in 2006 and then revisited by developer Trafalgar Leisure in 2018, which lodged plans for a 10-storey office with ground floor commercial space. 

However, under fresh plans designed by architect Stephenson Studio, a 129-bedroom Premier Inn hotel is proposed, fronting Piccadilly and stretching back down Lever Street. 

The 61,000 sq ft Premier Inn would be the hotel brand’s fifth in Manchester city centre after opening a 158-bedroom site at Bruntwood’s Circle Square earlier this month.

The corner site currently accommodates a large advertising hoarding and scaffolding that supports the flank of 47 Piccadilly, following the demolition of the former premises at 43-45 Piccadilly, approved under the 2006 consent. 

The plot is split into three parts and comprises a grade two-listed Georgian townhouse at 47 Piccadilly, the vacant 43-45 Piccadilly plot, and a three-storey warehouse to the rear of the townhouse. 

Under the plans, the warehouse would be partially demolished with the Back Piccadilly frontage retstored, and the townhouse would be retained. 

In March, Premier Inn, told Place North West it was on the look-out for additional sites in Manchester, targeting the fast-growing locations of the Northern Quarter, Piccadilly and east Manchester.