Manchester Hotels: See the History of Britain’s Industrial Heartland

For many years Manchester and Liverpool battled it out for the crown of capital of the North West and for a long time Liverpool seemed to be the forerunner with its huge shipping industry, world beating football club and of course the Beatles. However Manchester fought back and over the last two decades the city has produced Britain and one of the world’s most successful football clubs, Manchester united. The city’s music scene also gave the world Oasis and helped to spawn one of the greatest periods in Britain’s musical history. Those are the reasons Manchester hotels remain as popular as ever for tourism.

Manchester was once the beating heart of industrial Britain when the country was known as the workshop of the world. The vast mills and machinations of industry created large settlements and huge fortunes for industrialists who left their mark on the city museums and skyline by building some fine architecture. St Peter’s square in Manchester is a good place to start for holidaymakers that want to see the best of the city’s older and better known buildings. The centrepiece of the square, Central Library resembles the Pantheon in Rome or a more austere version of the Royal Albert Hall.

Either side of the Library are two more of the city’s famous buildings, the Town Hall and the Midland Hotel. The gothic town hall was built to take over the administration of an ever growing city that exploded in population size due to the prosperity of the industrial revolution. The refurbished Midland hotel was built in 1903 as a grand welcome for well to do passengers travelling into Manchester central station. The hotel has had various owners and refurbishments over the years but it remains one of Manchester’s grandest hotels, thoroughly deserving its current five-star rating.

Manchester is excellent for museum goers and visitors who like art and other exhibitions. There is the Lowry, showcasing the works of one of the city’s most famous artists and the Imperial War museum north in close proximity. The Peoples museum is probably one of Manchester’s most interesting because of its unique displays which document the rise of the workers as the city grew into the largest industrial area in the world. Holidaymakers that want to use their stay in Manchester to visit some of the quirkier attractions have a few good options.
The most interesting of them is the police museum, a walk through exhibition in an old Victorian Police station where visitors can see just what kind of conditions prisoners lived in at the time. There is also a Victorian courtroom which may be of interest to holidaymakers with a love of all things historical. Visitors staying in Manchester hotels may also enjoy taking a trip to castlefield, the site of the original Roman fort, built in the 1st century AD and for the Bridgewater canal, the world’s first canal system.