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Then and Now: Portland Street

THEN: The Queen's Hotel

Until 1972, it was the site of the Queen's Hotel, a prestige development which became the haunt of Manchester's wealthy businessmen and sports stars for more than a century.

Built as a row of three town houses, it first became a hotel in 1852 when two of them were bought and converted.

And instead of overlooking Piccadilly Gardens, the hotel overlooked a lake, Manchester Infirmary, and a lunatic asylum.

It quickly established a reputation for providing world-class food, renowned for it's real turtle soup and spending hundreds of pounds on turtles in the late 1800s.

During the late 1930s, single women were not allowed into the lounge for fear that they may be "ladies of the town".

NOW: Part of the redevelopment of Piccadilly Gardens

One item was given to the neighbouring Hotel Piccadilly - its famous marble bust of Queen Victoria, which had been in the Queen's Hotel since it opened.

The hotel was knocked down in 1974 to make way for a large brown glass building by Gordon White and Hood, which sat rather oddly against the grand frontage of the Portland Thistle Hotel.

This is a former trade warehouse designed by Edward Walters between 1851 and 1858 in an accomplished palazzo style, and the building still stands today.

Now, No 1 Portland Street is undergoing a major £5million redevelopment and the building, to be finished in June 2005, will complement the ongoing regeneration in Piccadilly Gardens.

What are your memories of the Queen's Hotel and Portland Street? Have your say.

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