The view this time is from the pedestrian footbridge across Corporation Street looking towards Corn Exchange Manchester.

The top photo is from 1995 and was kindly provided to me by Ray Bunting of Ratcliff Partnership when I was writing my Rebuilding Manchester book back in 2010.

The photo was taken above where the bomb was detonated one year later on 15 June 1996. At the time of the photo the Arndale Bus Station was still in operation and the Corn Exchange was a hub of small traders, very similar to Afflecks Palace (Euan was a regular there in his first year at University - in particular Clampdown Records!)

As an aside there are some fantastic photos of the Corn Exchange in the early to mid 1990s here:

https://lnkd.in/eQbVrfVb

The bottom photo is from 2024 and shows the significant change that has taken place over the past 30 years. After the bomb in 1996 the Longridge House office building (a small part of which you can see on the left hand side of the top photo) was demolished. It, along with land in front, was redeveloped and replaced with the 250,000 sqft new Marks & Spencer store (which was split in 2002 when Selfridges took up half the building).

The EDAW (now AECOM) masterplan for the redevelopment of the area also included the introduction of Exchange Square. This was originally designed by Martha Schwartz Partners and opened in November 1999. The Corn Exchange was also refurbished and opened in 2000.

In the background, behind the Corn Exchange is the Urbis - now home to the National Football Museum - and Muse’s 20 and 25 storey New Victoria which includes 520 homes.