Oxford Street and Portland Street, looking towards Central Library

“(the Circus) totals approximately 140,000 sq ft and incorporates retained listed façades”

Another great photo courtesy of Steve Welsh, taken on Oxford Road/ Oxford Street and Portland Street, looking towards Central Library and Manchester City Council’s Town Hall Extension in August 1991.

The bottom photo is from November 2025 and captures some of the major change in this part of the city over the past decade or so - from left to right:

1 St Peter’s Square which was completed in 2014 and designed by Howells. The building has approximately 268,000 sq ft of Grade A office space and replaced Elisabeth House, which was demolished in 2011–2012. Occupiers include KPMG, DLA Piper, Addleshaw Goddard, CBRE and WeWork.

Landmark, which was completed in 2019 and designed by Squire & Partners on behalf of Barings. It provides approximately 180,000 sq ft of Grade A office space across 14 floors and occupies the site of the former Manchester Odeon cinema, demolished in 2013–2014 (to show my age I remember watching Titanic there in 1998!) Occupiers include Grant Thornton UK, JLL, HSBC, Vanguard and Xero.

The Circus was developed in 2000–2001 by Amec. It totals approximately 140,000 sq ft and incorporates retained listed façades on Portland Street and Dickinson Street. The development is anchored by a 228-bed Premier Inn and numerous ground floor retail and leisure units.