A 25-acre patch of North Manchester is slowly turning emerald as the new Irish World Heritage Centre takes shape.
The huge project on Queen’s Road, Cheetham Hill is still mostly a levelled building site awaiting further development. Phase one of the construction is complete though and fully open for business, 25 years after the original centre first opened.
The current facilities include a beautiful bar, multi-purpose function room and shop dealing with selected Irish imports.
The design of the bar is one of smooth curves and concentric circles, everything centring round a 5,000-year-old piece of preserved Irish timber.
Staggeringly the next phase includes installing a 270-bed hotel, eleven football pitches, a restaurant, business centre, museum, education space, leisure facilities and of course, a travel agent. Perhaps after whiling away the hours in the entirely Irish crafted bar, visitors will be so overcome with the urge to visit the Emerald Isle itself, they'll book a one-way flight there and then?
Speaking of the bar, it's a thing of beauty. Every little detail was designed and made in Ireland before being shipped over and constructed here. Even the stone flagging was brought over especially from Donegal.
The design is one of smooth curves and concentric circles, everything centring round a 5,000-year-old piece of preserved Irish timber. The circular nature of the bar and imported Irish materials do their best to make you feel like you’re sat in a plush new addition to the Temple Bar area of Dublin.
Irish Wood
What gives it away though, is the view of the Manchester skyline through the floor to ceiling windows. Not that this is a bad thing however, the view of the city from the north is brilliant, even if you have to gaze at it over an acre of wet mud waiting to be landscaped.
It's a superb drinking partner with the newly built Co-op building in the foreground, showing off the city’s increasing modern architectural exploration. This is part of the problem of the bar in its new habitat though – its location.
When the whole project is finished it will prove to be a central hub to all who use the various facilities and events on offer. Yet it is a fifteen minute walk to the nearest bus stop in either direction and you’d have to be committed to walk there from town, as Confidential did.
MCR Skyline and garden in progress
The new tram stop opening nearby by will aid accessibility but the fact the only other person there upon this particular visit was the barman is slightly concerning. It will have to heavily rely on the draw of the other to-be-completed elements to draw in visitors from the city.
The previous site was a stone’s throw away however, so regulars will continue to head down to ‘Irish Town’ at the weekends as events and activities become more frequent.
Welcome to Irish Town
One big draw to make an excursion from outside of the immediate area is naturally the Guinness which is priced at only £3 a pint. There aren’t many places that could rival that value. Unfortunately it's Guiness Extra Cold which comes out of the taps rather than the original and best from St James’ Gate itself.
There’s no doubt a lot of thought and money has gone into the project. The whole project has cost £5m so far. It was mostly funded by the sale of the old centre to the Manchester Fort retail park as well as receiving £2m from the Irish Government and a small subsidy from Manchester City Council.
The Irish imports shop adjacent to the bar is a nice touch, offering products such as Kelly’s Puddings, Barry’s Tea and Kimberley Biscuits. The shop is open every day 9am-5pm with new stocks being brought in every 7-10 days.
Imported goodies
It’s early days for the new Irish World Heritage Centre, planning started ten years ago with the whole project now expected to be completed within two years. The plans do look impressive and exciting on a large scale and Confidential will be back to see how the area progresses during the next phase. For now though a trip up to enjoy the view over a pint of the black stuff is definitely no chore.
1 Irish Town Way, Cheetham Hill, M8 0AE.
