Glittering varsity alumni make up room names for Crowne Plaza Hotel

Andrew Fletcher

Manchester’s newest city centre hotel has named all its meeting rooms after famous Manchester University alumni.

Lots of celebrities, prize-winning academics, actors, artists, architects and scientists have worked and studied at the University and UMIST down the years – the two institutions combined in 2004 to form the current University of Manchester – a list that also includes prominent politicians, business leaders, athletes and more.

And the new Crowne Plaza hotel, part of the city’s first ‘Double Decker’ hotel, based in the university district on Oxford Road, has paid tribute to these – the city’s finest former students – by naming their meeting rooms in their honour.

Those who have been name-checked with a room dedicated to their achievements include computing expert Alan Turing, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, the famous British astronomer, Nobel prize-winning architect Norman Foster, chemist Sir Robert Robinson, former chief executive of Manchester City Council Sir Howard Bernstein, English comedienne, screenwriter and actress Jennifer Saunders, Manchester Town Hall architect Alfred Waterhouse, and Dame Nancy Rothwell – the British physiologist who has been president and vice chancellor of the University of Manchester since July 2010.

Crowne Plaza general manager Andrew Fletcher said: “We thought long and hard about the right kind of names for our meeting rooms.

“However, as we are based in the heart of the university district, Manchester’s academic quarter – right on the Oxford Road corridor – it became clear very quickly that there was a real desire to honour these former University of Manchester alumni who have each made such a huge contribution to the reputation of this city as a place where academics thrive.”

Sir Howard Bernstein said: “It’s a real honour and humbling to be recognised in this way, especially alongside such a notable list of Manchester alumni.

“The Oxford Road Corridor is a hugely important area for innovation and academia in the city, and is increasingly home to institutions, businesses, start-ups, and innovators who are part of Manchester’s exciting future. Its brilliant to see the new Crowne Plaza and Staybridge Suites providing much-needed visitor accommodation for those who visit this exciting area of the city.”

The 19-storey Crowne Plaza and Staybridge Suites will open to the public in Spring 2018.

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