The Principal opens after £25m restoration

THE Principal Manchester, formerly The Palace Hotel, has opened to guests following a £25m renovation.

The existing hotel has been converted the Principal design team and 3D Reid Architects, with interiors by Michaelis Boyd.

Just across the road from Manchester’s Oxford Road station and 10 minutes from Manchester Piccadilly, the listed Gothic Victorian revival building was originally designed in 1891 by Alfred Waterhouse, the architect behind London’s Natural History Museum, as the headquarters for The Refuge Assurance Company Ltd; an extension by Alfred’s son, Paul, in 1912 included the addition of the distinctive clock tower.
 
At the hotel’s heart is The Refuge by Volta, a dining room and public bar created by Principal in partnership with Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford, the duo of DJs-turned-restaurateurs behind the award-winning West Didsbury restaurant Volta.

With the scale of a grand café yet the informality of a local drinking den, the 10,000 sq ft space is partitioned by a 40ft granite bar serving craft beers and cocktails and an interior glasshouse, The Winter Garden, where the mood is more refined than in the bustling Public Bar.

Many of the 270 guestrooms contain listed period details, from wood panelling and fireplaces to tiled brickwork. A variety of designs has been applied to the bedrooms and suites, all of them referencing the building’s original purpose, and making use of the double-height windows on the lower floors.

Michael Purtill, general manager, said: “We are delighted to begin the new chapter for The Principal Manchester and to see so much of the hotel’s former beauty and history restored. The renovation has given the hotel a new lease of life, creating a destination for locals and visitors to the city alike.”