Manchester Town Hall will take bookings for weddings and corporate events from January 2028. The building has been closed since 2018 for restoration and is due to reopen to the public in spring 2027, with commercial events following once a new team is in place.
The project’s cost has grown to £524.8m after the council approved a further £95m this year, blaming the pandemic, construction inflation and contractor failures, alongside the difficulty of sourcing materials for the Grade I-listed building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1877.
Manchester Central, which runs the city’s convention centre, has been chosen to manage the Town Hall’s events, weddings and its Sculpture Hall Café. It has appointed Nick Harrison as general manager and Hayley Gibson as head of sales. Harrison has 30 years in hospitality, including a spell at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel; Gibson joins from Manchester Airport’s Concorde Conference Centre, another venue Manchester Central runs.
Among the Town Hall’s standout spaces is the Great Hall, lined with twelve murals by Ford Madox Brown the space John Ruskin once called “the most truly magnificent Gothic apartment in Europe.”
“Manchester Town Hall means so much to the city, and we can’t wait to help people make new memories in a building that already holds so many,” said Nick Harrison, general manager of Manchester Town Hall.
Lori Hoinkes, chief executive of Manchester Central, said: “In Nick and Hayley, we have leaders who combine heritage hospitality with a proven track record of opening and growing distinctive venues.”