Pubs of Manchester

All pubs within the city centre and beyond.
A history of Manchester's hundreds of lost pubs.

Sunday 28 July 2013

Trafford Park Hotel, Ashburton Road / Village Way

Trafford Park Hotel, Village Way, Trafford Park. Taken by Darren Lewis.

The Trafford Park Hotel opened in 1902 on the corner of Third Way and Ashburton Road in Trafford Park Village, which was built to house the workers of the newly created Trafford Park industrial estate.  This huge hotel is surely the finest building in Trafford Park, the world's first purpose-built industrial estate and still the largest in Europe.

Trafford Park Hotel, Ashburton Road. (c) Canal Archive [1].

A year after the Trafford Park Hotel opened, over 500 houses had been built around here so the hotel would have had plenty of locals, as well as visiting businessmen.  Schools and churches were built in 'The Village', which was modelled on the American grid system with numbered streets and avenues.  These days the houses have all-but gone, and although the Village's shops are busy during the week, almost all the residents have left.  

Trafford Park Hotel, Village Way. (c) Urbed [2].

Sadly the Trafford Park Hotel closed in 2009 and it remains unused, except fleetingly by a bunch of squatters and a marijuana grower which have made the local news in the last few years.  Disenfranchised Man United fans group, MUST, have also used the pub car park to screen big matches from the Old Trafford whilst selling real ale and cans.

Trafford Park Hotel, Village Way. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

The Trafford Park Hotel was listed by English Heritage in 1987 due to its magnificent renaissance style architecture.  Its red brick and terracotta frontage has parapets, pilasters and a grand clock tower [3], while the stone sign with globe detail is stunning.  Round the back the view is less impressive but there are pub benches in the yard and even in the car park itself.

Trafford Park Hotel, Village Way. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

Just along Third Avenue from the pub is a statue commemorating Marshall Stevens, general manager of the Manchester Ship Canal Company.  He became managing director of Trafford Park Estates in 1897 and is acknowledged as the founder of Trafford Park.  This memorial has had two previous locations; on the corner of Trafford Park Road and Ashburton Road, and at Wharfside Promenade, but it was relocated to this spot on the corner of Third Avenue and Eleventh Street in 2008 [4].

Trafford Park Hotel, Village Way. (c) Ed O'Keeffe [5].

It is unlikely that the Trafford Park Hotel will ever reopen as a public house or hotel (it is owned by the hapless Enterprise Inn, after all), but its Grade II protected status means it should remain here for some time yet.  Maybe conversion to offices - or even flats if people start to return to the Village in numbers - is about as good as it would get for this proud old building.

Trafford Park Hotel, Village Way, 2012. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

10 comments:

  1. Hmmm, I hope it doesn't mysteriously get burnt down - too many pubs have gone that way, eg The Railway at Heatley, near Lymm.
    JJ

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  2. Would make a great hotel again, filled by business people and Man United fans

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  3. old pictures and new pictures of rafford Park Hotel are wonderful. Historical buildings always attract the people. Car Parking Manchester

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  4. No reason this listed building should not be re opened as a pub / hotel, under the right management. I'm sure at least one M U player might be interested.

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    1. So true what pub that used to be it also had a chip shop inside . Worked at Redpath Engineering near there late 70s early 80s beautiful building 🙏

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  5. Its doomed, some would simply say its done its time...

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  6. wetherspoons: love the old community buildings with heart in all they create. Would love to think they have looked into this one. With the new trams passing through the village by 2019. I'd jump off for a real ale. Throw in a few rooms for all the Man u fans from around the world who find Hotel football a little pricey and you could be on a winner with this one Mr martin.

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  7. I took a look at the Hotel today,half of the windows smashed,opening windows wide open,and the lead stolen from the towers,what a shame ,are they letting it get in such a state it will be demolished!

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  8. I took a look at the Hotel today,half of the windows smashed,opening windows wide open,and the lead stolen from the towers,what a shame ,are they letting it get in such a state it will be demolished!

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  9. I grew up in Trafford Park. This pub was the real beating heart of the community. I used to visit it in the 80's when the Park was a ghost town and all the houses had gone. At night the pub was spookily quiet. Tommy Southern- an old face in the Park, was the landlord then. My personal amateur history research indicates that most of its working life, this pub was as rough as a badger's erse.

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