The Albert Hall is a music venue in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, England. Built as a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

central hall in 1908 by the architect William James Morley of Bradford and built by J. Gerrard & Sons Ltd of Swinton, it has been designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. The main floor was used as a nightclub from 1999 to 2011. The second floor, the Chapel Hall, unused since 1969, was renovated in 2012–14 for music concerts. The venue hosted a few events towards the end of 2013. It officially reopened on 6 February 2014, with a performance by

Anna Calvi Anna Margaret Michelle Calvi (born 24 September 1980) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her accolades include three Mercury Prize nominations, one Brit Award nomination, and a European Border Breakers Award. She has been noted by ...

History

The hall was designed in eclectic style with

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

elements for the Wesleyan Mission in 1908. A meeting hall is on the first floor with a horseshoe gallery, sloping floor and coloured glass rooflights. The finely detailed

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

is formed into large windows at gallery level, and the interior is abundant in floral decoration in the plaster work and glazed tiles. In the 1990s, the lower two floors were converted into a nightclub called Brannigans which closed in 2011. The hall was refurbished and re-opened in 2013 by Trof, a local independent bar and live music company.

General election 2017

On 6 June 2017, the Albert Hall hosted '' BBC

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically youn ...

Debates: The Final Debate'' ahead of the

UK General Election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland ...

two days later.

Tina Daheley Tina Daheley (born ) is a British journalist, newsreader and presenter who works for the BBC, both on television and radio. She currently reads the news on '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' with Zoe Ball, often contributing to discussions during ...

chaired audience questions for Jonathan Bartley, Sarah Champion, Fflur Elin,

Kate Forbes Kate Elizabeth Forbes is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy since 2020. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Skye, Loch ...

, David Kurten,

Brian Paddick Brian Leonard Paddick, Baron Paddick (born 24 April 1958), is a British politician and retired police officer, currently sitting in the House of Lords as a life peer. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral elections of ...

, and

Nadhim Zahawi Nadhim Zahawi ( ar, ناظم الزهاوي, translit=Nāẓim az-Zahāwī; ku, نەدیم زەهاوی, translit=Nedîm Zehawî; born 2 June 1967) is an Iraqi-born British politician serving as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister ...

References

{{Authority control Former Methodist churches in the United Kingdom Methodist churches in Greater Manchester Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Music venues in Manchester