Smithfield Market Hall is a renovated

market hall A market hall is a covered space or a building where food and other articles are sold from stalls by independent vendors. A market hall is a type of indoor market and can be found in many European countries. The most common variation of a mar ...

on Swan Street in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, which houses a

food hall A food hall is a large standalone location or department store section where food and drinks are sold. Overview Unlike food courts made up of fast food chains, food halls typically mix local artisan restaurants, butcher shops and other food- ...

known as Mackie Mayor. The hall reopened in 2017 after years of dereliction.

History

The area now known as part of the Northern Quarter in

was named Smithfield Market in May 1822 because the potato market had moved to the area in 1820. As the market became more popular, more land was acquired in 1850. Built between 1857 and 1858 and roofed over with iron trusses in 1865, the hall replaced an earlier butchers' shambles on the same site. As the area continued to expand, a retail

fish market A fish market is a marketplace for selling Fish as food, fish and fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between Fisherman, fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish ma ...

was built the same year; the building has since been demolished however its extension built in two stages has survived. At its peak in 1897, the

market place A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...

covered four and a half acres in

Manchester City Centre Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England, within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way, which collectively form an inner ring road. The City Centre ward had a ...

stretching from Swan Street in

Ancoats Ancoats is an area of Manchester, England, next to the Northern Quarter, the northern part of Manchester city centre. Historically in Lancashire, Ancoats became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution and has been called "the world's first ind ...

in the north, Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter, Shudehill to the east and Oak Street to the west. In these various markets the public could obtain fish, meat, fruit and vegetables; its influence was such that it spread further into Ancoats and through its Italian community spawned an ice-cream manufacturing industry. The market was policed at various points by

Manchester Market Police Manchester Market Police was a police force in Manchester, England responsible for policing markets owned by Manchester City Council, the principal market of which was Smithfield Market. History There had previously been a police force responsible ...

Mackie Mayor

The Mackie Mayor is the only remaining fully intact building from the former Smithfield market. Opened in 1858, it was initially used as a market, but had lain empty since the early 1990s. Other parts of the market have since been converted into other uses such as the fish market. The original Smithfield Market was closed in 1972 and parts of the complex were demolished, the market stalls were relocated to

West Gorton West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

at the New Smithfield Market. The Market Hall was

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1973.

Gallery

External links

Smithfield Conservation Area
at Manchester City Council

References

{{Authority control Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Commercial buildings completed in 1858 Market halls 1858 establishments in England