Free Trade Hall

The Free Trade Hall stands on Peter Street in central Manchester, England, and is one of the city's most historically layered buildings. The site was the location of St Peter's Field, where on 16 August 1819 soldiers charged a crowd of tens of thousands gathered to demand parliamentary reform, killing around 18 people and injuring hundreds in what became known as the Peterloo Massacre. The first Free Trade Hall was built in 1840 for the Anti-Corn Law League, and the present Italianate building was designed by Edward Walters and opened in 1856, with a facade modelled on Renaissance palazzi and carved panels representing commerce and trade. It became the city's principal public meeting place and concert hall, hosting political speakers, Charles Dickens and the Hallé Orchestra, whose home it remained until 1996. In June 1976 the Sex Pistols played the Lesser Free Trade Hall, an event often credited with inspiring the Manchester music scene that produced Joy Division, The Smiths and others. After the Hallé left for the Bridgewater Hall, the building was converted into a hotel, opening in 2004 with the historic Italianate facade retained and the interior substantially rebuilt. The exterior is Grade II* listed and can be seen from Peter Street at any time, while the interior spaces are accessible mainly to hotel guests and diners. Plaques and nearby monuments record its Peterloo and musical associations, and the Peterloo Memorial stands a short walk away beside Manchester Central. The site is useful for understanding Manchester's radical political tradition, the free trade movement and its modern cultural identity, even though most original interiors have been lost.