1 Spinningfields

St John's is a proposed £1 bn development of a 6 hectare plot within central Manchester, England. The site is being developed by Manchester Quays Ltd (MQL), a partnership between Manchester City Council and Allied London.

Old Granada Studios (known simply as Granada Studios and previously known as The Manchester Studios) is a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programmes. The studios were formerly the headquarters of Granada Television and later ITV Granada from 1956 to 2013. After a period of closure, five of the six studio spaces were reopened under the All Studios banner in 2018. The studios are the oldest operating purpose-built television studios in the United Kingdom pre-dating BBC Television Centre by five years.They were previously home to the world's longest-running serial drama, Coronation Street, as well as other long-running shows such as the quiz show University Challenge and the current affairs documentary series World in Action. As well as being the oldest television studios in the United Kingdom, the studios also held the Beatles' first television performance in 1962 and the first general election debate in 2010.Until 2010, the main building, Granada House, had a red neon "Granada TV" sign on the roof, which was a landmark for rail passengers travelling from the west into Manchester city centre. A broadcasting tower was erected at the behest of Sidney Bernstein to give the studios an embellished and professional appearance. The three largest studios each covered over 4,500 square feet (420 m2). The studios were managed by ITV Studios and BBC Resources through a joint venture company, 3SixtyMedia from 2000 until 2013. After a dip in production during the early 2000s, the studios underwent a revival from 2009 until their closure. Countdown moved to Manchester from the Leeds Studios in 2009 and the facility had numerous new commissions including The Chase, Divided, Take Me Out and High Stakes. The studios initially closed in June 2013, and ITV Granada and ITV Studios moved to Dock10's studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. Later that same year, the Granada Studios was sold for £26 million to Allied London and Manchester City Council. Allied London's initial plans for the site involved transforming the studios into residential space. However, plans were changed in 2017 to maintain the studio complex due to demand, and most studio spaces were reopened in 2018. Although there were calls to preserve the old Coronation Street exterior set, it was demolished as part of redevelopment work in 2017. Other areas knocked down were Studio 4 and the remaining Granada Studios Tour entrance. The studios' former office block, Granada House is being converted into a hotel and office space.

Spinningfields is an area of Manchester city centre, in North West England, developed in the 2000s between Deansgate and the River Irwell by Allied London Properties. The £1.5 billion project consists of 20 buildings, totalling approximately 430,000 m2 (4,600,000 sq ft) of commercial, residential and retail space. It takes its name from Spinningfield, a narrow street which ran westwards from Deansgate. In 1968, Spinningfield and the area to the south were turned into Spinningfield Square, an open paved area. Landmark buildings within the scheme include the Manchester Civil Justice Centre and 1 Spinningfields, a 90 m (300 ft) tall office building.

The sets of the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street have undergone four major and several less significant changes since the first broadcast in December 1960. Originally entirely indoors, in 1968 the original wooden set was moved outside, and shortly afterwards reconstructed in brick. In 1982 the set was entirely rebuilt in a new location. The current set, brought into use in 2013, is based at the ITV Trafford Wharf Studios backlot, MediaCityUK in Trafford. It consists of early 20th-century terraced houses, with a public house, The Rovers Return, at one end, and a corner shop at the other. The other side of the street consists of a factory, two shop units, a garage and three semi-detached houses, all appearing to have been constructed in the late 1980s.

The Mersey and Irwell Navigation was a river navigation in North West England, which provided a navigable route from the Mersey estuary to Salford and Manchester, by improving the course of the River Irwell and the River Mersey. Eight locks were constructed between 1724 and 1734, and the rivers were improved by the construction of new cuts several times subsequently. Use of the navigation declined from the 1870s, and it was ultimately superseded by the Manchester Ship Canal, the construction of which destroyed most of the Irwell section of the navigation and the long cut between Latchford and Runcorn.

XS Manchester is an Independent Local Radio station serving Greater Manchester, broadcasting a mix of indie and alternative rock music, speech and news output. The station is owned and operated by Communicorp UK and broadcasts from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. It is Communicorp UK's only station that does not broadcast a programme service supplied by Global. As of September 2023, the station broadacasts to a weekly audience of 127,000, according to RAJAR.

Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester.

Capital Manchester and Lancashire is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and eastern & central parts of Lancashire from studios at the XYZ Building in Spinningfields, Manchester. The station launched in April 2019 as a result of a merger between Capital Manchester and 2BR.

Heart North West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North West England from studios in the Spinningfields area of Manchester city centre.

Capital Manchester was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. The station broadcast from their studios at Global's Manchester HQ in the XYZ Building in Spinningfields, Manchester. In April 2019, the station was merged with 2BR in Lancashire to form Capital Manchester and Lancashire.

St John's Gardens in central Manchester, England, lies between Lower Byrom Street, Byrom Street and Quay Street. Previously occupied by St John's Church and its graveyard between 1769 and 1931, the site was redeveloped into a formal garden in 1932. It contains a central memorial to the church and those buried in its graveyard, whose tombstones have been covered over by 18 inches (460 mm) of soil except for that of John Owens, founder of Owen's College. The garden was awarded a Green Flag in 2012 and is part of the St John Street conservation area.

St John's Church, Manchester, also known as St John's, Deansgate, was an Anglican parish church in Manchester, England, established in 1769 and demolished in 1931. Its site is now that of St John's Gardens, situated between Lower Byrom Street, Byrom Street and Quay Street. St John's Church was built in 1769 by Edward Byrom, a co-founder of the first bank in Manchester. Its parish encompassed a large and important section of the city of Manchester. The first rector, John Clowes, held the office for 62 years until his death in 1831. Clowes preached the first Sunday school sermon in the Manchester area, introduced Swedenborgianism there and was prominent in championing Whit Walks. Clowes was succeeded by William Huntington, who had held the post of curate since 1826 and continued as rector until his death in 1874. Huntington established the Sunday school, for which he laid the foundation stone in 1827. In 1906, around 250 children attended the Sunday school and the church had numerous affiliated groups, such as a Penny Bank and a Choral Society. By the early 1900s, the graveyard was overshadowed on its northern side by a warehouse built on the Quay Street site of the Byrom family residence, and with a declining congregation and some redundancy of provision given the nearby St Matthew's Church, the Manchester diocese decided to merge the parish of St John's with St Matthew's in 1927. As a result, the church was demolished in 1931. The church has been described as the first significant building in Manchester to be constructed in the Gothic Revival style of architecture. Construction of the tower, which contained a peal of eight bells manufactured by Lester and Pack, was completed in May 1770. The first restoration took place in 1821, including a re-roofing paid for by a daughter of Byrom. Between 1874 and 1878 work was done at a cost of £1600 and in 1898 the lighting was converted from gas to electric. The church bells, which were described as "among the best peal of bells in Manchester", were rehung in 1832 and again around 1883. The roof collapsed in 1924 and was rebuilt by 1926. Among people who were commemorated in the church windows were John Owens, and Sir Thomas Bazley. Today the graveyard of the church is commemorated by a stone cross and a plaque states that more than 22,000 bodies lie buried in the vicinity. Among those buried in the churchyard are John Owens, the founder of Owens College, and William Marsden, who founded the concept of a half-day holiday on Saturdays.