I’d read about this place in one of the many underground Manchester books that have been floating about, for me and Jimmy is started with us being thrown out of a couple of NCP car parks for skating in them. With the weather being pretty sweet that day we headed over to this place for a couple of photos from the rooftop.
After a wander around the rooftop and a bit of a climb we were admiring the two glass conjoined domes which sit up there.
Back inside we disappeared into the basement, after telling Jimmy about the photo’s I’d seen it was the Undercroft that we were looking for. Oh and someone had left the lights on too.
Some of the arch ways were boarded over which must have led to other tunnels, when we got home we found out Manchester Confidential are charging £15 for a tour of this place – if you want to see it just walk around and you’ll soon find it!
History;
Barton Arcade is a four storey cast structure and was designed and built by Corbett, Raby and Sawyer in 1874. The rooftop has two large domes which are linked together, these were a ‘modern & fashionable’ design at the time. Palm House within Sefton Park in Liverpool also resembles these features.
In the early 1970’s the building was listed Grade II and saw extensive restoration work in the late 1980’s. Below the building is a large undercroft that also spans under deansgate which was originally cut from sandstone, it is now used as storage for the shopping outlets above.
We had no torches, no tripods and I only had my 8mm and a skateboard. We'd have been f*cked if the lights had turned off, Gone...
Last edited by a moderator:
