Former Corn and Produce Exchange is a Grade II listed building in the Manchester local planning authority area, England. First listed on 30 March 1973. Corn exchange. 26 related planning applications.

Former Corn and Produce Exchange

WRENN ID
sharp-hearth-sable
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Manchester
Constituency
Manchester Central MP: Lucy Powell (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
30 March 1973
Type
Corn exchange
Address
Former Corn and Produce Exchange, Hanging Ditch, M4 3TR
OS grid reference
SJ 839 987
Coordinates
53.48501, -2.24318
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Former Corn and Produce Exchange is a corn exchange that includes shops and offices, now functioning as a market hall with shops and offices. It was built in 1903 and features an iron frame with sandstone ashlar cladding and a slate roof topped with a glazed atrium. The building has a very large curved triangular plan situated on an island site and is designed in a Baroque style.

It consists of four diminishing storeys, a basement, and an attic, with the east corner being of a different and lower build. The façade has 14 bays, plus a 7-window east end, with the bays separated by piers that rise to tall chimneys. The three western bays are slightly lower and capped with a domed cupola at the corner. The next 11 bays create a symmetrical composition, with the central and end sections projecting slightly and being topped with shaped gables above the attic.

The main entrance is located in the projected centre bay, featuring a giant elliptical archway in a triumphal-arch form, flanked by coupled pilasters of polished pink granite with debased Ionic capitals. This entrance includes corniced entablatures and a banded head with a keystone, leading to a pedimented doorway adorned with similar columns and a frieze inscribed "PRODUCE EXCHANGE." The upper levels of this section have three windows on each floor, including the attic, with various decorative elements such as a colonnade on the top floor, a pulvinated frieze, a prominent mutule cornice, and a pedimented Baroque gable flanked by chimneys. The slightly smaller end bays are designed in a similar style.

The intermediate bays feature rectangular shop fronts on the ground floor, coupled round-headed windows on the first floor, and mullioned windows with three lights on the second floor and four lights on the third floor and attic. The west side and rear are similar in style but simpler.

Inside, the entrance hall remains unaltered and leads to a staircase and a central atrium, which is adorned with round-headed arcades and a glazed roof topped with a central dome.

Local climate

Former Corn and Produce Exchange sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,060 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 85% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 77% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 84% of listed buildings. Of these, 23 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 1 transaction since 2016
  • Related listed building consents — 26 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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