Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United Kingdom / Manchester / The Alan
The Alan
Manchester, England, United Kingdom · Independent · Near Luxury
Dugdale's warehouse at 18 Princess Street, sandstone by Clegg and Knowles in 1877 and 1878, still wears an open arcaded parapet and chimneys like pinnacles, and The Alan's 137 rooms are in that Grade II block. It became a hotel in 1998, spent years as the Arora, and in 2022 Red Deer took the dropped ceilings down so the brick and the tall windows show, with Manchester Art Gallery across the street.
- 137 rooms
- Opened 1998
- Neighborhood: Central Retail District
- Architect: Clegg and Knowles
- Interiors: Red Deer
About The Alan
- Princess Buildings, 18 to 24 Princess Street and through to George Street, were textile warehouses and offices on an iron frame. Hotel consent came in 1998, and that conversion took most of the old interior with it.
- Before the 2022 refit the house had traded as the Arora and then the Princess Street Hotel. Red Deer, with Leach Rhodes Walker, pulled plasterboard off the brick and opened the rooms back up to their old height.
- One of four UK hotels fitted with a Google Nest in every room, with Ancoats Coffee Co in the cup and Haeckels in the shower.
History
Clegg and Knowles finished Dugdale's warehouse, Princess Buildings at 18 to 24 Princess Street, in 1878: textile warehouses and offices, sandstone ashlar, iron-framed, Grade II. Consent for a hotel came in 1998. The house later traded as the Arora and as the Princess Street Hotel. The Alan's 2022 refit, interiors by Red Deer, stripped dropped ceilings and plasterboard so the brick and the original room height show again. 137 rooms.
The setting
18 Princess Street, M1 4LG, opposite Manchester Art Gallery, with the Athenaeum along the street and Chinatown behind, including the arch on Faulkner Street.
Restaurants and bars
- The Alan, Dine & Drink — Restaurant
Open The Alan in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
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