Smithfield Market Hall is a renovated market hall on Swan Street,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

which houses a food hall known as Mackie Mayor. The hall re-opened in 2017 after years of dereliction

Mackie Mayor

The Mackie Mayor is the only remaining fully intact building from the former Smithfield market. Opened in 1858, it was initially used as a market, but had lain empty since the early 1990’s. Other parts of the market have since been converted into other uses such as the

fish market A fish market is a marketplace for selling fish and fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish markets, a type of wet ma ...

. The original Smithfield Market was closed in 1972 and parts of the complex were demolished, the market stalls were relocated to

West Gorton West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

at the New Smithfield Market. The Market Hall was Grade II listed in 1973.

History

The area now known as part of the Northern Quarter in

was named Smithfield Market in May 1822 because the potato market had moved to the area in 1820. As the market became more popular more land was acquired in 1850. Built between 1857 and 1858 and roofed over with iron trusses in 1865 the Hall replaced an earlier butchers' shambles on the same site. As the area continued to expand a retail fish market was built the same year; the building has since been demolished however its extension built in two stages has survived. At its peak in 1897 the

market place A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from the Arabic), '' ...

covered four and a half acres in

Manchester City Centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...

stretching from Swan Street in Ancoats in the north, Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter, Shudehill to the east and Oak Street to the west. In these various markets the public could obtain fish, meat, fruit and vegetables; its influence was such that it spread further into Ancoats and through its Italian community spawned an ice-cream manufacturing industry. The market was policed at various points by Manchester Market Police.

Gallery

References

{{Use British English, date=December 2020 Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Commercial buildings completed in 1858 Market halls 1858 establishments in England