Station’s hot on hotel idea

A heritage group has welcomed plans to restore Manchester’s historic London Road fire station.

The Victorian Society, a national charity that fights to preserve important Victorian and Edwardian buildings, said it was pleased plans to convert the Grade–II listed building into a luxury hotel would preserve many of the fire station’s original features.

The 1906 fire headquarters once housed a police station and a coroner’s court as well as about 40 flats where firemen lived with their families.

Owner Britannia Hotels plans to turn the engine sheds into function rooms, and use the coroner’s court as a wedding venue.

The old police station will be converted into a bar and cafe, with the cells kept and transformed into small dining booths.

The original fireman’s poles, which took the men from their living rooms straight down to the engine shed, are to be kept and will feature in many of the hotel’s 227 rooms.