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Princess Street, MANCHESTER, M1 7AG

Probably late-Victorian former warehouses. Quite plain elevations, all in red brick, most effort reserved for higher up where there are gables with volutes and tall moulded chimneystacks. Chinese restaurant and a bank at ground floor, the offices above looking unoccupied.

This grand building on Oxford Street was formerly the offices of the Refuge Assurance Company. It dates from 1891 when it was designed by Alfred Waterhouse but was significantly extended in 1910 and again in 1932. Refuge vacated it in 1987, moving to new purpose-built offices in Wilmslow, and the name has not survived, the company having since been absorbed into the Royal London Group. The building itself remained vacant for nearly a decade before being converted into a hotel opening as the Palace Hotel in 1996. After several changes of name and ownership, the Kimpton Clocktower name was adopted in 2020 as part of the InterContinental Hotels Group.

Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held Manchester. The event began in the second half of the 1980's as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pride ). It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village, which centres around Canal Street, each year. The ten-day festival culminates in "The Big Weekend", a 72-hour party in Canal Street and the surrounding area over the August bank holiday weekend. The Manchester Pride Parade is the highlight of the Big Weekend and the biggest Parade in Manchester! The Parade is promoted as a fun way to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Greater Manchester, the UK and overseas, and to raise awareness of the issues around HIV. More than 100 floats made their way through the city centre, setting off from Deansgate and ending on Whitworth Street at the gay village. The theme for this year’s Manchester Pride Parade is “Queer’d Science”, in honour of “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code breaker and victim of prejudice,” Alan Turing. The gay computer pioneer was prosecuted for gross indecency for having relations with another man in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later and it was ruled at his inquest that he had committed suicide. A number of charities, venues, public sector bodies, housing authorities, political parties and commercial organisations take part in the parade each year. http://www.manchesterpride.com/parade Manchester Pride Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19379394 BBC News.

Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held Manchester. The event began in the second half of the 1980's as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pride ). It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village, which centres around Canal Street, each year. The ten-day festival culminates in "The Big Weekend", a 72-hour party in Canal Street and the surrounding area over the August bank holiday weekend. The Manchester Pride Parade is the highlight of the Big Weekend and the biggest Parade in Manchester! The Parade is promoted as a fun way to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Greater Manchester, the UK and overseas, and to raise awareness of the issues around HIV. More than 100 floats made their way through the city centre, setting off from Deansgate and ending on Whitworth Street at the gay village. The theme for this year’s Manchester Pride Parade is “Queer’d Science”, in honour of “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code breaker and victim of prejudice,” Alan Turing. The gay computer pioneer was prosecuted for gross indecency for having relations with another man in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later and it was ruled at his inquest that he had committed suicide. A number of charities, venues, public sector bodies, housing authorities, political parties and commercial organisations take part in the parade each year. http://www.manchesterpride.com/parade Manchester Pride Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19379394 BBC News.

The magnificent buildings in Princess St seen from Canal Street.

Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held Manchester. The event began in the second half of the 1980's as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pride ). It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village, which centres around Canal Street, each year. The ten-day festival culminates in "The Big Weekend", a 72-hour party in Canal Street and the surrounding area over the August bank holiday weekend. The Manchester Pride Parade is the highlight of the Big Weekend and the biggest Parade in Manchester! The Parade is promoted as a fun way to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Greater Manchester, the UK and overseas, and to raise awareness of the issues around HIV. More than 100 floats made their way through the city centre, setting off from Deansgate and ending on Whitworth Street at the gay village. The theme for this year’s Manchester Pride Parade is “Queer’d Science”, in honour of “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code breaker and victim of prejudice,” Alan Turing. The gay computer pioneer was prosecuted for gross indecency for having relations with another man in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later and it was ruled at his inquest that he had committed suicide. A number of charities, venues, public sector bodies, housing authorities, political parties and commercial organisations take part in the parade each year. http://www.manchesterpride.com/parade Manchester Pride Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19379394 BBC News.

Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held Manchester. The event began in the second half of the 1980's as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pride ). It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village, which centres around Canal Street, each year. The ten-day festival culminates in "The Big Weekend", a 72-hour party in Canal Street and the surrounding area over the August bank holiday weekend. The Manchester Pride Parade is the highlight of the Big Weekend and the biggest Parade in Manchester! The Parade is promoted as a fun way to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Greater Manchester, the UK and overseas, and to raise awareness of the issues around HIV. More than 100 floats made their way through the city centre, setting off from Deansgate and ending on Whitworth Street at the gay village. The theme for this year’s Manchester Pride Parade is “Queer’d Science”, in honour of “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code breaker and victim of prejudice,” Alan Turing. The gay computer pioneer was prosecuted for gross indecency for having relations with another man in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later and it was ruled at his inquest that he had committed suicide. A number of charities, venues, public sector bodies, housing authorities, political parties and commercial organisations take part in the parade each year. http://www.manchesterpride.com/parade Manchester Pride Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19379394 BBC News.

Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held Manchester. The event began in the second half of the 1980's as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pride ). It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village, which centres around Canal Street, each year. The ten-day festival culminates in "The Big Weekend", a 72-hour party in Canal Street and the surrounding area over the August bank holiday weekend. The Manchester Pride Parade is the highlight of the Big Weekend and the biggest Parade in Manchester! The Parade is promoted as a fun way to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Greater Manchester, the UK and overseas, and to raise awareness of the issues around HIV. More than 100 floats made their way through the city centre, setting off from Deansgate and ending on Whitworth Street at the gay village. The theme for this year’s Manchester Pride Parade is “Queer’d Science”, in honour of “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code breaker and victim of prejudice,” Alan Turing. The gay computer pioneer was prosecuted for gross indecency for having relations with another man in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later and it was ruled at his inquest that he had committed suicide. A number of charities, venues, public sector bodies, housing authorities, political parties and commercial organisations take part in the parade each year. http://www.manchesterpride.com/parade Manchester Pride Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19379394 BBC News.