Albert Square 'looks like a building site'

Business owners fume over portacabins in place during renovation of town hall and are now demanding council does 'everything in its power' to clear them

VERY week for the past four years, restaurant owner David Fox has walked across Albert Square to be met by the same, demoralising vision. Portable cabins piled high on top of each other, while Manchester Town Hall's iconic architecture is shrouded behind white sheets and scaffolding.

The ongoing building works on Manchester's central square have obscured any kind of view from and of David's restaurant Tampopo that he proudly established in his home city 26 years ago at the site on the far side of Albert Square.

The delayed works have had a costly impact on his business - and others all around the civic square.

Not least because Albert Square has been unable to hold the big public events like summer festivals and the Manchester Christmas Markets that had, in the past, drawn huge crowds to this part of the city.

Manchester council bosses last week announced that the ongoing Our Town Hall works, due to have initially been complete in December 2023, are delayed again - and will now take another TWO years to complete.

An extra £76m of public funding is also needed, pushing the project to a staggering £430million.

The latest delays have left David, and a host of fellow business owners in this part of town, simply fuming.

He is now demanding the council do "everything in their power" to get Albert Square clear of the portable cabins and cordons to ensure it is back in use as soon as possible - and most definitely in time for next year's festive run-in.

David says: "I think we can all agree we need to get the wretched portacabins removed and the square reopened as soon as is possible. Most building projects don't have the luxury of using one of the best civic squares in Europe to put their building works on.