SJ8398 : Old Wellington Inn
taken 10 years ago, near to Manchester, England
Shambles Square is a square in Manchester, created in 1999 to house the rebuilt Old Wellington Inn and Sinclair's Oyster Bar next to The Mitre Hotel.
The building that is now The Old Wellington Inn was built in 1552 next to Manchester's market square. Sinclairs Oyster House started life in the 18th century as John Shaws Punch House.
In 1974 most of the old property between Shudehill and Market Street was demolished to accommodate the new Arndale Shopping Centre. The Shambles was underpinned with a concrete raft and, according to the Greater Manchester County Records Office, jacked-up 4 feet 9 inches to fit in with this development in the newly created Shambles Square.
In 1998, £12M funding was provided by the government-sponsored Redevelopment Agency English Partnerships, private companies, the European Community and Manchester City Council to redevelop Shambles Square. The buildings were subsequently dismantled and moved 300 metres northwards to their present location, close to Manchester Cathedral in 1999. The Old Wellington Inn and Sinclair's were rebuilt at 90 degrees to each other and joined together by a stone extension to form two sides of the new Shambles Square.