
In its prime
Eddy Rhead laments loss of a short lived Mancunian watering hole: “The Quay Bar failed to work due to poor management. It lay empty and became vandalised. A ‘developer’ bought the site with the intention of building a 15 storey building http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/manchesters-quay-bar-falls-from-stirling-glory-to-demolition/295021.article

How it was lit up at night
It is still an empty site and will probably remain so. So wasteful and so utterly depressing.
James Thorp agrees. “The Quay Bar became vacant as popularity of the bar wained, becoming dilapidated and a local crack den, repeatedly attacked by arsonists it was demolished in 2007. I’m not from the architects but I do mourn the loss of this building. It was a Stirling nominee and won several other awards.
Look at the picture again! Read again what type of people were using it! What goes up must come down. Christ get over yourselves! It’s an eyesore and needed to go! Boo Hoo tear tear. I want my mummy!
Totally agree, nothing attractive there, flat roof probably leaked.
The point isn’t that it was an extraordinarily beautiful building, it could have added life to a site which will now become another development of buy-to-let shoeboxes
Also, this probably isn’t the site for you if your attitude is “what goes up must come down”!
The idea that this stinking, crumbling Mancunian canalside would become an established, regular venue for the moneyed brasserie-and-bar crowd to hang out was absurdly optimistic – if not laughably ignorant of the reality. Which is that the only reason for the location being frequented in the first place was the lure of an accessible and usefully-darkened towpath…
Meanwhile anyone who went and bought a tiny studio in one of the hideous Changing Rooms-type 90s developments around there for £silly because there were £50 haircuts and £4 coffees locally available – serves you pathetic posers right.
Bitter, Topov?
Albert’s Shed & Dukes across the way seem to do alright, however I see Barca has closed and is likely to go the same way as Quay Bar. Knott Bar is a good local in this area, hardly poser-like.
Would you describe Canal Street as stinking and crumbling?