Massive fire in old building in-between Oxford Road and Deansgate Train Station / Was it Arson?

Built in 1801 but abandoned since the mid-1990s / Structure built almost completely of wood / Was it Arson?

In 2018, a joint venture between Blue Dog Property and MCR Property Group secured permission to redevelop the site into a 28-storey apartment building, but it didn’t happen / Was it Arson?

Manner wanted this in part to be redeveloped,

to be in part a 35-storey student tower / An anonymous individual appealed against this and wanted it grade 2 listing only for it to get rejected in Court / Was it Arson?

Twelve hours later, they finally got the fire out / Was it Arson?

Will we get an investigation? / Was it a crime?

Of course, the city will move on / the skyline no

doubt will change into probably into another faceless development / Was it a crime?

Was it murder of our heritage? / Was

it not a fraud everything our ancestors built, stood for, lived, breathed?

Was it a stripping away of our communal memory, a betrayal of our past paved over for

profit in the guise of redevelopment.

Was it the end of summer for this city’s soul?

Was it Arson?

 

 

 

 

(From the forthcoming poetry book 'The End of Summer II' due August 2025)

(Hotspur House is a 19th Century mill in the heart of Manchester. The 56,000 sq ft five-storey warehouse was formerly used as a cotton mill, before being taken over by printing company Percy Brothers. The building was more recently used as a printing shop until 2011 when the building was left vacant. Sadly the major fire in 2025 has now left its future in doubt)

(More Writing here - https://andynartist.substack.com/p/hotspur-press-fire-new-poem)