Dozens of people queued around the block to get inside Stockport's 'really cool' Weir Mill development, with some left 'emotional' at the transformation of the historic site. The former cotton mill on the banks of the River Mersey, which dates back to 1790, has been turned into a neighbourhood featuring apartments, bars, restaurants, coffee spots and shops.
The project has been eagerly awaited, with many trying to sneak a peek beyond the railings in the weeks before the site opened to the public on August 22. Across the site's new and refurbished buildings, there are 253 apartments for rent, alongside businesses including a riverside Italian restaurant, a wine bar that will be a 'UK first', a bookshop, and a bar focused on women's sports.
£60m transformation of historic mill
The scheme is similar to other Manchester-based Capital & Centric developments like Kampus near Canal Street. Weir Mill, which sits under the arches of Stockport's iconic railway viaduct, has been driven forward by Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), a partnership between Stockport council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Capital & Centric co-founder Tim Heatley said: "It was fantastic to see so many people that had turned up, not necessarily to rent a home or go have a drink in one of the bars but literally just people wandering through amazed at the transformation of the place."
'Slightly chaotic' scenes due to demand
Previously, the site had not been open to the public, but now people 'have got acres of public space available to them' - the development is twice the size of Kampus. Heatley told the Manchester Evening News: "I think people were really blown away in a really lovely and positive way. We had lots of people turning up to look at the apartments, people turning up to use the coffee shops, going and visiting the wine bar and the sport's bar that have already opened and coming to have a nosy at all the green space that has been created."
He added: "We had a lot of people walking through leaning on the walls looking out across the river they couldn't see and enjoy anywhere else. I got chatting to an older gentleman who said he used to live further down the river and he was a little emotional. I never thought I would see the river looking like this, that it was orange with strange colours and a bad smell. We have put plants and trees around it and it looks lovely and green."
Suburban demand and growth
Because of the demand around the development, he said there had been 'slightly chaotic scenes because we didn't expect so many people to turn up saying they wanted to rent'. Heatley said part of the reason people were moving in was that people are now looking to move out to the suburbs. Weir Mill, with its close location to Stockport railway station and the Interchange bus hub, means people can be at Piccadilly in a matter of minutes.
Heatley said they had been told by some residents they were moving to Stockport from Manchester 'because it's cool and better value', adding: "To me, it was great because having talked about this project coming forward and have people saying "it's under the flight path, next to the motorway, and under the train tracks, who would want to live there?" It tells you you are onto something."
He added: "Manchester has gotten so many and big which is greater and it still still continues to grow but the opportunities for the suburbs is to capitalise on that success and growth of Manchester city centre and you have to give people everything they have got in the city centre. I think it's great to see really high quality developments. Manchester set the bar but can you deliver that in the suburbs? This shows you can and if you do, there is absolutely the demand for it."
