Kimpton Clocktower Hotel

IHG's Kimpton brand made its UK debut in October 2020 inside the Grade II*-listed former Refuge Assurance Building, Alfred Waterhouse's Victorian insurance headquarters turned hotel. The 270-room conversion is the latest chapter for a building that has operated as a hotel since 1989 under four previous names, most recently The Principal Manchester. Owner Covivio and operator IHG kept the acclaimed 2016 restoration largely intact, repositioning the landmark for a design-led lifestyle guest.

The place

The hotel occupies the corner of Oxford Street and Whitworth Street in central Manchester, directly opposite Oxford Road station and a ten-minute walk from Piccadilly, putting both mainline rail hubs within reach. It anchors the southern edge of the city centre near the Gay Village and the Oxford Road cultural corridor — a location that trades footfall for one of the city's most recognisable skylines, its clock tower visible across much of Manchester.

The concept

Built in phases between 1891 and 1932 to house the Refuge Assurance Company, the building is one of Manchester's most photographed landmarks: red brick and terracotta walls, a clock tower, and interiors of glazed brick, faience and stained glass designed chiefly by Alfred Waterhouse, with later extensions by his son Paul Waterhouse and by Stanley Birkett. Refuge Assurance moved out in 1987, and the building reopened as a hotel in 1989. It has since traded under a string of names — Palace Hotel from 1996 following a refit, Le Méridien Palace Manchester from 2001, and The Principal Manchester from 2016, when a £25 million restoration by architects 3DReid and interior designers Michaelis Boyd stripped out 1990s alterations and recovered much of the original ballroom, banking hall and staircases. In 2018, French real-estate group Covivio bought the Principal portfolio from Starwood Capital and appointed IHG to manage the properties, bringing the Kimpton brand to the UK for the first time. The Manchester property reopened as the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel on 1 October 2020, its 270 rooms and 11 suites keeping the 2016 restoration's fabric — wood panelling, tiled brickwork, original fireplaces — while Kimpton's house style added vinyl records, gig-poster art and other nods to the city's music scene.

Dining & wellness

Food and drink centres on two spaces salvaged from the original building: the Winter Garden, an all-day restaurant and bar under a glazed atrium roof, and Refuge by Volta, a bar and small-plates restaurant in the former banking hall known locally for cocktails and live music. Kimpton's nightly Social Hour offers guests complimentary drinks in the lobby. The hotel's 1,000-capacity Grand Ballroom, restored in 2016, is billed as the largest hotel ballroom in north-west England. There is no spa or pool, but a 24-hour fitness centre equipped by Technogym covers wellness.