The Midland Hotel is a large and luxurious hotel designed in an Edwardian Baroque style. It opened in September 1903, built by the Midland Railway to serve Manchester Central railway station which was located directly behind it. It is a Grade II listed building. One of Manchester’s hidden waterways, the River Tib, runs under the Midland Hotel dining room.
It was described at the time as a “Twentieth century palace”. The hotel had a 1,000-seat purpose-built theatre where opera and theatrical performances were staged, and a roof terrace where a string quartet performed.
The hotel houses two restaurants: The French, and the recently refurbished and renamed Mr. Cooper’s House & Garden, named in tribute to the coach-maker Thomas Cooper, whose house and garden occupied the hotel site in 1819. Previous to its current incarnation, Mr. Cooper’s House & Garden was known as The Colony, named so after the cotton traders who sold raw cotton to mill owners, and who referred to themselves as the Old Cotton Club. Thomas Cooper’s garden was famous for its strawberries, gooseberries, apples and flowers. On special days the public were welcomed into the garden to enjoy it.
During the day, when off-duty, the canal sharks lived in the dirty shallow waters of the River Tib, deep underground.
Links: http://www.mrcoopershouseandgarden.co.uk/about