On a recent holiday in Manchester I was saddened to see that the Free
Trade Hall has been mostly demolished.  The Free Trade Hall was a fine
historic building which was a centre of Manchester cultural life for
over 150 years.  The auditorim was badly damaged in WW2 but it was one
of the first buildings to be restored after the war as a symbol of civic
pride and renewal.  Great concerts were once held in the hall, most
notably by Barbirolli and Hans Richter.

Today the auditoriam and whole rear of the hall are gone, leaving only
the (stunning) facade.  In their place there seems to be a massive
concrete tower block.  It would be difficult to imagine something more
out of scale to the remaining facade.  Bizarely, developers built a new
convention centre within metres of the demolished FTH.  This new development
is modern and surprisingly plain.  Surely a revamped FTH would have made
a more impressive alternative as a conference venue?

David Harbin
Nottingham, UK