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FIND OUT MOREHot off the press
Top brands sign up at the Trafford Centre, new sightseeing tours of Manchester launched and Manchester's historic library reopens after refurb. Plus much more.
The Trafford Centre announces hot new signings
If Selfridges, John Lewis, M&S and the 227 other stores at The Trafford Centre are not enough to lure you to Manchester's £1.6 billion shopping temple, some new upmarket tenants may change your mind.
New retailers at the centre include Vivienne Westwood Accessories and Hugo Boss, while recently signed high-end brands DKNY, Armani AX, Puma and Fossil are due to start shop fitting in the next few months.
In another major coup for The Trafford Centre, home furnishings and housewares retailer Habitat will soon grace the new Barton Square development, alongside a new Marks and Spencer home store.
Meanwhile, on the dining front, the new £26 million Great Hall development is now open, with Pesto, Pizza Express, Café Rouge, Costa Coffee, Giraffe, Carluccio's and Las Iguanas, while Palm d'Or is expected to join the line-up this summer.
Airport blazes smoke-free trail
Manchester Airport is leading the way in banning smoking in all public areas six weeks before the national ban.
As of the middle of last month, all the cafés, bars and main concourse areas at Manchester Airport have been smoke-free, with smokers required to use designated smoking areas outside the terminal buildings or enclosed smoking pods off the departure lounges.
From July 1, in line with a new law that bans smoking in all enclosed public places in England, the airport will become totally smoke-free, with passengers only allowed to light up in external smoking areas located outside each terminal.
City Sightseeing launches new season
Manchester has enough tourist attractions to keep anyone busy for weeks but if your time here is limited, fear not - the City Sightseeing bus tour is back in town.
City Sightseeing is a global brand operating more than 80 bus tours worldwide. Last month, the company launched its 2007 Manchester tour, with new open-top double-decker buses and updated commentary on the city's transformation into a major metropolis.
The tour starts at St Peter's Square and makes eight stops, including Old Trafford, Sportcity, The Trafford Centre, the Lowry, the Imperial War Museum North and Urbis.
You can hop on daily until Sept 2 and then on weekends only until Oct 14 - with departures every 45 minutes.
Historic library reopens
Manchester's iconic John Rylands University Library has just reopened its doors to visitors after a £16 million revamp.
Widely regarded as one of the region's finest buildings, the stunning neo-Gothic library on Deansgate first opened in 1900 and is now part of the University of Manchester. It contains more than four million printed items, including some of the rarest books and manuscripts in the world, as well as the largest collection of electronic resources in the UK.
The library closed down in 2003 for a multi-million pound refurbishment and development project, which was completed last month. The repaired and revamped building includes a new entrance wing housing a range of visitor facilities, new exhibition galleries and lift access to all public areas.
John Rylands University Library is now open and set to become one of the city's major tourist attractions, as well as a priceless resource for academics and researchers from around the world.
New kid on the block
Manchester's hospitality offering has just grown bigger with the launch of a 285-room City Inn on Auburn Street.
Directly connected to Manchester Piccadilly railway station, the newest addition to the award-winning City Inn chain is within walking distance of the city's central business district and prime shopping areas including King Street, Deansgate and the Arndale Centre.
The hotel comprises 285 guest rooms, an al fresco café and a cocktail lounge that can be booked for meetings or private parties. It also boasts complimentary WiFi and broadband internet access throughout the hotel.
This launch follows the opening of the Hilton Manchester on Deansgate a few months ago and it will shortly be followed by the opening of the 4-star MacDonald Manchester on London Road, reflecting a spectacular growth in the city's tourism industry.
City of opportunity
Film and TV equipment hire firm ProVision is the latest in a number of companies flocking to Manchester in a bid to capitalise on the city's media rush.
Originally part of Yorkshire TV, ProVision was established in Leeds in 1989 and is now owned by ITV Productions. It sources work from broadcasters and independents, and can supply anything from an owner-operator digi-beta camera to a studio set-up as big as Coronation Street.
The company's recently opened Manchester warehouse is packed with around 60 state-of-the-art cameras (film and HD), sound, grip and lighting equipment - including Arri Max lights.
ProVision has dealt with the needs of 46 dramas in the past 12 months, including Cold Blood, Shameless and Coronation Street, and the company's director Adrian Bleasdale expects demand to rise further.
"Manchester is a very exciting place to be at the moment, with the new prospects being offered by the BBC, ITV and indies like Lime Pictures," he says. "The place is so vibrant and so full of opportunity, and we intend to take full advantage of that to be at the forefront of our business."