The Printworks entertainment venue is located on the revamped Withy Grove site of the business premises of the 19th century newspaper proprietorEdward Hulton, established in 1873 and later expanded. Hulton's son Sir Edward Hulton expanded his father's newspaper interests and sold his publishing business based in London and Manchester to Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere when he retired in 1923. Most of the Hulton newspapers were sold again soon afterwards to the Allied Newspapers consortium formed in 1924. Earlier names of the buildings associated with publishing that were incorporated into the development include Withy Grove Printing House, the Chronicle Buildings, Allied House, Kemsley House, Thomson House and Maxwell House. Kemsley House on the corner of Withy Grove and Corporation Street was developed gradually from 1929 and became the largest newspaper printing house in Europe. The site housed a printing press until 1986. Robert Maxwell bought the property and subsequently closed it down. The building was left unused for over a decade and fell derelict.
Redevelopment
The property was subsequently redeveloped and reopened as a leisure centre as part of the redevelopment of Manchester following the 1996 IRA bombing. In 1998 the derelict building and surrounding site were bought for £10 million by Shudehill Developments, a joint venture by Co-operative Wholesale Society and Co-operative Insurance Society which owned buildings and land adjacent to the building. The building was renamed The Printworks reflecting its past history and underwent a £110 million conversion to transform the property into an entertainment venue. The frontage Pevsner describes as a "weakly BaroquePortland stone façade" was retained, and part of an internal railway from the newspaper business and its turntable for transporting newspapers was incorporated into the new floor. In 2000 the Printworks was opened by Sir Alex Ferguson and Lionel Richie as the venue for a variety of clubs and eateries. The new 365,000-square-foot facility is set over four floors. The new building features a twenty-screen UCI cinema complex which includes North West England's first IMAX screen, a Virgin Activefitness club, a Hard Rock Cafe restaurant and a Eden nightclub. The external lighting facing Exchange Square has been changed numerous times since opening.
