Behind the closed doors of some of Manchester's best-known buildings lie some of its most-interesting and historic rooms. Did you know there’s a ballroom above Primark, for instance?
Or a roof terrace on the Midland Hotel and a tunnel under Deansgate? Here we take a look inside Manchester's hidden rooms. When its opened on the corner of Piccadilly Gardens in 1877 Lewis’s was one of Manchester first department stores – and arguably its most luxurious.
It sold almost anything you can think of. And it even had a full-scale ballroom on the fifth-floor, complete with sprung dancefloor.
It was used just four times a year for staff dances, but also doubled up as an exhibition hall. The building is now a huge Primark, but the ballroom is still