People ask me this a lot.
Usually with a slightly raised eyebrow, as if Spinningfields or St Peter's Square were the obvious answer and I'd taken a wrong turn on the way there.
They're not wrong that those are good places. But for the businesses we want at The Groves, Piccadilly Basin makes more sense. Here's why.
Next to the busiest station in the North West
Bridge House sits on Ducie Street, a short walk from Manchester Piccadilly. It's the busiest railway station in the North West, with rail and tram links across the city and the country.
That matters more than it sounds.
If you work in property, half your week is somebody else's site, office or boardroom. Clients come up from London. Lenders come over from Leeds. The architect is in Liverpool on Tuesdays. Being able to step off a train and be in a meeting a few minutes later is worth a lot of time over a year... and a fair amount of goodwill from the people visiting you.
It's why our boardroom (up to 12) and two meeting rooms (up to 6 each) are such a big part of the building. Clients can get to them easily, and occupiers and virtual office members can book them. There's more on the rooms on our amenities page, and more on the area on our location page.
In the path of Manchester's next wave of growth
Piccadilly isn't standing still.
In 2025, planning was approved for the Manchester Digital Campus, a government hub for around 7,000 civil servants on Great Ancoats Street. That's a short walk from The Groves.
It sits inside the wider Piccadilly growth area, which the council expects to support up to 40,000 jobs and around 13,000 new homes.
I won't pretend to know exactly when every crane comes down. Big schemes take as long as big schemes take. But if you're a business that makes its living from property, being in the middle of one of the city's largest regeneration areas is no bad thing. You'll see the work going on from your window... and the people doing it will need somewhere to meet.
Between the Northern Quarter and Ancoats
Step out of Bridge House and you're between two of Manchester's best neighbourhoods.
The Northern Quarter is a short walk one way: independent shops, bars, cafes and restaurants, and the sort of streets where client lunches tend to run long.
Ancoats is a short walk the other: converted mills, more great places to eat, and new homes along the canal.
Piccadilly Basin itself is a canal-side quarter of converted warehouses, new homes and workspaces, with the towpath running right past the building. It's quieter than the streets around it, which is useful when you need to think.
A wharf with a working history
Bridge House is a modern building. The history is in the water next to it.
In 1798 the Ashton Canal reached the basin here. In 1800, a short link at Ducie Street joined it to the Rochdale Canal, connecting Manchester to the mill towns and across the Pennines to Yorkshire.
The wharves around the basin handled coal, limestone, stone, sand and timber, and great warehouses grew up to serve them. In 1867 the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway built four cotton warehouses here, filling in part of the old canal basin as rail began to take the canals' trade. One still stands just along Ducie Street: the seven-storey, Grade II listed London Warehouse, now the Native aparthotel.
The canals declined through the twentieth century and were later restored. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the street found a new kind of trade, with 808 State and Simply Red working from Ducie House.
I like that. It's always been a place where people came to do business. We're just changing the goods.
There's a longer version of the story on the building page.
Why it suits professional firms
Put all of that together and you get a location that works for the firms we're building The Groves for:
- Architects and designers who want clients to find them easily
- Agents and surveyors who are out on site half the week
- Lawyers, lenders and advisory firms who need a good room for a meeting
- Anyone who'd rather take the train than sit on the M60
Then add the bit that makes The Groves different: one business per suite, all firms that introduce work to each other, with introductions made and monthly events to bring people together. The aim is that the work you pass between neighbours is worth more to your business than the suite itself.
You can see the suites and sizes here.
Not ready for a suite?
Fair enough. A virtual office gives your business a Groves address beside Piccadilly Basin, with mail handled for you and meeting rooms to book when a client needs to see a real office.
And if you're hosting something, the event space takes up to 50, with AV and catering from our in-house team.
FAQs
How far is The Groves from Manchester Piccadilly station? It's a short walk. Bridge House is on Ducie Street, beside Piccadilly Basin.
Is The Groves in Ancoats or the Northern Quarter? It's in Piccadilly Basin, between the two, with both a short walk away.
Can I visit before it opens? Yes, tours are by appointment. Practical completion is targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
If you'd like to see it for yourself, book a tour or email hello@thegroves-mcr.co.uk. I'll even point you towards a decent lunch afterwards.
Marcus