The Free Trade Hall in Peter Street, Manchester, England, was a public hall constructed in 1853–6 on St Peter’s Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre and is now a hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The architect was Edward Walters. The hall was owned by Manchester Corporation. It was bombed in the Manchester Blitz and its interior rebuilt. It was Manchester’s premier concert venue until the construction of the Bridgewater Hall in 1996. The hall was designated a Grade II* listed building on 18 December 1963.
The Free Trade Hall was a venue for public meetings and political speeches and a concert hall. In 1872 Benjamin Disraeli gave his One nation speech. In 1904, Winston Churchill delivered a speech at the hall defending Britain’s policy of free trade. The Times called it, “one of the most powerful and brilliant he has made.” In 1905 the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) activists, Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney were ejected from a meeting addressed by the Liberal politician Sir Edward Grey, who repeatedly refused to answer their question on Votes for Women. Christabel Pankhurst immediately began an impromptu meeting outside, and when the police moved them on, contrived to be arrested and brought to court. So began the militant WSPU campaign for the vote.Bob Dylan played on there in 1965 and 1966, Pink Floyd played on five occasions as did Genesis in February 1973. On 4 June 1976, the Lesser Free Trade Hall was the venue for a concert by the Sex Pistols at the start of the punk rock movement.
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