Palace Hotel.

The Palace Hotel or Refuge Building, stands at the corner of Oxford Street and Whitworth Street in Manchester.

The first phase of this Grade II* listed red brick and terracotta building was designed for the Refuge Assurance Company by Alfred Waterhouse and built 1891-5. The inside was of Burmantofts faience and glazed brick. The ground floor was one enormous open business hall.

Between 1910-12 It was extended, with a striking 217 foot clock tower, by Alfred waterhouse`s son Paul and in 1932 extended again by Stanley Birkett.

It was converted to a hotel (by Richard Newman) in 1996, and renamed the Palace Hotel.

The hotel has recently had a £7 million refurbishment to bring the hotel's 257 bedrooms up to today's high four star standards.

From outside the Palace is and impressive and imposing building in itself but inside is someting else, the quality and craftsmenship are second to none and the place oozes with class.

From the marble flooring to the ornate tiled corridors and stained glass windows, the place really is stunning in every way.

I have discounted exploring the city centre for so long its untrue but with the mention of a live infiltration the offer was too good to miss.

So with that myself, Alley, Gazza and Mofo headed into Manchester city centre on a typical cold wet and windy day, with the amount of people in the city on a weekend its so easy to become invisible.

The hotel was packed with people casually wandering about there business, as we calmly strolled inside and made our way through the hotel and up onto the roof tops to our target, the clock tower.