Trafford Centre - interesting facts
Published on Friday 26th of February 2021
The Trafford Shopping Centre has been part of the Manchester area for over twenty years now and here is some interesting facts about it that you may not know:-
Near one of the Trafford Centre’s entrances is The Great Hall and features one of the worlds biggest chandeliers, it weighs in at an amazing 5 and half tons, featuring thousands of Chinese crystals. Many visitors stop in awe at this amazing feature.
If you have watched the film Titanic you might recognize the Chicken Red Marble staircase in The Great Hall, as it’s based on one inside the famous ship.
Based at the Trafford Centre is Europe’s biggest food court, The Orient, with 1,600 seats available for diners to take time out to re charge their batteries. The Orient is designed to look like an ocean liner travelling around the world, with a ceiling of 2000 bright stars and constellations from the Milky Way.
At The Great Hall’s entrance is the Trafford Centre Sculpture featuring a griffin and a unicorn. These are both featured on the Trafford Centre Coat of Arms and this took 16 months to finish.
The main dome is based on the dome at St Paul’s Cathedral, London and is near the first Selfridges store outside of London. Selfridges attracts many shoppers from Manchester looking for high end designer brands and watches.
A time capsule was buried in the floor in 1998 by local Manchester primary school Barton Clough. This can be found under a plaque in the main dome. Students from the same Manchester school placed pictures of the Trafford Centre, in another capsule in 2020, at the newly refurbished Barton Square.
The Trafford Centre’s amazing marble malls have many gold and brass features. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to keep 3.5 miles of brass clean!
Watching over you are many portraits, above entrances and doorways. These are individuals who help to design and build the Trafford Centre including artists, developers and architects.
Watch out for the next Loo of the year awards as it is more than likely the Trafford Centre will win it again, as they have won it 17 times previously. Amazingly the centre has 135 toilets and 60 urinals! The Trafford Centre is surrounded by a 150-acre landscaping area featuring a preserved Wilderspool Wood. For any ornithologists, you can see many British birds within this wood and have a break from the shops.
Author: M Flanders
