Salford Quays

Ontario Basin

Today I had a walk around Salford Quays, where I took the photos on this page.

The Manchester Ship Canal terminated at the Port of Manchester, which was re-branded as Salford Quays in 1984. Before the canal was built, ocean going ships had to unload their cargoes in Liverpool, for onward transportation by rail. The Manchester business community thought the changes made by the port of Liverpool and the railway companies were excessive. So, they decided to build a large canal.

It took six years to build, starting in 1887.

It cost just over £15 million, around £1.7 billion in today’s money (2025).

The port got off to a slow start. Ship owners were worried about their ships getting stuck in Manchester. Often there were no cargoes available in Manchester for the return trip. The canal did not make a profit until the nineteen-twenties. Eventually, the port of Manchester became the third busiest in the UK. Its busiest year was 1958, when it handled 18 million long tons of cargo.

After that, ocean going ships started to get bigger, too big for the canal. The port also failed to introduce modern modern-freight handling methods. Containerisation became more and more common; the container ships became far too big for the canal. The port of Manchester closed in 1984.

In its heyday it must have been quite a sight.

In 1984 Salford City Council used a derelict land grant to purchase the docks, rebranding the area as Salford Quays. The whole area was redeveloped over the following years, resulting in what you see now.

The lifting bridge

The lifting bridge was completed in 2000 and carries a foot bridge over the canal from Salford to Trafford.

In 2011, a new footbridge, the media city bridge was completed. It is not a lifting bridge so it restricts the size of ships that can pass under it. It makes the lifting bridge more or less redundant.

Media City, where the BBC and ITV have studios

The Media City foot bridge

Looking down Erie basin

The lifting bridge

Small boats in Manchester Dry Docks

Media Satellite dishes at Manchester Dry Docks

The Media City foot bridge

Mode Wheel locks, the last on the canal

North Bay

The lifting bridge

Gnome Island

Originally, I wasn’t going to take photos in this area. I’d walked around the docks arriving at the Imperial War Museum tram stop. I decided to get a tram into Manchester from there. I was hot and my legs were hurting a little. The next stop was wharfside, I made a quick decision to get of the tram there. Which resulted in the photo of Gnome Island above and those below.

Trafford Road swing bridge

This bridge was originally a swing bridge to allow larger vessels to get to the upper reaches of the canal. It was refurbished in 1998 and fixed in place.

The lifting bridge

The lifting bridge across the central bay

In 1994 the Manchester Ship Canal was acquired by Peel Holdings, the owners of the port of Liverpool. In 2011 they announced a £50 billion plan, known as the Ocean Gateway plan, to develop the port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal as a way of easing congestion on the roads. The Ocean Gateway website has lots of information about the plan.

They plan to build a new port on the canal, the Port of Salford, a couple of miles down the canal.