page_title: Free Trade Hall
section_title: Events
hierarchical_section_title: Free Trade Hall / Events
caption_attribution_description: Plaque commemorating the Peterloo Massacre of 16 August 1819. Sited on the wall of what was the Free Trade Hall, now the Radisson Hotel, in Peter Street, Manchester, England.
context_page_description: The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street, Manchester, England, was a public hall, constructed in 1853–56 on St Peter’s Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now a Radisson 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 the Manchester Corporation. It was bombed in the Manchester Blitz; its interior was rebuilt and was Manchester's premier concert venue until the construction of the Bridgewater Hall in 1996. The hall was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1963.
context_section_description: The Free Trade Hall was a venue for public meetings and political speeches and a concert hall. Charles Dickens performed here in the summer of 1857 in Wilkie Collins's play The Frozen Deep. 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.
  After Sir Charles Hallé founded the Hallé Orchestra in 1858, its home was the Free Trade Hall until the hall was damaged in the Manchester Blitz. The Hallé performed at the reopening in 1951 with the Orchestra's musical director and conductor, Sir John Barbirolli who remained until 1970. The final concert there was in 1996.Kathleen Ferrier sang at the re-opening of the Free Trade Hall in 1951, ending with a performance of Elgar's "Land of Hope and Glory", the only performance of that piece in her career.
  Bob Dylan played here in 1965, and again in 1966, the occasion of the "Judas!" shout. In the late 60s Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, The Moody Blues, Tyrannosaurus Rex, (Marc Bolan) and The Dubliners played there amongst others. Pink Floyd played on five occasions as did Genesis on January 30, 1971 (during the Six Bob Tour together with Lindisfarne and Van der Graaf Generator) as well as 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.
   This concert would prove influential as it inspired bands such as Joy Division, The Smiths, and The Fall.
caption: A commemorative plaque on the side of the Manchester Free Trade Hall
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