'It's bit surreal': Mancs want 'Chanel Tunnel' to stay in Northern Quarter as catwalk canopy's future considered

Mancs have welcomed the news that the ‘Chanel Tunnel’ could stay in the Northern Quarter followingthe brand’s exclusive Metiers d’Art show. On Friday, the Manchester Evening News revealed the huge structure - specifically designed for Thomas Street - could fall into the council’s ownership as Chanel has said it has no use for it going forward.

The authority has been given until early in the new year to say if it wants to own the canopy, which must be taken down in the next few days as it doesn’t have the necessary, permanant planning permissions in place.

It’s thought that taking it down and giving it to the council could see the structure becoming a permanent fixture in town, but to do so would require a new planning application be approved, and ‘would also require a significant financial commitment’, a spokesperson for the authority added.

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Funding for that could not come from the taxpayer, or ‘other local stakeholders’, the spokesperson added. But council chiefs ‘remain open-minded about looking at opportunities to using such a bespoke structure for events in this space in the future’, they continued.

And the idea seems to have the backing of Mancs in the area, too. The day after the Chanel show, scores of people visited the catwalk — open so people could walk down for the first time in weeks — and snapped photos, marvelled at the metalwork, and even ripped off sections of the Chanel posters on the wall.

Of the people the Evening News spoke to on Friday, all of them were supportive of keeping it in