Granada Studios sold to Ikea

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a484710/coronation-street-studio-to-become-ikea-office.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=dsuk&utm_campaign=twdsuk

Can't help but be disappointed that the last bastion of the old ITV regional structure has been flogged to a Swedish flat pack superstore, but I guess it was inevitable. I guess too it kind of says a lot about TV today that it seems to be made in offices rather than studios, though hopefully in the long run MediaCity will reach it's full potential - even if it does feel that ITV Granada are very much a bit part player in it rather than the driving force behind it.

Last bastion is LWT Kent house, which is still going on today.

Well at least it's offices rather than being demolished for a tin shed retail park. Assuming that it is just an office block then it won't be the whole site I'd have thought.
EDIT - oddly the article now says it will be a store


It says it's the 21st century. TV is still made in studios and MediaCity does have studios. It was always made in offices too, the difference now is that a lot of what used to occupy technical blocks has moved onto people's desks.

Yorkshire's studios, UTV and HTVs are still active aren't they?

As are ATV's at Elstree (albeit operated by the BBC) and Rediffusion's at Wembley (albeit operated by Fountain Studios)

I seem to remember this news circulating a while ago, I believe it was only today that it's been reported by a newspaper. Sad to see Quay Street go altogether but it's inevitable, and truthfully there's little to no use of a building the size of Granada's occupying a chunk of central Manchester when ITV don't want it anymore. Granada TV as a local entity in my eyes died many years ago, the final nail in the coffin in my opinion was when they removed the neon Granada TV signs for 'health and safety reasons'. If Granada didn't have Corrie, Quay St would have closed a long time ago.

sad the actual street set may be going too, museum of science and industry are so stupid to let it go, only took a change of manager who wasn't interested, hopfully whoever buys it is somebody who actually wants to keep it and not flatten it, put houses up and try to flog them at extortionate prices just because they're sat on the space which was coronation street

Surely it's been bought by Ikea now?

That article suggest they're going to build an IKEA store on the land.

Also even if the museum next door bought the site, what's to stop ITV digging up the street and knocking the facades down before they hand the site over?

I don't really see how it would have been appropriate for the Museum of Science and Industry to buy the Corrie site. The "television industry" really isn't the sort of industry they specialise in!

Yes, but if they thought it was going to support the rest of the project they probably would and it would have given them a reason to branch out.

Personally, I'm not sure ITV would want a carbon copy of the set to be in existence and for them to have no control over it.

I think it would be nice, if the set could open to the public for a few weeks following the move to Media City. I think interest would be high enough to do it over an intense period of time but not indefinitely.

It's a sad end to the quay street site in years to come we'll tell our kids that's where coronation street used to come from son replies what from that ikea store!