Stay for the winter, Gary Neville reportedly tells hotel squatters
SQUATTERS at the site of a new boutique hotel in Manchester were shocked when Gary Neville told them yesterday that they could stay for the winter.
The Manchester Angels occupied the former Northern Stock Exchange building at the weekend which owners Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs are turning in to a boutique hotel.
A message posted on the Angels’ Facebook page said: “I’m crying… Just got off the phone from Gary Neville. He’s letting us stay for a few months over the winter period and he’s gonna help us with intervention.”
“From my point of view, I’m quite relaxed about this,” Neville is reported to have told Wesley Hall, an activist from the Manchester Angels group.
The group are renaming the building the “Sock Exchange” for the duration of their occupation. Accommodation, food, health check ups, workshops and advice are all planned at the temporary hub for homeless people.
Manchester United legends Neville and Giggs purchased the 1907-built, Grade-II listed stocked exchange in 2013 and local planners approved their plans to turn it into a 35-room boutique hotel with members’ lounge and private terrace earlier this year. The duo also opened a football-themed hotel at Old Trafford this year.
