From shopping centre, to eyesore to demolition site: Central Retail Park has finally gone - so what next?

It was a view familiar to Mancunians, but it's now a city centre landscape which has been consigned to history.

Central Retail Park on Great Ancoats Street, which used to be home to stores such as Toys R Us, Mothercare, Argos and JD Sports, has now been completely demolished.

Work has been ongoing over the past few months to pull down the now derelict shops, which have been there since the 1980s.

It's envisaged that apartments will be built on the area.

Central Retail Park in March, as demolition work begun (ABNM Photography)

It comes as a number of housing developments continue on land surrounding the old retail park, including Islington Wharf Locks on Old Mill Street, and the Oxygen site off Store Street.

Manchester council bought the retail park in 2017, in what was later described as the largest ever land purchase in the city centre.

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The amount the council paid for the land was not disclosed, with the council citing commercial sensitivity.

The former owners of the retail park once planned to revitalise the dilapidated plot.

All that remains of the former Central Retail Park is a pile of industrial waste (ABNM Photography)

Since then, land such as that on Great Ancoats Street has become prime estate for developers looking to cash in on the city centre property boom.

Manchester council previously said it wants the 10.5 acre site, which runs between the Rochdale Canal and Old Mill Street, to be part of the growing Ancoats and New Islington neighbourhoods.

No developer has currently been announced to work on the site.

The council has said a masterplan for the site will be drawn up.

The former Toys R Us store when the retail park was still open, pictured in 2017 (Manchester Evening News)

For the past few months, the retail park had become an eerie reminder of its former heyday, with empty tills and 'closing down sale' signs.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, previously said: "It is the Council’s ambition to transform the former Central Retail Park as a key gateway into the Ancoats and New Islington neighbourhoods.

"Demolition has begun on the existing properties to prepare the site for redevelopment while a Masterplan is drawn up for the site.

The view of the former retail park, looking towards apartments on Redhill Street in Ancoats (ABNM Photography)

"The Development Framework and any subsequent planning applications for all or part of the site will be subject to full consultation and the Council will also be considering interim uses."

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