Inside the extraordinary new 'Jenga' hotel that bosses hope will become a Manchester 'landmark'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

There's a bold new addition to the burgeoning Manchester skyline in the form of the new "Jenga-like" Leonardo Hotel. The hotel, styled like white building blocks at a prime site on Great Ancoats Street, has long been catching the eye of motorists using the main arterial route through the city.

And finally, after an 18-month build, the hotel is ready to welcome its first guests here in Manchester. It's the first Leonardo Hotel in Greater Manchester, and the 16th across the UK as the hotel brand continues its rapid expansion across Europe.

Guests can expect a sleek and stylish hotel, with the white concrete theme of the exterior continued into the lobby with its sleek minimalist style. That is contrasted with green trees and vegetation that will be planted in each of the blocks jutting out of the side of the exterior which have earned its comparisons to the famous Jenga block game, as well as through the ground floor bar and restaurant Leo's.

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Hotel bosses hope to capitalise on the venue's prime Ancoats location close to both the city centre and to the Etihad Stadium at Eastlands. Indeed, it opens just as the Etihad is primed to host some of the city's biggest music gigs for years in the month ahead - with Liam Gallagher and Ed Sheeran playing there next week.

The hotel's manager Ryan Foster said: "It's a very exciting time to open, and it's been great to see the reaction so far. Even when people are driving past here you can see them looking up and out the window at the building.

"It's become quite a landmark - you can even see it from the train station at Piccadilly as soon as you walk out. It's great to be such a landmark building that people are