First look inside the new Jenga-style Leonardo Hotel on Great Ancoats Street

An eye-catching new hotel has opened on Great Ancoats Street – and it’s already won a design award from the Manchester Society of Architects before it even opened its doors.

The striking hotel was the brainchild of Capital&Centric, the developers behind the growth of Manchester’s Piccadilly East neighbourhood, including the nearby Crusader Mill and Phoenix.

Inspired by Milan’s Bosco Verticale (vertical forest) tower blocks, Leonardo Hotel Manchester Piccadilly offers 275 stylish bedrooms, with en-suite bathrooms, complimentary toiletries, the Leonardo DREAM bed, TVs, and spacious, well-lit desks.

Prices for rooms, which range from standard to executive, start from £75 – and bookings are already busy for the coming weeks, they say.

The Jenga-style extends to the interior decor, too, from the artwork on the restaurant walls to the quirky room signs.

Set over 12 floors, there are accessible, wheelchair-friendly bedrooms on each floor with adjoining rooms available in the hotel, which is close to Ancoats, the Northern Quarter and the Etihad while also being close to transport links such as Piccadilly train station and New Islington tram stop.

An on-site gym offers a range of equipment, while a wellness suite for guests offers a relaxing, peaceful space for meditation or yoga.

Users can select a personalised guided yoga or meditation session through one of the smart televisions – and if you’re after a digital detox, you can make use of a timer controlled locking jar to properly take a break from any devices.

Leo’s, the hotel’s on-site bar and restaurant on the ground floor with capacity for 150, serves a range of food and drinks throughout the day, for both dine-in or takeaway.

Options include snacks and starters – the likes of popcorn shrimp, buffalo wings, roasted tomato soup and panko halloumi, all priced around £6 – £8 – as well as larger plates and sandwiches.

Mains (around £10 – £15) include pizzas, spaghetti and meatballs, burgers and salads as well as a ribeye steak with fries and brown butter bearnaise (£23.95), while sandwiches (£8.95 – £11.95) include a classic reuben or retro tuna melt as well as a croque monsieur made with artisan sourdough, smoked ham hock, melted raclette cheese and crunchy cornichons.

Desserts, meanwhile, feature a tiramisu ice cream and white chocolate chip cookie sandwich as well as a banoffee pie with tonka bean cream (both £7.95) amongst other options.

The bar area, meanwhile, is already proving popular as a relaxing place to work remotely from in the daytime, with plenty of plug sockets and natural light plus draping foliage adding to the tranquil, stylish vibe.

Leonardo Hotel Manchester Piccadilly is open now. To book or for more information, visit leonardohotels.co.uk.