Iconic Granada TV sign removed from Manchester Studios

It’s been a landmark on the Manchester skyline for decades. Introduced not long after the, now defunct, Granada Television brand launched its ITV service to the Northern region back in 1956. However due to “rust” the famous red Granada TV sign is no more.

Today ITV Granada serves the region with local news programming, but for decades the Quay Street studios of Independent Television were proud to be Granada Television from the North. It’s not often a television building and its signage could be as equally as famous as the company itself, but the Manchester base, home to such iconic shows as Coronation Street and World In Action, was a well-known sight not just in the North West but around the UK.

The illuminated Granada TV sign was seen in many local promotions for the region including for many years in “start-up” films, which launched Granada’s broadcasting service every morning until the 1980s.

Regionally in recent times the whole Quay Street building, and sign, was seen on a screen behind the presenters of local news show Granada Reports and nationally this year the building featured firstly in the ITV Leadership Debate which was broadcast live from the studios and only last week the sign was seen a couple of times in the BBC Four drama, The Road To Coronation Street – which looked at how the genius of Tony Warren got the long running serial on air.

ITV say that the sign, one of the last to survive into the 2010s from the days of ‘old regional ITV’, was removed due to the metal casing of the letters being a potential safety hazard.

A spokesperson for ITV Granada said, “During routine maintenance of the Quay Street building the roof signage and its fixtures were found to be extensively corroded. As a result, the signs have been taken down for health and safety reasons.”

The Granada Television brand was dropped on-screen in 2002 when ITV re-branded the regional network as ITV1. All ITVplc owned broadcasters currently use this branding. The Granada brand, with the same red-lettering, was also a familiar sight on motorways with the Granada Service Stations and on the high street with the Granada shops which offered television rental and purchase services.

Earlier this year the Tyne Tees Television sign on Newcastle’s City Road was destroyed along with the building after decades of service and in 2005 the Chevron logo of Yorkshire Television was ‘blown down’ in strong winds from the Leeds studios, having been firmly fixed to the wall since 1968.

“I think it says a lot for studio maintenance doesn’t it, that this keeps happening?” says ATV critic Justin Mason. You can view a Granada Reports video of the sign’s last night lit, and then deconstruction, on Facebook here..