Manchester's Free Trade Hall is to be turned into a £45m hotel after more than five years of negotiation over its design.

Radisson Edwardian Hotels will operate the 263-room, five star hotel to be developed at the grade II listed hall and due to open in 2004. The site of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, the hall has been a venue for social and political reforms during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Alfred McAlpine Special Projects, the O'Rourke Group and Laings will start work early in 2002. The development of this high-quality hotel will put the finishing touches to the development of Manchester as a dynamic international convention destination, said leader of Manchester City Council, Richard Leese.