A Wurlitzer organ from the Paramount Cinema in Manchester was installed over four years and first used in public in a BBC programme broadcast in September 1977.

Walters' original façade was retained, behind which architects Stephenson Bell designed a 263-bedroom hotel, demolishing Howitt's post-war hall but preserving the main staircase and the 1950s statues that were formerly attached to its rear wall.

On Peter Street, its ground floor arcade has rectangular piers with round-headed arches and spandrels bearing the coats of arms of Lancashire towns that took part in the Anti-Corn Law movement.

The upper floor has a colonnaded arcade, its tympana frieze is richly decorated with carved figures representing free trade, the arts, commerce, manufacture and the continents.

The upper floor has paired Ionic columns to each bay and a tall window with a pedimented architrave behind a balustraded balcony.

The Large Hall was in a classical style with a coffered ceiling, the walls had wood panelling in oak, walnut and sycamore.

Pevsner described it as "the noblest monument in the Cinquecento style in England", whilst Hartwell considered it "a classic which belongs in the canon of historic English architecture.

"[4] After its closure, the hall was sold and after a protracted planning process and consultations with English Heritage, its conversion to a hotel was agreed.

Artifacts salvaged from the old hall, including 1950s statues by Arthur Sherwood Edwards and framed wall plaster autographed by past performers, decorate the atrium light well.

Christabel Pankhurst immediately began an impromptu meeting outside, and when the police moved them on, contrived to be arrested and brought to court.

"Elisse De Vere and Sam Welbo were direct from the continent with a graceful act, a combination of dance and acrobatics.

... De Vere and Welbo operated this system when it was shown at the Manchester Free Trade Hall, as well as presenting their dance act in another part of the programme.

On 4 June 1976, the Lesser Free Trade Hall was the venue for a concert by the Sex Pistols at the start of the punk rock movement.