A campaign by the Manchester Evening News to have the city’s run-down Chorlton Street bus station improved in time for the 2002 Commonwealth Games has been victorious.

Bosses at National Express have agreed to a £3 million makeover to transform the site which has been branded as “shameful” and “a blot on the landscape” by councillors and passengers.

Local politicians praised the newspaper for spotlighting the issue.

City centre boss Pat Karney said: “A big thank you must go to the Manchester Evening News and its readers who have kept the pressure on National Express for a refurbished station.

Thousands of people will arrive in Manchester to watch the Games in two years’ time and the newspaper felt the dirty, draughty, dark station would create a terrible impression.

To highlight the grubby state of Chorlton Street, reporter Martin Dillon travelled to Leeds and Liverpool to see their coach stations and reported that Manchester came a poor third.

The state of the toilets at the Manchester bus station and security aspects – particularly for women passengers – have come in for particular criticism in the Manchester Evening News postbag.

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