BODDINGTON'S towering brick chimney is all that remains of the Strangeways brewery.

The complex of small buildings has now been levelled, but the chimney has listed building status and will not be demolished.

The area will be used as a car park while developers finalise plans for the site's future.

The brewery shut down in February 2005 despite many protests, with workers clocking off for the final time in its 227-year history, and the site was sold to Ask Developments and Realty Estates for £12m.

Production of Boddington's popular bitter, once billed as the Cream of Manchester, has moved to Lancashire, south Wales and Scotland.

John Hughes, development director at Ask, said: "The site will be used as a temporary car park for up to 400 cars, while further consultation with the city council and other stakeholders takes place. This consultation is expected to be over by the end of the year."

Ask's chief executive Ken Knott ruled out a residential development or supermarket when his company acquired the site in May last year. We are not going to do another Green Quarter," he said. "It will primarily be business space with some retail and leisure. It is a strategic site in a prominent location close to the station and the M.E.N. Arena and deserves a high-quality scheme."

As well as the chimney, three wells below the original brew house, from where water was originally drawn to brew beer, have been kept.