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Iconic BBC sign taken off Oxford Road building after 35 years

BBC sign coming down - photo publihsed on Twitter by Richard Newton

It was the final curtain call for the BBC building on Oxford Road as the corporation’s famous logo was removed.

Thirty-five years of broadcasting from the former HQ came to an end as BBC Radio Manchester and North West Tonight made the switch to MediaCity UK.

The moment was captured by reader Richard Newton who saw workers removing the sign and posted pictures on Twitter.

The 300,000 sq-ft building has been occupied by the BBC since 1976.

Many of the corporation’s flagships shows were broadcast or made at Oxford Road, including A Question of Sport, Red Dwarf and more recently Life on Mars.

A documentary charting some of the classic programmes made at the site – TV Greats: Our Favourites from the North — was shown on Saturday.

Thousands of staff are moving to Salford from Oxford Road and other locations around the country, including Television Centre in central London.

Several high-profile shows including Blue Peter and Match of the Day are now being broadcast from the new home.

The Oxford Road building has been bought by Manchester-based developers Realty Estates for a fee believed to be in the region of £10m.

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That's not the original sign.

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Coming to a Proper City!

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I always wondered what BBC stood for ?

:O

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Yawn....

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Best Before Capitalism

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And ITV have still not replaced the Granada sign on Quay Street building after their pretend excuse that it was removed for health and safety reasons. ITV was southern TV and Granada (from the north) was always northern TV.

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Does anyone really care?

A sign taken down as they will be using alternative premises, what a shock.

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The word 'iconic' has to be one of the most overused words in the English language. The BBC building on Oxford Road is 'iconic', the zebra crossing the Beatles walked across is 'iconic' the Royal Albert Hall is 'iconic', the Arndale Centre is 'iconic'. The list is endless. I'm sick of hearing of buildings, signs, vehicles, etc being described as 'iconic'. The BBC sign is not 'iconic', it's a sign. That's all. Just a sign.

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That sign wasn't there for 35 years.

The BBC changed the sign a few times - they didn't need to care about the cost as they enjoyed decades of inflation busting licence fee increases courtesy of the government.

I'm glad the BBC is leaving the city centre for the wastelands of the disused Salford docks.

Good riddance.

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Hope a much better building is put on the site, than that concrete monstrosity! Built in the decade, taste forgot, or were we northerners not worthy of anything better?

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I thought BBC Manchester was still on Piccadilly 'till 1979?

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