Manchester Jewish Museum closes for £5m redevelopment

Ex-synagogue, once at heart of thriving Jewish quarter, aims to become community hub

Surrounded by a brutalist modern-day industrial estate, an extraordinary piece of 19th-century architecture peeps out from behind an overgrown hedge.

The Grade II*-listed building described by English Heritage as "one of the highlights of Victorian Gothic architecture in the country" is the oldest surviving synagogue in Manchester. However, this red-brick mismatch with its surroundings is somewhat unloved, after being deserted by its congregation in the 1980s.