It was the momentous occasion campaigners had spent years fighting for.

The public have finally allowed behind London Road fire station’s stunning facade - as its new owners revealed an extraordinary vision for the landmark site.

New owners Allied London, whose purchase of the treasure was met with delight last year, threw open the doors on Friday morning, May 13, to let people in for the first time since the coroner’s court shut in the 1990s.

At last those who had campaigned for it to be saved were able to see inside the fire engine room, with its peeling lead paint, the stunning central courtyard, old ambulance room and work room.

Hundreds of people flooded in to have a look, with more than 1,500 registered to attend the open day - a symbolic event for those who had pursued one of Manchester’s longest-running heritage battles.

Watch: The first official look behind the scenes at London Road Fire Station

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It revealed both the beauty and the dereliction of a landmark that had stood crumbling and mostly closed off for the best part of 30 years under the ownership of the Britannia hotel chain.

Inside the huge engine room original tiles were visible under the peeling blue paint, while 1980s signs still hung on the walls.

Some of the original stained glass panels, polished woodwork and electrical boxes also remained - but the state of disrepair was also clear.

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Rotting beams, broken doors and completely fenced off areas - due to health and safety - revealed the toll taken by years of neglect. The balconies on one side of the courtyard are totally unsafe and have been covered up pending repair.

Inside the smaller rooms Allied’s plans for the building were on display, revealing a huge mix of uses including bars, restaurants, markets, a hotel, apartments and a spa.

Some of those who visited the station had tears in their eyes as they finally got to see the interior of the listed gem.

Adam Prince, from Friends of London Road fire station, said the day was the culmination of three and a half years of ‘relentless campaigning’, ‘armed only with a sense of anger and defiance’.

Bob Bonner curator of Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum, added: “It is an incredible day to see this building open for the public.

"There has been so much fear and disappointment over the years. Now London Road Fire Station is finding its way home at last.”

The new owners have unveiled radical plans for the landmark - pledging to give Manchester a completely new kind of international destination.

Independent bars, restaurants, a small boutique hotel and spa, community work space, a cinema, music venues, heritage tours and pop-up events in the courtyard are all in the pipeline, according to Allied London’s chief executive Mike Ingall.

He wants to create a totally different place unlike anything currently in Manchester, taking inspiration from cities around the world, including New York and Budapest.

A planning application for pop-up community events such as markets, gigs, exhibitions and festivals has already been submitted to the council and a full bid for planning permission is expected in the autumn.

Allied had carried out a detailed public consultation earlier this year and most of the ideas put forward have been incorporated into the plans.

The firm hopes to dig out a basement beneath the courtyard before covering it back up with cobbles again. At ground floor and in the basement there are plans for more than a dozen different uses, including a small cinema, ‘speakeasy’, a digital gallery or bar, spa, tea room and two restaurants.

On one side of the main entrance to London Road - in the engine room - a restaurant is planned, with a cinema on the other side.

The boutique hotel - an international operator for which is expected to be announced in the summer - would front Whitworth Street, alongside a spa, a bar inside the old police cells, event space and a smaller restaurant.

Pictures: First look inside the London Road Fire Station

On Fairfield Street a tearoom, ‘speakeasy’ bar and workspace for creative industries are planned, while on the Minshull Street side there will be a digital gallery or bar - something Mr Ingall said he was particularly keen to bring to the city.

“We want to bring things in that aren’t in this city and digital art is really, really powerful and new, which is why I think it matches the building,” he said.

There are plans to let people climb the old fire station tower, with supper clubs held at the top each week.

The hotel would take up more of the upper floors, along with new apartments.

(Image: Andrew Marland)

Mr Ingall unveiled the plans at the building’s first ever open day, which saw hundreds of heritage campaigners and curious members of the public finally see inside the listed gem.

He said the building may well be marked with flags rather than signs - due to its listed status and inspiration drawn from venues in New York - and used the stunning Brody House hotel in Budapest as a model for the kind of feel it could have.

Describing it as ‘a place of experience with curious rooms of intrigue and entertainment, gardens to explore and art and culture that provokes and inspires’, he added: “A catalyst for transformation, with a past steeped in heritage and stunning architecture, every single aspect of the project will be of the highest quality.

"Allied London will use the fabric of the building in its original form to create a new kind of space for Manchester.”

It had the potential, opposite Piccadilly Station, to become ‘a voice to London and the rest of the world’, he added.

Friends of London Road fire station founder Adam Prince, who had campaigned for the landmark to be saved and used as more than simply a hotel, said he was delighted to see so many of the ideas put forward in the consultation incorporated.

Chair Emma Curtin added: “It is very exciting to be allowed into the fire station after years of campaigning. We are optimistic about the future of this building, which has captured the imagination of so many people but has been neglected for so long.

“We will continue to take an interest and hope that Allied London will continue to engage with us as their project moves forward.”