Now the friends of Princess Road have been reminiscing recently which has been brought on by the demolition of numbers 35-53 Princess Road.
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They were on their last legs back in February when Andy Robertson took a series of pictures of the properties.
He like me was fascinated by the ghost sign for James Bowes which had been hidden for decades.
That in turn led to a short set of stories about the sign, the Bowes family and their trading empire.
Now the buildings have gone but memories are powerful things and in the course of an hour quite a few people posted comments about one or other of the different shops including James Bowles, Pawnbrokers and Jewellers since 1880. Anthony Petrie wrote that “I bought a ring which was a present from my mum for my 18th birthday from this shop. It was 18ct gold and second hand cost £12 in 1974.”
But even more fascinating was Ken’s story from “my brother in law Alan who told me a tale about the sweet shop that was next door to Barries' on Princess Road.
He worked there as a Saturday lad in the early sixties when he was about 12, and he reckons L S Lowry displayed some of his work in the shop, if the owner sold one he was on a commission for the sale of it, he said to Alan ‘I don’t think We will ever sell one they look like a kids done them!“
Alan is adamant he is not telling porkies and I do remember paintings being displayed on the higher shelves!”
All of which just goes to show there are stories everywhere.
Picture; 35-53 Princess Road, February 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*A ghost sign, a pawnbrokers and a row of abandoned properties, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/a-ghost-sign-pawnbrokers-and-row-of.html
from the series, James Bowes, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/James%20Bowes%20Ltd
He like me was fascinated by the ghost sign for James Bowes which had been hidden for decades.
That in turn led to a short set of stories about the sign, the Bowes family and their trading empire.
Now the buildings have gone but memories are powerful things and in the course of an hour quite a few people posted comments about one or other of the different shops including James Bowles, Pawnbrokers and Jewellers since 1880. Anthony Petrie wrote that “I bought a ring which was a present from my mum for my 18th birthday from this shop. It was 18ct gold and second hand cost £12 in 1974.”
He worked there as a Saturday lad in the early sixties when he was about 12, and he reckons L S Lowry displayed some of his work in the shop, if the owner sold one he was on a commission for the sale of it, he said to Alan ‘I don’t think We will ever sell one they look like a kids done them!“
Alan is adamant he is not telling porkies and I do remember paintings being displayed on the higher shelves!”
All of which just goes to show there are stories everywhere.
Picture; 35-53 Princess Road, February 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*A ghost sign, a pawnbrokers and a row of abandoned properties, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/a-ghost-sign-pawnbrokers-and-row-of.html
from the series, James Bowes, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/James%20Bowes%20Ltd
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