Remembering the Scala, and the White Lion in Withington in 1960

We are in Withington in 1960 and for anyone who knows this bit of south Manchester the scene is familiar enough.

I remember it well because it was around here that I had my first bed sit and from 1969-73 it was where I called home.

A place which pretty much was bounded by the library to the north and the White Lion to the south.

The stretch inbetween had the usual mix of shops, a launderette the Co-op and the Albert.

But as ever what seems familiar at first glance is a world away from the scene today.

The White Lion just outside the shot on the left is now a supermarket, the Scala Cinema has gone and Handforth Ltd is now an opticians.

Likewise on the other side the traditional shop on the corner is now a restaraunt.

But I suspect there will be many who remember this corner and will be able to talk about the pints they have drunk in the huge old pub along with the films they saw at the picture house.

All of which I did along with buying milk from the vending machine by the Scala after the pub closed.*

For this was a time before the late night shopper when you could be fairly certain that by ten past eleven on any night of the week not much stirred on the corner of Palatine and Burton Road.

*Who laments the passing of the old milk machine? http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/who-laments-passing-of-old-milk-machine.html

Picture; Shopping Centre from the set Withington Lillywhite, Tuck & Sons, courtesy of TuckDB http://tuckdb.org/history