On Cross Street just before the Great War

It never ceases to amaze me just how busy Manchester streets were in the opening years of the last century.

As someone who is often on this stretch of Cross Street I can’t ever remember it being so full of people.

Of course given the angle of the sun it might have been coming up to midday in which case I guess the street would have been full of people heading for lunch.

Now I well remember the Manchester Guardian building which is now Boots the Chemist and extends north into the Arndale.  The columns on the left of the picture were part of the Royal Ecxhange which were demolished I think  in 1923.

Picture; from the collection of Rita Bishop, courtesy of David Bishop