A ghost sign, a pawnbrokers and a row of abandoned properties

Well I have to say that numbers 35-53 Princess Road have seen better days.

Back in 1911 here could be found the usual collection of shops and businesses, including the London City & Midland Bank, an undertakers, a tailor, some sweet shops, a butcher, grocer, milliner and a host more.

As late as 1967 they were a thriving mix of shops offering up everything from dry cleaning to office equipment and that similar range which had been there 50 years before.

And between Barry’s the outfitters and Seymour & Storey on the corner of Moss Lane East and Alexandra Road was the cinema which in 1967 was showing Don’t Lose your Head with Sid James and Kenneth Williams.**

Now there was a planning application to demolish the lot.  The application was made in November 2013 and the City Council indicated that “prior approval to undertake the demolition is not required [because] the demolition works will not have a significant impact on the environment.”*

All of which is a prelude to the ghost sign on the side of the wall running down Raby Street.

It proudly advertises JAMES BOWES LTD, PAWNBROKERS & JEWELLERS, ESTABLISHED 1880.

And as you do I was drawn into the story of James Bowes.  In 1883 he was trading from 284 Oldham Road, Newton Heath and just three years later had expanded into the neighbouring shop.

By the first decade of the 20th century he was also operating a shop in Chorlton on Medlock and sometime after 1967 made the move to the corner of Alexandra Road and Raby Street.

I rather think this was a canny move given that in 1967 the premises was already a Jeweller and Pawnbroker’s operated by H.A.Toulmin and had a prominent position at the end of parade of shops.

Nor is that quite all because the company is still trading, having moved to Stockport town centre about twenty years ago.

Their ghost sign on the side of their old shop is an impressive one but I guess it  will soon be lost when the building is demolished.

All of which is a nice reminder yet again of the need to snap away and record our history before it goes.

And in the meantime you can always visit the digital archive of Manchester Libraries and follow D Wilgoose who in 1967 took a stroll down Alexandra Road photographing each of the shops from Raby Street to Moss lane East and lots more as well.***

Now I rather think in the fullness of time there will be more stories this parade of shops, and I certainly have not forgotten the cinema.

And James Bowes Ltd will I suspect draw me in to follow the story of a business which begins in Newton Heath and by degree crosses the city and out again all the way to Stockport.

But all of that is for another time.

Pictures; numbers 35-53 Princess Road, formerly Alexandra Road, 2014, Andy Robertson, Moss Side, Princess Road, east side, from Raby Street to Moss Lane east Creator Wildgoose, D, m38431, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

*Application No 104253/DEM/2013/S1, Manchester City Council online planning http://www.publicaccess.manchester.gov.uk/associateddocs/MCCList1.aspx?104253/DEM/2013/S1

** Don't Lose Your Head was the thirteenth in the series of Carry On films to be made. It featured regular team members Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims. It was released in 1966 and was set in France and England in 1789 during the French Revolution.

***Manchester Local Image Collection, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass