Stretford Public Hall serving a community for 130 years

© 2013 Peter Topping

Now something is stirring down at Stretford Public Hall.

It is that grand building on Chester Road which has for over a century served as a Public Hall, Municipal Library, Civic Theatre and council offices.

It also had a set of swimming baths at the rear all of which made it a focal point for those who lived in the area.

It was built in 1878 by John Rylands who lived just up the road in Longford Hall and on his death his wife gave the building to the local authority for a small annual rent.

On her death the council bought the property.

Over the last century and a bit the place has changed as new civic buildings were built.

So the library moved out when the new one was opened in 1940 and after a period as Stretford Civic Theatre it became council offices reverting to a Public Hall in 1997 while the swimming baths closed when the new Leisure Centre opened.

But the hall is still there and now there are moves to turn it into a community centre.
Friends of Stretford Hall will be holding events in early April at the hall and I shall be featuring  the activities along with lots of stories on the history of Stretford.

In the mean time I shall just leave you with something of the story of Stretford in the years before the hall was built from The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Stretford like Chorlton was by the 1840s pouring its agricultural produce into the city.

In 1845 over 500 tons of farm produce were coming by road into the City each week from Stretford.  

These carts were piled high with fruit and vegetables of which rhubarb was a particularly profitable crop.

The carts left Stretford just after midnight for the markets and while one family member remained to sell the produce the rest returned with the cart loaded with manure ready to repeat the operation the following day.  

This prompted one observer to describe the place as “the garden of Lancashire.”  

It was also a major centre for the processing of pigs for the Manchester market as well the manufacture of black puddings and had gained the nicknames of Swineopolis and Porkhampton.  

During the 1830s, between 800 and 1,000 pigs were slaughtered each week and sent into the city.     Most came from Ireland, via Liverpool and were transported into Stretford by barge.

On arrival the pigs were kept in cotes kept by the local landlords.  The Trafford Arms charged one penny per pig a night and had cotes for 400 pigs.    Not surprisingly in 1834 there were 31 pork butchers in Stretford compared to one in Chorlton and five in Urmston.*

So there you have it, a little bit of Stretford's history and the promise of something new for the Public Hall, and as they say watch this space.


*The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

Painting;  Stretford Public Hall © 2013 Peter Topping
web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
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Picture; Stretford Public Hall, circa 1912 from the series Stretford by Tuck & Sons, courtesy of http://tuckdb.org/

You can contact the Friends of Stretford Public Hall at

friendsofstretfordpublichall@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/227083674131806/