So how has Burton Road in West Didsbury changed in a century?

Now I was recently on Burton Road and came across a ghost sign which appeared on the blog a few days ago.

And given that I have neglected Didsbury of late I decided to go looking for some old images of West Didsbury.

This is one of my favourites and was chosen for that book on Didsbury which came out last year.*

It dates from the early decades of the 20th century and the road does not appear to have changed that much.

That said like many places in south Manchester there has been a revolution in retailing on Burton Road

The old familiar traditional shops selling everything from food to paraffin and newspapers have disappeared in favour of small quirky enterprises offering trendy clothes, furniture and above all restaurants and bars.

It has happened here on Beech Road and happened even earlier on Burton Road.

I could of course go into detail but will leave you to read the book.

Picture; Burton Road circa 1900 courtesy of Paul O’Sullivan

*Didsbury Through Time, Peter Topping & Andrew Simpson, 2014