Well, they have gone, numbers 35-53 Princess Road have finally succumbed to a decade of slow lingering decay followed by a smart vision from a developer, hastened on by the approval of a plan to redevelop the site and finished by the bulldozer’s ball.
We have followed the story from February when Andy spotted the first tell tale signs and photographed the boarded up shops.*
It led me back into a fascinating story of a time when the shops hummed with business, when the one on the corner became part of the chain of Pawnbrokers and jewellers established by James Bowes and lots of engaging memories.
And every so often Andy returned, snapped the latest stage which was almost finished in early August and is now complete.
So here are the last three stages of the story.
Set against the events that were unfolding a century ago some may see this as a tad trivial, but that is far from the case.
The past should always be recorded and we tend to be very negligent about marking the passing of the more recent past.
Especially when that past is about ordinary people rather than the people of plenty in their fine homes.
And is a call for all of us to get out there and photograph the changes so that a future generation can judge not only how we lived but whether we made the right choices.
Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson, February to August 2014
*Princess Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Princess%20Road
It led me back into a fascinating story of a time when the shops hummed with business, when the one on the corner became part of the chain of Pawnbrokers and jewellers established by James Bowes and lots of engaging memories.
And every so often Andy returned, snapped the latest stage which was almost finished in early August and is now complete.
Set against the events that were unfolding a century ago some may see this as a tad trivial, but that is far from the case.
The past should always be recorded and we tend to be very negligent about marking the passing of the more recent past.
Especially when that past is about ordinary people rather than the people of plenty in their fine homes.
And is a call for all of us to get out there and photograph the changes so that a future generation can judge not only how we lived but whether we made the right choices.
Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson, February to August 2014
*Princess Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Princess%20Road
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