Now here is one of those ghost signs which have yet to pass out of living memory.
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And if you have lived in Chorlton for as long as I have you will remember when it was called Sunflowers, was run by George and traded beside the launderette.
Back then we still had a greengrocer, a post office and two butchers while just two decades earlier you could call in at the grocers, buy paraffin and a candle from the shop next to Wilkinson’s and choose to get your fresh cakes from Richardson’s or the Oven Door.
So this is a ghost sign for a business which has been around while Beech Road moved from an ordinary little shopping centre serving the old village into the “quirky" hub of small traders offering everything from Victorian antique lace, reproduction wooden crates and original glassware.
Not that we have completely shaken off that older Beech Road.
Look just below the ghost sign and there is one for Gazelle Plasterers which have been trading from the side of the Wholefood shop since the 1980s.*
Leo who runs the business is an excellent craftsman.
We used him back in 1983 and again only earlier last year.
He specializes in fine plaster mouldings and was engaged in restoring some of the features in both Central Ref and Sunlight House on Quay Street.
All of which brings me back to Chorlton Wholefoods which sadly closed recently.
There will be those who remember this stretch of shops as the home of strippo and perhaps even a few when the entire block all the way round on to Stockton Road was the co-op.
But most will have fond memories of that corner business where you could get your organic veg, interesting qourn products and a vast range of food from good wholemeal bread to Tivall sausages.
So here when all that was still possible is Peter’s painting which captures the last period of Chorlton Wholefoods.
The interior had been redone, the frontage given that distinctive black and yellow appearance and the business gave this end of Beech Road a bit of class.
Picture; Beech Road ghost sign, 2015, from the collection of Peter Topping
Painting; Chorlton Wholefoods, Beech Road, 2013 © Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures
*Gazelle Art Plaster, Beech Road, 07760 461259
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Back then we still had a greengrocer, a post office and two butchers while just two decades earlier you could call in at the grocers, buy paraffin and a candle from the shop next to Wilkinson’s and choose to get your fresh cakes from Richardson’s or the Oven Door.
So this is a ghost sign for a business which has been around while Beech Road moved from an ordinary little shopping centre serving the old village into the “quirky" hub of small traders offering everything from Victorian antique lace, reproduction wooden crates and original glassware.
Not that we have completely shaken off that older Beech Road.
Look just below the ghost sign and there is one for Gazelle Plasterers which have been trading from the side of the Wholefood shop since the 1980s.*
Leo who runs the business is an excellent craftsman.
We used him back in 1983 and again only earlier last year.
He specializes in fine plaster mouldings and was engaged in restoring some of the features in both Central Ref and Sunlight House on Quay Street.
All of which brings me back to Chorlton Wholefoods which sadly closed recently.
But most will have fond memories of that corner business where you could get your organic veg, interesting qourn products and a vast range of food from good wholemeal bread to Tivall sausages.
So here when all that was still possible is Peter’s painting which captures the last period of Chorlton Wholefoods.
The interior had been redone, the frontage given that distinctive black and yellow appearance and the business gave this end of Beech Road a bit of class.
Picture; Beech Road ghost sign, 2015, from the collection of Peter Topping
Painting; Chorlton Wholefoods, Beech Road, 2013 © Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures
*Gazelle Art Plaster, Beech Road, 07760 461259
Leo of Gazelle Art Plaster is my Dad! His workshop is still there on Beech Road - goodness knows how it has survived being gentrified into a trendy wine bar!
ReplyDeleteI often joke to him that one day, when it is no more there will be some swanky pretentious bar in the same spot. Called "The Work Shop"! Haha
I also renember good old George from Chorlton Whole Foods, he was a very kind man - suffered terribly with Astmah all his life. I can even remember the smell of the place exactly, it was a sweet kind of herby musky aroma.