Capturing a bit of Wilbraham Road for the future

This will be a familiar picture to many, and its very familiarity is why it is here, because we all tend to take the present for granted.

The Nort Star Deli once the launderette, Buckingham Road, 2015

And not enough of us are bothering to record Chorlton as it is at present, which is a shame because had not generations of photographers gone out and snapped away at what the streets of Chorlton and Manchester were like in previous decades there would be precious few  images for people to pour over.

All of which would deprive all of us of that opportunity to crawl over the database of the City’s digital archive and post pictures of how we used to live.

So this is one from Andy Robertson’s collection which is fast becoming a powerful record of what Chorlton was like and how it was beginning to change.

After all I have forgotten what was on this corner before the cafe society revolution swept through south Manchester.

The Soap Opera, Beech Road, 2012

Now I know there will be many who remember but as memories fade it is fitting to have a permanent reminder.

And Andy remembered
“it was a launderette. I did use it once when our machine broke like it has on numerous occasions. 

The last one I used was on that parade of shops on Upper Chorlton Road, opposite . the Seymour. 

I wonder if it is still there...the laundrette I mean!”

Now as soon as he told me I also have a memory of going in there, but as it is a long way from Beech Road that is a puzzle.

Still I rather think Andy has just opened up a series of photographs which we could entitle the Lost Launderettes, which reminds me of the stories I ran on our own laundries and launderttes which are perhaps ready for a rerun.

The Launderette, Launderette, © 2013,  Peter Topping, 

In the meantime you can find them all at the link below, and having read them call in at Andy’s old “washerteria” which long ago became the North Star Delicatessen or visit the successor to the Soap Opera on Beech Road which is now a bar and restaurant trading as yes you guessed ........... the Launderette which Peter has painted not once but twice.

And just after I posted the story James Akers left a comment with a link to an interesting project he was engaged, "I had a project in 2012 showing the shop fronts of Chorlton opening and closing in real time. You can view it here,"  http://chorlton.me/

It's amazing how many business no longer exist e.g. Monkey Puzzle Toys / Sweet Tooth Cupcakery. Chorton changes so quickly.

Picture; the corner of Wilbraham and Buckingham Roads, 2015, courtesy of Andy Robertson and the Soap Opera from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Paintings; Painting; The Soap Opera, © 2011 and the Launderette, © 2013,  Peter Topping, 

Facebook; Paintings from Pictures, Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*Chorlton's lost laundries and launderettes,  http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%27s%20lost%20laundries%20and%20launderettes