I have already forgotten what traded from 557 Wilbraham Road.
Today it’s the Atlantic Fish Bar which Peter Topping has painted for one of the pictures in his series on changing Chorlton.
Now I know that back in 1911 it was the home of James Sakeshaft who is listed as a plumber and in 1959 it was the butcher’s shop of a Mr Dickinsons which just leaves me to root around on the directories and fill in the gaps.
And in doing so offer up a snap shot of some of the changes to where we live.
Of course the obvious one has been the disappearance of many of those small traditional businesses from the wool shop and iron mongers to the green grocer, fish monger and grocery shops which have pretty much been replaced by the onward tide of bars and restaurants.
Dig even deeper and there is a whole range of specialist businesses like the milliners, the private lending libraries and a variety of shops which vanished as our life styles changed.
So it is hard to visualise that running down the north side of Albany Road were a set of coal merchants offices from which coal could be ordered up to the door.
They were familiar enough until relatively recently and have yet to fade from living memory, but the Clean Air Act along with a preference for gas and electric fires and the advance of central heating did for the coal man.
Not so the chip shop. It may have had a sticky time for a while from other fast food fads, but the popularity of fish and chips endures.
The shops come and go as does their interior decor but they remain a favourite place.
After all who can resist slipping in on a cold wet evening after passing the open door and the aroma of cooked fish.
In the last few years we have seen two new ones open on Wilbraham Road and whenever I am waiting at the bus stop the Atlantic is open and doing a brisk trade.
Picture; numbers 555 &557 Wilbraham Road, 1959, A E Landers, m18421, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
Painting; The Atlantic Fish Bar, Wilbraham Road, © 2014 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures
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| Today at 557 Wilbraham Road |
Now I know that back in 1911 it was the home of James Sakeshaft who is listed as a plumber and in 1959 it was the butcher’s shop of a Mr Dickinsons which just leaves me to root around on the directories and fill in the gaps.
And in doing so offer up a snap shot of some of the changes to where we live.
Of course the obvious one has been the disappearance of many of those small traditional businesses from the wool shop and iron mongers to the green grocer, fish monger and grocery shops which have pretty much been replaced by the onward tide of bars and restaurants.
Dig even deeper and there is a whole range of specialist businesses like the milliners, the private lending libraries and a variety of shops which vanished as our life styles changed.
So it is hard to visualise that running down the north side of Albany Road were a set of coal merchants offices from which coal could be ordered up to the door.
 |
| And back in 1959 |
Not so the chip shop. It may have had a sticky time for a while from other fast food fads, but the popularity of fish and chips endures.
The shops come and go as does their interior decor but they remain a favourite place.
After all who can resist slipping in on a cold wet evening after passing the open door and the aroma of cooked fish.
In the last few years we have seen two new ones open on Wilbraham Road and whenever I am waiting at the bus stop the Atlantic is open and doing a brisk trade.
Picture; numbers 555 &557 Wilbraham Road, 1959, A E Landers, m18421, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
Painting; The Atlantic Fish Bar, Wilbraham Road, © 2014 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures
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