I pretty much took the textile mill for granted.
When I first came up to Manchester in 1969 they were still a big part of the landscape especially on the east side of the city and in Ashton-Under-Lyne where we spent a big chunk of the 70s.
And when we left that was where we left them, in clumps at the bottom of street after street and standing proud in a ring around the town and beyond.
But a little over a decade and a bit later there were few of them left and those that still existed faced an uncertain future or had become home to a shed load of small business's most of which had nothing to do with textiles.
Today the most attractive have been converted into smart residents or hotels and the odd one now boasts designer retail outlet.
But what of the Casablanca Mill in Sherborne Street West?
A trawl of the net provides the names of a host of companies that trade from the place ranging from a bedding firm to a set of accountants and an MOT centre.
So far I have drawn a blank on its past. I can’t find it on the 1911 street directory and it doesn’t appear on Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History.*
Of course there will be someone out there with access to the later directories or will have the knowledge. I hope so
It caught the interest of Antony Mills who sent me the images and commented “it's still standing in all its glory but never gets a mention.” So here as a starter is the first of what I hope could be a series of stories.
He has offered to send me more of which I will be happy to receive having been very impressed with those he has been posting on that facebook site, Classic Salford Photos Group.
Location; Salford
Pictures; the Casablanca Mill, Sherborne Street West, 2016, from the collection of Antony Mills
* Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Main_Page
And when we left that was where we left them, in clumps at the bottom of street after street and standing proud in a ring around the town and beyond.
But a little over a decade and a bit later there were few of them left and those that still existed faced an uncertain future or had become home to a shed load of small business's most of which had nothing to do with textiles.
But what of the Casablanca Mill in Sherborne Street West?
A trawl of the net provides the names of a host of companies that trade from the place ranging from a bedding firm to a set of accountants and an MOT centre.
So far I have drawn a blank on its past. I can’t find it on the 1911 street directory and it doesn’t appear on Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History.*
It caught the interest of Antony Mills who sent me the images and commented “it's still standing in all its glory but never gets a mention.” So here as a starter is the first of what I hope could be a series of stories.
He has offered to send me more of which I will be happy to receive having been very impressed with those he has been posting on that facebook site, Classic Salford Photos Group.
Location; Salford
Pictures; the Casablanca Mill, Sherborne Street West, 2016, from the collection of Antony Mills
* Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Main_Page
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