Now to miss quote Samuel Johnson, when you are tired of the markets, you are tired of life, for there is at a market all that life can afford.*
It’s a bit contrived, but the alternative was from Mr Wordsworth, originally written in 1802, “Dull would they be of soul who could pass by”** a Manchester market and not marvel at the full majesty of all the stuff.
Those of us who grew up or lived beside an open air market will remember with fondness, the fun, bustle and the variety of offers.
In my case it was Woolwich and later still Grey Mare Lane and Ashton markets.
Down at Beresford Square in Woolwich the buses gingerly manoeuvred a path through the stalls and you were always in awe of the skill of the London Transport drivers.
But enough of such nostalgic tosh, and instead here is a tale of Chorlton and our own market.
Just a week or so ago Peter was out and about sampling the produce on the stall outside the library when he came across Hunter’s Gin, was offered a small glass, took the pictures and challenged me to come up with a story with a bit of history.
As far as I know we never had a market but the idea of selling gin from a small family concern is as old as they go.
So much so that it became a national scandal leading to drunkenness, terrible abuse and at least one riot in London, where of course they always do things to extremes.
To combat such excesses, the Government passed the Beer Act in 1830 which allowed anyone who could afford price of the two guinea license to brew and sell beer from their own homes.
The result was an explosion of beer houses across the city which was replicated here in Chorlton.
Most had a short life, and were really just a means to get over a temporary bout of unemployment or other financial hiccup.
Most vanished as quickly as they were established and were soon forgotten, like the one run on Chorlton Green, while others became notorious, like that of Mrs Leach’s superior beer house where Francis Deakin was murdered, and a few like the Travellers Rest, and the Trevor transformed themselves in to pubs.
The Traveller’s Rest on Beech Road was up and running by the 1830s and only closed in the early 20th century, while the Trevor had opened on its present site as an unmanned beer shop in the 1870s.
Selling spirits required a separate license, and many pubs including some of ours found it hard to get permission, which nicely brings me back to Hunter’s Gin.***
They have a website, with a blog and this intriguing description from one of their labels, “Hunter’s Cheshire
Gin is a high quality, export strength London Dry Gin full of character with its heart in Cheshire. Subtle citrus overtones with a spicy fruit edge – using Cheshire apples from historic Norton Priory garden’s orchard, a single batch distillation from a 300 year old recipe, including Balkan juniper berries and coriander lemon and sweet orange peel, Florentine orris root, French angelica and Madagascon cinnamon bark, a unique and sublime fusion of the highest quality botanicals and alcohol. .....”***
And that is it.
Except to ponder on whether Peter came across a similar scene to this one from Woolwich market which I took back in 1979.
Location; Chorlton & Cheshire
Pictures; at the Chorlton Markets from the collection of Peter Topping and Ashton and Woolwich markets from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*Samuel Johnson in conversation, 1770, "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford"
** William Wordsworth Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
***Hunters Gin, http://www.huntersgin.com/
 |
| Ashton Under Lyne, 1979 |
Those of us who grew up or lived beside an open air market will remember with fondness, the fun, bustle and the variety of offers.
In my case it was Woolwich and later still Grey Mare Lane and Ashton markets.
Down at Beresford Square in Woolwich the buses gingerly manoeuvred a path through the stalls and you were always in awe of the skill of the London Transport drivers.
But enough of such nostalgic tosh, and instead here is a tale of Chorlton and our own market.
 |
| Selling Hunters Gin, Chorlton, 2018 |
As far as I know we never had a market but the idea of selling gin from a small family concern is as old as they go.
So much so that it became a national scandal leading to drunkenness, terrible abuse and at least one riot in London, where of course they always do things to extremes.
 |
| The Gin, 2018 |
The result was an explosion of beer houses across the city which was replicated here in Chorlton.
Most had a short life, and were really just a means to get over a temporary bout of unemployment or other financial hiccup.
Most vanished as quickly as they were established and were soon forgotten, like the one run on Chorlton Green, while others became notorious, like that of Mrs Leach’s superior beer house where Francis Deakin was murdered, and a few like the Travellers Rest, and the Trevor transformed themselves in to pubs.
The Traveller’s Rest on Beech Road was up and running by the 1830s and only closed in the early 20th century, while the Trevor had opened on its present site as an unmanned beer shop in the 1870s.
Selling spirits required a separate license, and many pubs including some of ours found it hard to get permission, which nicely brings me back to Hunter’s Gin.***
They have a website, with a blog and this intriguing description from one of their labels, “Hunter’s Cheshire
Gin is a high quality, export strength London Dry Gin full of character with its heart in Cheshire. Subtle citrus overtones with a spicy fruit edge – using Cheshire apples from historic Norton Priory garden’s orchard, a single batch distillation from a 300 year old recipe, including Balkan juniper berries and coriander lemon and sweet orange peel, Florentine orris root, French angelica and Madagascon cinnamon bark, a unique and sublime fusion of the highest quality botanicals and alcohol. .....”***
 |
| Washing the prawns in Woolwich, 1979 |
Except to ponder on whether Peter came across a similar scene to this one from Woolwich market which I took back in 1979.
Location; Chorlton & Cheshire
Pictures; at the Chorlton Markets from the collection of Peter Topping and Ashton and Woolwich markets from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*Samuel Johnson in conversation, 1770, "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford"
** William Wordsworth Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
***Hunters Gin, http://www.huntersgin.com/
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