When are you going to write about the Creameries on Wilbraham Road?

2014

The question arose during a conversation last week.

As it turned out I had  already done so, first in 2012 and then again in the new book the Quirks of Chorlton -cum-Hardy which was published at the end of last year.*

Added to which in the intervening years I have revisited the creameries of Chorlton and Whalley Range from time to time.

In an age before fridges milk had an even shorter life span and in made more sense to buy smaller amounts, more often and do it from locally sourced places.

2018

Once when we were a rural community that place was one of the local farms, and even now the stories of being sent for milk, cream or cheeses from the nearby farmer are only just fading from memory.

Later in the early decades of the 20th century there were plenty of businesses engaged in the trade, and just a quick glance at the street directories will show that there were plenty of them around Chorlton.

I suspect I wouldn’t have returned so quickly to the subject after the publication of Quirks, had it not been for a series of pictures Andy took last week of the The Creamery on Wilbraham Road.

1928

The building is being transformed and as ever Andy was there to record the changes since his last visit four years earlier.

And the rest as they say can be summed up in a short writing exercise entitled, the Creameries on Wilbraham Road ...... compare and contrast.

Not to be out done I have included in advert dated 1928.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson, 2014-18 and St John's Parish magazine 1928

*The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, is available from Chorlton Bookshop or from www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or 07521557888