Just thirty years ago on Withy Grove .......... from the new collection

Now I maintain and I maintain most strongly that some of the most fascinating images of the twin cities come from the last four decades.

The old black and white photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are a passport back into a time before now but in their way so are those taken in the last four decades.

They show a Manchester and Salford which is almost like now but not quite and so bits are familiar but others might as well be from 1900.

It is like looking through a dirty window which offers up only half a picture.

All of which is an introduction into a new collection from John Casey which he has been kindly sharing with me over the last few weeks, and as he sends them across I have been featuring them.

Here are two of Withy Grove from the 1980s which will set people going.  For some it will be spotting the buildings they remember and for others it will be a revealing insight into what has gone.

What intrigue me also are the two pubs.  The Lower Turks Head was for a while closed and only reopened recently while the Hare and Hounds had a very different colour scheme.

Many will know that these two along with another seventy six have been close to my heart over the last year as I worked with Peter Topping on the book Manchester Pubs*

I could at this stage make some quite valid links to John’s pictures of the two pubs and what the pubs look
like today as seen in the book.

But that would be outrageous self promotion.

Instead look out for the story on the Swan with Two Necks which never made the book but was caught on camera by John in the 1980s.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Withy Grove in the 1980s from the collection of John Casey

You can order the book from www.pubbooks.co.uk or Chorlton Bookshop.

*A new book on Manchester Pubs, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20Pubs