Rediscovering the Whalley Hotel

Everyone likes a Mary Celeste story. *

Usually it involves a place in perfect condition which appears to be abandoned, with everything left as if the occupants had just popped out for a minute.

And with that comes the hint of a mystery,  or of something not quite right.

In the case of the Mary Celeste it led to all manner of additions to the story which deepened  the mystery, but sadly were not true.

Now I can’t offer up a mystery to go with Andy Robertson’s pictures of the Whalley Hotel which closed suddenly and after a very long interval morphed into apartments.

There is nothing odd about that.

Former pubs, warehouses and churches as well as schools have been transformed into residential properties, with varying degrees of success over the last two decades.

What makes the Whalley just that bit different is that Andy “got in” with the permission of the builders soon after the pub went dark, which I suppose is better described as went dry.

The curtains were still up at the windows, the pictures on the walls, and the last notices to customers were still waiting for someone to read them.

But mixed with all of these, were the bags of cement, piles of plaster board and a mix of power tools.

I didn’t go in the Whalley Hotel that often, in fact the last time I ordered a pint there was in the summer of 1975.

That said, it was a place I passed on the bus most days and more recently a place I have written about on the blog.*

More than that it was a landmark featuring in countless photographs right back into the last century and beyond.

So, for all those who never knew it, and a lot more who did, here are Andy’s last pictures, taken in 2015.

Leaving me just to make an appeal for stories, pictures or memorabilia about Didsbury pubs, which I know is an outrageous piece of opportunism.

But there are no traditional pubs in Whalley Range, and so having written a book about the city centre pubs and those of Chorlton, Peter Topping and I have fastened on Didsbury.

The book is well underway and like the others will tell the stories of pubs and the bars.


You can leave a comment on the blog or message us on facebook and twitter

Location; Whalley Range

Pictures; The Whalley Hotel, 2015, after the beer and customers had gone, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*The Whalley Hotel, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Whalley%20Hotel

The lost Eltham & Woolwich pictures ...... no.25 in the back garden of Well Hall Road

There is nothing more bitter sweet than uncovering the picture of three of my sisters in the garden in Well Hall.

We were all young with the world a head of us, and now we have fond memories of growing up there.

The image is one of those lost pictures I took of Eltham and Woolwich in the mid ‘70’s which sat undisturbed in our cellar for decades.

But all good things eventually come to light.

They were colour slides which have been transferred electronically.

The quality of the original lighting and the sharpness is sometimes iffy, but they are a record of a lost Eltham and Woolwich.

On that sunny day Dad will have been pottering, I was busy with the camera, and our Stella, Jillian and Theresa were discussing something, only Elizabeth was missing.

Location; Well Hall






Picture; Well Hall, circa 1976, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

On the start of all things Didsbury .......... the pubs and hotels

Now if  I was a member of the Friends of the Kingsway, I might be a bit miffed at the way its contribution to Didsbury is pretty much over looked.

The Gateway, 1959

And that is a shame because it is the great highway out of the city through Burnage to Parrs Wood and beyond.

It was completed in 1923, with plans to extend it to the city boundary in the 1930 Manchester Road Plan, and eight years later work began to extend it over the River Mersey to the Stockport-Altrincham road at Gatley.**

But such an important development gets scant attention in the two history books of Didsbury, with one offering up just nine references, of which only one stretched to a sentence.***

Added to which, neither mentions those two fine examples of 1930s pubs.

These are the Gateway whose license was approved in 1935, and the Parrs Wood Hotel which pipped it by five years.

The Parrs Wood Hoet, 1959

Now I can understand why, because when Mr Million, Mr France and Mr Woodall undertook their books, both pubs were mere interlopers, which couldn’t compare to the historic and iconic public houses in the village.

That said the Gateway and the Parrs Wood should be celebrated as part of Didsbury’s history.

And to rectify that over sight they will appear in the first chapter of our new book, Manchester Pubs – The Stories Behind the Doors Didsbury, which is the third in the series, after the pubs of the City Centre and Chorlton-cum-Hardy.****

Like all our books, this one will include stories of each pub, original Peter paintings, and heaps more, all laid out as a series of walks.

Leaving me just to make that appeal for pictures, memories or memorabilia, details of which you can leave as a comment on the blog or a message via facebook or twitter

Pictures;The Gateway 1959, M42721, & The Parrs Wood Hotel, 1959, m50211, J. F. Harrs, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*New Roads For Manchester, Nine Schemes Approved, Manchester Guardian March 19, 1930

**Extension of Kingsway, Manchester Guardian, October 14, 1938

***A History of Didsbury, Ivor R. Million, 1969, A New History of Didsbury, E. France & T.F. Woodall, 1976

****  Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors, Centre Centre and Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors, Chorlton-cum-Hardy are available from www.pubbooks.co.uk and Chorlton Bookshop

Petrol cans ....... I wish I had bought

Now the petrol; can has pretty much been around since the motor car.

Roger's petrol can

I can’t say I have given them much thought.  Ours is green and was bought a few years ago after one of those embarrassing moments.

A quick trawl revealed that they come in all shapes and sizes, catering for the purist who favours metal over the flippity gibbet who always buys plastic.

What started me off was this one sent up to me by Roger in a lighted hearted bit of banter centering on our old and now long gone Citroën 2CV.

And in an instant I was pulled.  It looks old and Roger has promised to venture back out to his shed to see if there are any clues to its age.

Unlike many petrol cans today, old ones came with a name or even a logo of the company that  dispensed the.

So, on that fascinating site, A History of the World, run by the BBC and The British Museum, I came across two.

One of which, was a Shell can, which also contained a separate oil container. It had a screw-on top made of nickel silver, which ceased to be used around 1928 when chrome was introduced.

The other was a blue can from the Belfast company, Munster Simms, which had the all-Ireland franchise for petrol.*

Our 2CV

They are in their way, beautiful things, and there are lots more on another site dedicated to all things petrol.**  On its home page, Alan Chandler comments,   "the purpose of this website is to share with other Petroliana collectors and enthusiasts the items and information available regarding our hobby. 

Little is currently published either on paper or the internet covering early petrol pumps, globes, motoring enamel advertising signs and associated petroleum items. 

  This is surprising given the great interest in anything antique and the similar interest in old cars and associated automobilia. 

And three from Mr Harrop

This website is largely based on photographs of the 1500 plus items in my personal collection that I have assembled and restored over the last eight years."

And as these things happen once the blog is posted, the story just grows.

So Roger came back commenting that, "the significant thing about all of these cans is the fact that they were pre filled with one gallon of petrol and the price of the can and its contents were embossed into the can and the cap sealed with wire and a lead seal. 

With the price of fuel being fairly stable 80 years ago, the manufacturers/suppliers of the pre filled cans could safely have the price embossed into the top of the can with no fear of fluctuating prices giving them a headache".

1118 Chester Road, Stretford, undated

And Bill sent this, adding, "the granddaughter of this shop passed the picture on to me. In the early days of motoring those cans of petrol would have been purchased from shops like this one at 1118 Chester Rd Stretford as few garages existed".

All of which I suspect is the start of a new series.

We shall see.



Picture; red Esso petrol can, undated, from the collection of Roger Callow, and three, courtesy of David Harrop, and 1118 Chester Road shared by Bill Sumner


*Petrol Cans, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/kTYo8AufRCKeTIx0UtFNww

**Petroliana.co.uk,  http://www.petroliana.co.uk/List.asp?type=Category&string=Oil+Can

The Happy Window ........ no. 17 from the Goldsmith Collection

Not to be confused with the Happy Door I featured earlier.

Location; Brighton

Picture; the Happy Window, 2017 from the collection of Jillian Goldsmith

Clayton Hall ....... inviting memories of the past

Now I remain a fan of Clayton Hall, more so since I rediscovered it, and came to know the Friends of the Hall.

The team have done much to restore the hall, regularly mount events to celebrate the building and the surrounding area and are always keen to share the Hall's past with parties of school students and interested visitors.

Their events focusing on Bradford Pit and the Great War and Clayton were a great success, and generated memories and artefact's which have increased our knowledge.

All of which just leaves me to reproduce this poster of their next venture.

Picture; poster courtesy of Friends of Clayton Hall, and  Hall in 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Clayton Hall, info@claytonhall.org

We Remember ............

On Holocaust Memorial Day, I have reproduced the following post from Marla Raucher Osborn. 

“Remembering today my grandmother's HORN family of Rohatyn, with four cousins shown in this 1937 Hebrew school photo. None of these children survived. #WeRemember”*


It is sobering to read that a recent survey revealed “Five per cent of UK adults don’t believe the Holocaust – the intentional murder of six million Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators – really happened and one in 12 (8%) say the scale of the Holocaust has been exaggerated, according to research released on Holocaust Memorial Day (Sunday 27 January 2019).

The poll, commissioned by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, a charity established and funded by the UK government to promote and support the international day of remembrance”.**

Anyone wishing to learn more about the Holocaust in Rohatyn should go to the website:
http://rohatynjewishheritage.org/en/history/timeline-shoah/

The photo is shown and sourced on our page on the interwar years:
http://rohatynjewishheritage.org/en/history/timeline-interwar/

Picture; from Rohatyn Yizkor Book



*Marla Raucher Osborn, Project Lead Jewish Headstone Recovery at Rohatyn Jewish Heritage

**Holocaust Memorial Day Trust https://www.hmd.org.uk/

Sand, boats and sky .......... on the Kent coast

Now I have never been to Broadstairs.

It is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet about 80 miles east of London.

To the north is Margate and to the south  is Ramsgate.

We didn’t do holidays back when I was growing up so it is nice to see that our Jillian was recently down there with her partner Jeff.

And during her time amongst the sand, boats and sky she took this picture which I like.

Location; Broadstairs
















Picture; the beach, Broadstairs, 2017, from the collection of Jillian Goldsmith

When history met a beer festival and became a story

Now looking out of Manchester Central at a grey city skyline was to be reminded that what was going on inside the exhibition hall was so much better.

Looking out on a grey skyline, 2019

Yesterday was the last day of the CAMRA Beer and Cider Festival, and over the last four days we had observed lots of very happy people, enjoying the beer and cider, comparing notes, and generally just having a good time.

The guests included the dedicated, who selected the drinks they were interested in, completed the check list awarding points, exchanged opinions, and then went off for a different brew.

They mingled happily with those who, while they enjoyed the beer, were less interested in point scoring.

Inside with the beer and cider, 2019

And finally, there were those who saw it as their mission to down as many pints as they could, admitting only the distraction of a challenge on Mr. Porky’s stall where if they could successfully get five ping pong balls in a series of beer glasses, they won a packet of pork scratching.

All of this we observed from our stall, promoting the two Manchester pubs books we published in 2016 and 2017. *

Both of which are not guides to the pubs, but the stories of the pubs, and the surrounding area, richly illustrated with paintings by Peter Topping.

Plenty of people came up to us and commented how much they had enjoyed the first book on the city centre pubs, were back for the one on Chorlton-cum-Hardy and were pleased that we were working on the Didsbury edition.

Quite a few, also shared fresh stories of Manchester pubs.

But of all the encounters on the four days, the best was from young Karl who on the last day bought a copy of the city centre book for his sister, discovered he was in the book and promptly came back and purchased a second copy.

Karl with Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping

Leaving me to reflect, that if you have to promote a book a beer and cider festival in an iconic old railway station is a pretty neat choice.

Location; Manchester

Pictures, inside GMex at the Beer and Cider Festival, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Karl meets Andrew Simpson, 2019, courtesy of Peter Topping

*** Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors, Centre Centre and Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors, Chorlton-cum-Hardy are available from www.pubbooks.co.uk and Chorlton Bookshop

Sometime on Beech Road and a lesson to photographers

It’s one of those things about taking pictures. 

You have to be disciplined because if you are not then the details get lost.

And that is something I constantly wish I could conjure up with many of the photographs in the collection.

All too often there is no date, and certainly no indication of who the people are that stare back at you.  They are lost to history and with the passage of time there is no one left to claim them.

Now with this one I can speak with some authority not least because I took the picture. We are on Beech Road and I remember it as one of those perfect late spring days which still have the habit of surprising  you.

The sun shines with that bright sharp light which penetrates everywhere but it can be bone cold.

But not on this early Sunday afternoon when it is warm enough to sit in shirt sleeves and linger over that second glass of dry Italian white wine.

As for a date that is rather hazy.  I was standing inside Treshers off license which puts it a good few years ago and I am ashamed to say that is the best I can do.

It is so perfectly Beech Road with that mix of casual drinkers and a jam full of parked cars.

Of course the historian in me has to point out that this is all still relatively new. Café Primavera, and the Lead Station which set up in the early 90s were pretty much all there was on the Road, and as a food review of 2003 pointed out a decade later it will still pretty much the same.

Taking in the whole of Chorlton there were the few familiar names which are still around to day, like the Turkish Delight  but the roll call of the vanished is depressing including as it does Michaelangelo, the New Mai Wah, Palmiro, The Nose Wine Bar, Sasso and Azad Manzil.

Add to this Buonissimo, the deli run by Bob and Del and Murial’s the greengrocers.

Now I am the first to admit that Murial’s was old Beech Road but the fruit and veg were second to none and not only did she run a tab for me but was happy to give some cash during the week which just went on the bill to be settled at the end of the week.

Now this is not some sentimental lament for what we have lost.  During the 1970s into the 80s, food shops on Beech Road were closing fast and by and large not being replaced by anything.

There was a seedy neglected feel about the place which was not made any better when the amusement arcade opened beside the Post Office.

So despite the weekend parked up cars outside our house and the constant procession of people down Beech Road, watching the customers relax in the sun with their glass of dry white is just another part of the story of our road.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

 *Where to Eat in Chorlton, July 2003 http://www.sugarvine.com/manchester/feature_stories/feature_stories.asp?story=135

Looking out from Salford no. 10

Now, I know there are people who don’t like the design of the Imperial War Museum North.

Added to which there are others don’t like many of the new buildings popping up across Salford.

But then there were plenty of “tasteless” ones which were built during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, and while some of the new developments are iffy, there are lots that I like, including this one which I know isn’t Salford.

Location; looking out from Salford

Picture; The Imperial War Museum North, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Protecting those who no one one wants to protect ............. on the streets of Manchester & Salford in 1880

“to obtain some legal remedy for wandering children, who were by neglect only acquiring the immorality and the vice of the public streets of Manchester from being at large during late hours”*  

History  is messy, and it can be easy to portray the children's charities as imperious, and driven by their own narrow view of parenting.  So there are those who point to the way the charities in the late 19th century appeared to ignore the rights of parents over the perceived needs of the children.

But to every story there is always another side, which brings me neatly to the work of the Manchester and Salford, Boys' and Girls' Refuges whose activities  were all embracing and almost from the beginning, it campaigned on behalf of those young children making a living from hawking on the streets and by intervening in the courts to prosecute neglectful and abusive parents.

The slow progress to the legal protection of children in the work place dated back to the 1830s, but almost four decades on those who worked the streets selling newspapers, matches and fuses were still left unprotected.

Evidence presented to the Home Secretary by a deputation from Manchester and Salford in 1878 highlighted a situation where “children from 4 to 7 years of age were sent into the streets to sell newspapers, matches, and various other articles at all hours, winter and summer without regard to the inclemency of the weather, and the practice was rapidly increasing.”

Leonard Shaw added “in one evening’s work 10 members went through the streets and laboured till 12 o’clock, each member taking a street in Manchester. In that time they took to their homes some 50 varying in age from 5 to 12 years” and estimated that over Manchester in the three hours up to midnight “there must be somewhere near 1,000 of these children.”

Apart from the sheer scandal of the level of exploitation and the degree of suffering, there was that ever present concern that these young people were in great risk.

Leonard Shaw continued, “they had watched little girls of 6 and 10 years of age in the streets growing into women, singing and speaking to men, and learning all sorts of evil; and they could point to some who adopted the streets for their living.”

But the lack of resources at a local level made it difficult to enforce existing legislation.

In 1880 Leonard Shaw published ‘Street Arabism: Its Cause and Its Cure’, which set out a clear programme to eradicate the scandal. This included the employment of more staff to enforce existing regulations, along with the establishment of regulated brigades of street sellers. These would be furnished with a uniform and badge, which would operate in conjunction with a register of those engaged in the brigades.

There would be a prohibition on children less than 10 years of age hawking any article on the streets, with a restriction on the hours worked by children under fourteen and the provision that parents would be responsible for each breach of the regulations.**

And it was this last suggestion which weighed heavily with the Refuge who had concluded that many of the children selling on the streets were not orphans, nor destitute but had parents, returned home at the end of the night and fitted in their street work after school.

Leaving aside the moralistic tone of much of the commentaries, which referred to “lazy and drunken parents”, the Charity presented evidence that the children were there on the streets to supplement or provide an income for their mothers and fathers.

Writing in 1889 for Manchester Statistical Society, Gilbert R. Kirlew observed, “that in the great majority of cases the parent or parents of these children were drunken or vicious, and becoming the employers of their own children for the time being they provided them with the capital to become street hawkers, and expected, at least, 40 per cent in return for the outlay and labour involved”.

He also pointed out that “a considerable number are the off spring of vice and illegitimate –‘not wanted’ and therefore, uncared for .... and their homes, in many cases are little more than places in which to creep for shelter, like a dog kennel – a considerable portion not even getting meals in them”.***

And in an earlier pamphlet for the Charity he had told the story of two boys aged four and eight who he had encountered, who were neglected by their drunken father living on “bare boards of a dirty empty room”.****

It followed then that the Charity should be become directly involved in the protection of young people.

To that end in 1884, the Charity set up a child’s protection department, in which “26 cases of child cruelty and neglect had been investigated” The following year the Manchester and Salford Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed as a branch of the Refuge, operating from the Children’s Shelter, originally located on Major Street.

The Children’s Shelter had been set up in 1884, to give shelter to children sleeping on the streets of Manchester. The unique principle behind the Children’s Shelter was its philosophy to stay open 24 hours a day, meaning no child in need would ever be left out on the streets to fend for themselves. Many of these children were brought to the shelter by a ‘concerned citizen’, often a policeman, a neighbour or member of the clergy. Most did not stay in the shelter longer than a week, being returned to family and friends or placed in one of the Charity’s more permanent homes. The service moved to Chatham Street as a permanent residence six years later.

In its first full year, 522 cases of cruelly treated children were dealt with by the service. Of this number, around 80 were admitted into the Charity’s various homes. Some cases were taken to court and the parents prosecuted.

In 1889 an ‘Act for the Better Prevention of Cruelty to Children’ was passed, giving the Refuge greater power to deal with cases of neglect and over the next ten years 9922 cases were dealt with.

Cases like that of the death of William aged 10 of Salford in 1893. The court heard that he had died after “unnecessary suffering and injury to his health by his mother beating and striking him” and keeping him in a scullery in the family home on Pearson Street in Broughton.

The Refuge took up the case and obtained a successful conviction for “unnecessary suffering and cruel neglect on the part of the mother”, who was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment with hard labour.

Commenting on this successful prosecution, Mr Leonard Shaw, in a letter to the Manchester Guardian, made the promise that “those who cruelly and brutally torture helpless children will receive no mercy at our hands.” He added that during the January of that year the Charity investigated 37 cases involving the welfare of 137 young people and of the 37, “6 were taken to court with more still pending while in the majority a sharp warning and a watchful eye will accomplish that prevention which is the chief object of our society.”

 And that resolute and remorseless task was continued until 1895 when, after the establishment of a local branch of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children the previous year, the Charity handed over “this painful but necessary duty.”

Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust*****


*Young Children and Late Hours Deputation to Mr Cross, Manchester Guardian, May 11 1878

**Street Arabism Its Cause and Cure, L.K. Shaw, 1880, Manchester, page 11

 *** Kirlew, Gilbert R., Facts and Figures Relating to Street Children, page 44, Transactions of the Manchester Statistical Society, 1888-9

****Kirlew, Gilbert R, Tim and Joe The Living Dead, 1872

*****The images were all produced at the time , but some were part of the ongoing campaign by the charity to show the ir work with pictures of before and after

Down at Media City ..... no. 2 under a vengeful sky

Now I could make some great claim to attempting to frame the War Museum against a  threatening and grim sky there by drawing a link between a museum which records conflict and the equally violent elements.

But I would be fabricating the truth, which was that Sunday afternoon at Media City was a poor day for taking pictures.

The sun only wanted to come out very briefly and was often hidden by heavy grey rain clouds.

All of which meant that the details of the building were lost in the gloom.


Location; Salford

Picture; looking out from Media City, June 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Slowly fading away .......... no. 9 ...... from The Goldsmith Collection

I suppose it might be more fitting to say. "slowly rusting away".


Location; Brighton




Picture; the Pier, 2017, from the collection of Jillian Goldsmith

The railway station, a beer festival and a change of name ........ Manchester Central

Now, when you spend your working day in the past, somethings pass you by.

Looking out from Manchester Central, 2017

Which is pretty much why I was surprised that GMex had changed its name to Manchester Central, and more so when I went on to discover that the change of name happened in 2007.

That said while I struggle to remember the new name, alternating between Manchester Central and Central Manchester, I do understand the logic, because for 89 years the site was home to Central Railway Station.

And while a lot of work went into transforming it into an exhibition centre it is still recognisable as a railway station, which English Heritage describes as, “Railway station, now exhibition hall and car park.

Beer, cider and good conversation, 2017

1876-9, by Sir John Fowler, for Midland Railway Company; altered. Iron and glass on brick undercroft, with brick side walls. Rectangular plan. 

Single segmental-vaulted vessel of 15 bays with 210-foot span, built on extensive undercrofts; pilastered 2-storey south side with 3 windows on each floor of each bay, those at ground floor round-headed and those above square-headed; segmental arched roof with ridged bands of glazing. 

C20 glazed canopy to entrance at north end. Vaulted undercroft with intersecting tunnel vaults. Intended entrance block at north end never built”. *

I could say more but I think English Heritage has nailed it.

Central Railway Station, 1979

As a railway station it closed in 1969 and reopened as GMex in 1986 and has been hosting events ever since.

And that brings me to the Beer and Cider Festival organised by CAMERA, which is currently in play at the posh front end of the hall.** 

I say the posh end, because from where Peter and I have a stand, we command an excellent view of the great station clock, glass window and a mix of old and contemporary buildings.

Manchester Pubs, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 2017

We are here promoting our two Manchester pub books, and last night which was the opening day we sold a lot.***

Not that this is an outrageous piece of self-promotion, just the usual self-promotion.

What was nice, were the people who came up to us having bought the book at the last festival in 2017 and commented on how much they had enjoyed the central Manchester edition and were pleased that we had now added one on the pubs and bars of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

And we will be back today, meeting old friends and making new ones until the festival’s close on Saturday evening.

The conversation will drift over the relative merits of the beer and cider, the two pub books and for me memories of the building after the railway trains had departed, and the building became just another car park.

Manchester Pubs, special edition, 2017

Leaving me just to say our stand is close to the official camera presence and we will be pleased to see you.

Manchester Pubs is available from www.pubbooks.co.uk

Location; Manchester

Pictures, inside GMex at the Beer and Cider Festival, 2019, and the railway station in 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1270514 

** The Festival began on Wednesday night and finishes on Saturday.

*** Manchester Pubs is available from www.pubbooks.co.uk and Chorlton Bookshop or from us at the festival

In celebration of the new Salford ......... nu 8 visiting the theatre and looking for Mr Lowry

A short series mostly around the Quays looking at  Salford

Location; the Lowry; Salford

Picture; Salford, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A slow morning in the office

Now it has been a bit of a slow morning in the office, which has left me reflecting on why any of us write, and how a random thought or image becomes a story.

Birmingham, 1983

I came late to writing, and even now don’t take myself seriously, added to which my grasp of grammar and spelling verges on the non-existent, and so I write as I talk, which pretty much breaks every rule in the book.

 And unlike friends I don’t write to a plan, which means that often all I have is a vague idea, or at best a sentence which morphs into something.

So recently, when a friend posted a picture of a Dalek on the pier at Weston-super-Mare, my accompanying story evolved into one which linked them to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Nor is this random journeying confined to photographs, and so when writing about someone or some event in the past, the story can go off in any one of several directions.

All of which is part of the fun is, and makes up the challenge, but it begs the question of how different the story might be if it was written today rather than yesterday.

Manchester, 2017

And brings me to these four images. 

The first dates to 1983, and was taken on a march through Birmingham, protesting at the rise in unemployment, the second is the view across the Square on a warm sunny day in Manchester, the third  of a Swiss lake and a solitary man, and the last also dates from the 1980s.

Each has a story, but the way we tell it and above all what is revealed can vary.

Sometimes there is no background information, other than that I was there and thought the man by the lake would make an interesting picture and what followed was less about him and more about the town by the water.

Others, like the white suited figures, was one of a series taken at a demonstration in October 1983, when the growing tensions between the super powers brought people out onto the streets to protest and the subsequent story was one which reflected on the history of demonstrations and the motivation of those who took part and the degree to which such events have an impact.

Switzerland, 2012

In some cases, it is just the juxtaposition of two different subjects, which in the case of the Birmingham march left me reflecting on the line of protesters who were observed by the children looking out from the window.

Lastly, some like the view across the square are full of possibilities and might draw on the history of the place, or its transformation over time.

But always I am guided by the broadcaster Alister Cook, whose Letter from America would always end where it started, neatly roaming over a series of related subjects in between.

And that is where I shall close, having filled the slow morning and mindful that I soon have an appointment in Manchester Central with a beer festival and pile of my books.

Manchester, 1983

For the curious I shall just add that what is now Manchester Central was GMex, which for 80 years had been Central Railway Station, and the beer festival will be an appropriate venue to publicize the two books on Manchester Pubs I wrote with Peter Topping.

Location; everywhere








Pictures, 1983-2018, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Brighton Pier .......... no. 8 ...... from The Goldsmith Collection

There are not many of them left.

Location; Brighton





Picture; Brighton Pier, 2017, from the collection of Jillian Goldsmith

The Vine in Sale, the Ainscow Hotel on Trinity Way and a bit of a detective story

Now it started with a picture of the Vine on Washway Road, and ended with the Ainscow Hotel on Trinity Way in Salford.

The Vine, 2015

All of which makes perfect sense given that both are in a similar line of business but as ever the route from one to the other was a tad more complicated.

Andy took the pictures of the Vine recently on his latest excursion to record bits of our history.

What caught his attention was the fine lettering at roof level which contained not only the name of the pub but the Watson and Woodhead Brewery.

And that set me going.  The brewery was located between Bolton Street and Irwell Street just a short walk from Salford Station.  One source suggested that it operated from 1895-98 and it shows up on the OS map for 1894.

The Vine on Washway Road, 2015

All of which is muddied by the same source which suggested a date for the Vine of 1909.

At which point I am fully prepared for some one to help me out, especially given that the brewery appears to have continued until 1927.

And here I will fall back on Ainscow Hotel which records that “the building changed hands in 1927, becoming a jam factory for Mackie & Sons Fruit Preservers. 

In 1957 the building was occupied by Brown Brothers Auto Parts who would remain there until 1986. From then, this splendid testament to Northern industrialisation would lay barren – eventually falling into disrepair.

The Brewery, 1894

In restoring this famous landmark, we have sought to capture the character of the original building. 
We believe that it is simply too interesting to be allowed go to waste. 

As such, our guests will be able to enjoy some of the original features and architectural aesthetics that prove that ‘they don’t build them like that anymore’.

Having served as an industrial workplace for over a century, the Brown Brothers Building has played an important role in the working lives of tens of thousands of local people. 

In respect of this, we have worked with Salford City Council to recruit 75% of our staff from the local community in order to preserve this tradition.”

Now that it was I call a bit of a twisty journey but offers up some fascinating bits of our history.

Pictures; the Vine in Sale 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and detail of Bolton Street from the 1894 OS of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

* The Ainscow Hotel, Trinity Way, Salford,M3 5EN http://theainscow.com/about.php

On the pier at Weston-Super-Mare with a Dalek and a dark memory

Now, if you were born sometime between 1949 and 1958 and watched TV, the chances are, you were terrified of the Daleks.

A Dalek at Weston - Super-Mare, 2019

They first appeared on Dr Who in 1963 and have continued to reappear across the years, remaining the epitome of all that is evil.

It starts with that ugly voice, and the sinister machine which incases each one, and grows as you realize that they view all other life forms as inferior, fit only to be enslaved or exterminated.

Added to which they are determined to conquer the universe, and while they always get defeated, their malevolence coupled with their technical genius makes sure they always come back.

All of which makes them very scary, and best observed behind the armchair in the company of a dozen grownups.

But for me, aged 13, the fear was less the Daleks and more the circumstances which had created them.

They were the product of a nuclear war which had caused them to mutate and become reliant on that tin box in which they existed.

Atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945

Their enemies were the Thals, who by contrast were tall, and blonde but could only exist on the surface of the ruined planet with the help of drugs to counter the radiation which permeated everywhere.

And that for me was more terrifying, because when the Daleks made their first appearance on British TV, it was just a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the confrontation between the USA and the Soviet Union came close to a nuclear war.*

During the October of 1962 it is not an exaggeration to say the World held its breath, as the Super Powers squared up to each other with no apparent way of backing down.

On the Saturday of the crisis I was playing school rugby about 40 minutes from home and expected to see a mushroom cloud rise from the direction of London.

Nor was I alone, for in the last few years other people of my age have shared that fear, and we were not alone.

The US Secretary of State looked out of his office window and wondered if he would see the morning, while his Soviet counterpart quietly told his wife and family to leave Moscow.

And one friend remembered entering his front room to the hushed conversation of his parents which trailed off as he sat down beside them.

A Dalek at Weston - Super-Mare, 2019

All of which meant, that when the series was shown in the December of 1963, into the following February, the horror of what had almost happened was brought back out of the shadows.

None of the subsequent appearances of the Daleks have affected me in the same way, although even now I catch myself reflecting back to that first show, when Dr Who, his granddaughter and companions wander the petrified and irradiated forests of the planet.

Not of course that many people will share those thoughts, instead the Daleks have become part of the landscape with them even appearing on a postage stamp in 1999 and allowing this one to wander at will down the pier at Weston-Super-Mare yesterday.

Leaving me just this passing thought, that while the people of Weston may view Derek the Dalek with a mix of fondness and tolerance, I remember his grand father on the planet Skaro, along with those petrified forests and the chilling Dalek cry “Exterminate”.

Location; Weston-Super-Mare

Picture; a Dalek in Weston-Super-Mare, 2019, from the collection of Diane Thomas, Atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, Charles Levy from one of the B-29 Superfortresses used in the attack.
 This image is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties

*The story of one house in Lausanne Road number 24 .................... the missiles of October 1962, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=cuban+missile+crisis

The Bridgewater Viaduct …………… waiting to happen

Now if there is one certain thing after death and taxes, it is that Andy Robertson has an unerring knack to come across new developments, and these he will tenaciously record from start to finish.

I never ask him his secret, which I suspect is a combination of looking out for stories of new builds, which he follows up with an inspection of planning applications.

But more important than these, will be his roving journeys across the city and an eye for catching what is going on.

And with all of that comes a bit of a disregard for just how dangerous leaning over a parapet can be, as he looks for the perfect picture.

These two were sent over yesterday along the Bridgewater Viaduct, and fittingly arrived with a photograph of the Owen Street development which is fast coming to an end.

In years to come, his collection of pictures will be an excellent record of how our city is changing.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Bridgewater Viaduct, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson