Railway arches have been with us from the very start of the Railway Age.
They have been workshops, lock up garages, provided accommodation for the homeless and have been the subject of countless films as well as that famous song, written in 1927, by Bud Flanagan.
I pretty much took for granted the ones close to where I grew up, they were after all just part of the landscape.
But now, I have become fascinated by them and the uses to which they have been turned.
Back in the 1980s, along Water Street close to what is now the Science and Industry Museum, there was still the evidence of when some of the arches had been used as stables.
Most however in the city were turned into workshops, and a high proportion became garages for repairing and storing cars.
That said given they are a large space; the possibilities are endless. Not that long ago I came across Pollen Bakery, which had been recommended by our friend Bob Amato.
The bakery is based in one of the arches in Sheffield Street, close to Manchester Railway Station.
While across the city there are a succession of bars inhabiting the arches by the Rochdale Canal and on into the Castlefield Basin.
Bit many still are home to smelly businesses, although, I have noticed that around Knott Mill, workshops I encountered just a few years ago have gone, replaced by car parks.
But as sections of the inner the city become “gentrified” I suspect more of those smelly businesses will disappear, filled instead by bars, restaurant and a different type of outlet.
Location; Underneath the Arches
Pictures; Bridgewater Street 2020, and the Rochdale Canal, 2003
* Underneath the Arches, Bud Flanagan, 1927, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggk8g_p-Thg
**Mr. Flanagan recalled it was written in Derby in 1927, and referred to the arches of the Friargate Railway Bridge and to the homeless men who slept there. Underneath the Arches, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underneath_the_Arches_(song)
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| Bridgewater Street, 2020 |
They have been workshops, lock up garages, provided accommodation for the homeless and have been the subject of countless films as well as that famous song, written in 1927, by Bud Flanagan.
 |
| Bridgewater Street, 2020 |
But now, I have become fascinated by them and the uses to which they have been turned.
Back in the 1980s, along Water Street close to what is now the Science and Industry Museum, there was still the evidence of when some of the arches had been used as stables.
Most however in the city were turned into workshops, and a high proportion became garages for repairing and storing cars.
That said given they are a large space; the possibilities are endless. Not that long ago I came across Pollen Bakery, which had been recommended by our friend Bob Amato.
The bakery is based in one of the arches in Sheffield Street, close to Manchester Railway Station.
 |
| Rochdale Canal, 2003 |
Bit many still are home to smelly businesses, although, I have noticed that around Knott Mill, workshops I encountered just a few years ago have gone, replaced by car parks.
But as sections of the inner the city become “gentrified” I suspect more of those smelly businesses will disappear, filled instead by bars, restaurant and a different type of outlet.
Location; Underneath the Arches
Pictures; Bridgewater Street 2020, and the Rochdale Canal, 2003
* Underneath the Arches, Bud Flanagan, 1927, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggk8g_p-Thg
**Mr. Flanagan recalled it was written in Derby in 1927, and referred to the arches of the Friargate Railway Bridge and to the homeless men who slept there. Underneath the Arches, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underneath_the_Arches_(song)
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