Another ghost sign on Burton Road, West Didsbury

Now as ghost signs go I concede this isn’t one of the most exciting.

It lacks a name or any interesting detail which could lead you off to find out more and all I can say is that it is on the gable end of a group of shops on Burton Road

But it is a ghost sign because the newsagent and stationary has long gone.

Back in the early 1970s I lived just off Burton Road and may well have bought a paper there but I can’t remember and I suppose that is the importance of ghost signs.

They have long ago vanished and most of the businesses have been forgotten so these painted adverts are all that is left of a little bit of our history.

In time I will go looking at the street directories and see if I can locate the date when this one operated and who it belonged to.

In 1911 there was a James Bancroft at number 116 who was listed as a stationer, but his shop was in the middle of the row and while he may had had the commercial gumption to take up space on the side of the block I cannot be certain.

Now there may well be someone out there who will be able to date the sign from the style of lettering, stranger things have come my way over the last few years of posting stories on the blog.

In the meantime I shall just content myself with a reflection on the changing nature of Burton Road.

I remember it as a typical south Manchester Road with shops which dealt with essentials.

Apart from the Charcoal Pit most were your everyday shops specialising in groceries, fruit and vegetables, bread and a mix of hardware produce ranging from paraffin to oil sheets.

A decade later it had begun that transformation into what you see today with clothes shops interesting and quirky design things and of course plenty of bars and restaurants.

In that sense it predates our own Beech Road, and prompts me to that observation that if you want a piece of Victorian antique lace here is the place to buy it, but don’t come looking for a Ib of apples or carrots.

But that is a tad unfair, there is a Co-op store opposite and a convenience shop on the corner of Nell Lane.

And of course the pattern of most people’s shopping has changed.  We might yearn for that local green grocer’s and bewail the absence of an independent bakery but I suspect will still do a weekly shop at a supermarket.

I lasted longer than many continuing to shop on Beech Road buying all our fruit and veg from Murial’s and almost everything else from Bob’s Italian deli next door.

In the case of Murial this extended to a weekly account and a cash back service long before most shops on Beech Road took card payments.

That said few can now make a living from the traditional retail businesses of food, hardware, and even selling newspapers which leaves the shops open to other services.  And as much as I lament the passing of those traditional shops on Beech Road and Burton Road at least the premises are not empty and what they deal in is interesting and fun.

And by the next time I am on Burton Road I hope I will have tracked down our Newsagent and Stationer.

And within a few minutes of this story going up my friend Sally added "the newsagents as I remember it was called Gibsons. That was in the 70s . Bancroft's was further up towards Nell    Lane and I remember Mr and Mrs Bancroft very well . Their shop was on the same side as Gibsons , opposite the bakers Lyngrays"

So even a ghost sign can come back to life, ... well sort of.  Thanks Sally.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson