For anyone who regularly travels along the Oxford Road corridor this building will be very familiar.
It is home to the University’s Student’s Union, and looks what it is, ……… a big slab of a building.
It was opened in 1957, boasting a debating hall which could be turned into a cinema, a common room, three refreshment bars, a billiard room with eight tables, as well as a table tennis room, three photographic dark rooms, and a barber’s shop.
The Manchester Guardian reported that its opening would “clearly play an integral part in Manchester University life, for 80% of the 5,000 students live in lodgings, flats or at home, and the need for a common meeting place had become most pressing”.*
But as modern as it seemed, it was still divided with the women’s union occupying the right half of the building the men’s union the left, with lounges and other rooms which are shared in the centre.
That said by the time I passed through twelve years on an invitation from a friend, that division had disappeared.
What really strikes me about the building is the detail of the area directly behind and to the sides, which today are part of the campus, but back in 1963, were taken up rows of terraced houses, consisting of Blossom Avenue, and Leamington Avenue to the rear, and slightly more up market properties, fronting Oxford Road down to Ducie Street.
Location; Oxford Road,
Pictures; The Student’s Union and a bit more,1963, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection",
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY
*Ceremony at University Union, Manchester Guardian, Nov 2nd, 1957
It was opened in 1957, boasting a debating hall which could be turned into a cinema, a common room, three refreshment bars, a billiard room with eight tables, as well as a table tennis room, three photographic dark rooms, and a barber’s shop.
The Manchester Guardian reported that its opening would “clearly play an integral part in Manchester University life, for 80% of the 5,000 students live in lodgings, flats or at home, and the need for a common meeting place had become most pressing”.*
That said by the time I passed through twelve years on an invitation from a friend, that division had disappeared.
Location; Oxford Road,
Pictures; The Student’s Union and a bit more,1963, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection",
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY
*Ceremony at University Union, Manchester Guardian, Nov 2nd, 1957
Went there for the regular folk club and concerts. Recall a spectacular gig by Al Stewart. The Poly union was just around the corner. Much more atmospheric. Saw focus there. When the concert was over they left the stage and joined us at the bar!
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