Now this is how I remember Market Street, when it had yet to be turned into a pedestrian haven, the Arndale was just an idea on a developer’s plan, and there was still a wide-open space at St Mary’s Gate.
The year is 1965 and these two pictures are taken from George Cieslik’s collection of Manchester, which prompted the title.
George posted them on social media a few days ago and reflected on how once Sunday was still a day off from shopping which meant that Market Street was not only free of people, but also traffic.
But all of us see something different in an image, so while for George it was the impact of Sunday closing, for me it was the absence of any buildings bar one old Victorian property on the stretch down to the river, behind Marks and Spencer.
Added to which it, the scene of Market Street pre-Arndale.
And for anyone born after the IRA bomb it may also be the distinctive canopy of the old Marks and Spencer store, along with the still grimy Royal Exchange which housed Boots the Chemist in the basement and The Danish Food Centre which was a little way along Cross Street, and was a revelation to a boy from south east London.
What makes George’s pictures very special, is that the age of the professional photographer working for the picture postcard companies was all but over. In their heyday in the late 19th century and well into the next they captured our streets, providing historians and the interested with a wealth of historical detail.
But the decades after the last war see fewer staged images, and we become more reliant on those taken by newspapers and by people like George who I am pleased is happy to share them with us all.
Location; Manchester
Pictures, Market Street on April 4th 1965, from the collection of George Cieslik
George posted them on social media a few days ago and reflected on how once Sunday was still a day off from shopping which meant that Market Street was not only free of people, but also traffic.
But all of us see something different in an image, so while for George it was the impact of Sunday closing, for me it was the absence of any buildings bar one old Victorian property on the stretch down to the river, behind Marks and Spencer.
Added to which it, the scene of Market Street pre-Arndale.
What makes George’s pictures very special, is that the age of the professional photographer working for the picture postcard companies was all but over. In their heyday in the late 19th century and well into the next they captured our streets, providing historians and the interested with a wealth of historical detail.
But the decades after the last war see fewer staged images, and we become more reliant on those taken by newspapers and by people like George who I am pleased is happy to share them with us all.
Location; Manchester
Pictures, Market Street on April 4th 1965, from the collection of George Cieslik
Looks like that newsagents shop on Cross Street was there even then! Its been there forever.
ReplyDeleteYes George they get everywhere, like that other shop selling rubber products on Oxford Road.
ReplyDelete