That other Piccadilly Gardens …………….. and the mystery of the postcard

Now, for anyone born  before 1980 this scene will be very familiar.

There will be countless picture postcards of the gardens in their heyday knocking about, and when you post one it creates a flurry of comments.

Some of these are nostalgic, while others reflect on what has replaced the sunken gardens with their flower beds, benches and the memory of warm summer days passing the time during a break from work, or after a round of shopping.

But today it is the picture postcard itself that interests me, because when Tony Goulding sent it over, he thought it might be a Valentine card.

The company was started by James Valentine who had added portrait photography to his already well-established engraving and printing business in Dundee.

And of course, what exercises my interest is the date the picture was taken, and when it was marketed.

Looking at it I would have thought the original was taken in the 1950s or 1960s, and then will have just been reproduced over the years.

But a search of Valentine’s catalogue does not reveal a match with that serial number of ET. 344.

So perhaps we have to look elsewhere for the company who sold it.

We shall.

Location; Manchester Piccadilly Gardens

Picture; Manchester Piccadilly Gardens, circa 1950, courtesy of Tony Goulding