Now, the thing about stories is you are never quite sure where they are going to go.
So, when I posted a story about the Mersey Hotel which opened in 1936 and variously became known as the Snooty Fox and the Mersey Lights, I wasn’t prepared for a series of old pictures of the pub plus some fascinating memories to land on the doormat.
But they did. George Cieslik sent over some fine photographs, while Catherine shared her memory of the pub at its best, when it offered live entertainment, which had included, Little and Large, Les Dawson, and Freddie and the Dreamers and Jimmy Ruffin.
It was Jimmy Ruffin who attracted Catherine who wrote, “Thank you Andrew for bring a memory smile to my face this morning.
I may have shared my memory before but here it is again. At 16, too young to go in the pub, myself and my friend Christine stood at the French doors at the back trying to get a glimpse of Jimmy Ruffin. We did manage to sneak in eventually!”
And there will be many others who also have fond memories of nights spent in the pub on the Parkway.
Which is almost a contrived link to Princess Parkway which was the grand highway out of the city to the newly built estate of Wythenshawe.
Given that the new estate would be a garden city for Manchester’s inner city residents, it followed that the road south to Wythenshawe should be have all the characteristics of a park, with a central island reserved for trees and plants and that either side of the road there would be a large expanse of grassed land.
It ran from Wythenshawe Road, past Wythenshawe Park and on over the Mersey to the Junction with Barlow Moor Road, where it joined Princess Road and on into the city.
It was still there in all its glory when I began working in Wythenshawe and it was George’s picture of the Mersey Hotel in front of the Parkway which got me reflecting on what it had been like.
That said work had already begun to transform the Parkway into a motorway in fulfillment of the 1945 Manchester Plan, and by 1974, 50,000 trees and shrubs were torn up, along with foot bridges with more work done later in the century. **
Today, the traffic thunders past the site of the old Mersey Hotel, and I suspect fewer and fewer people will remember that more elegant road.
Location; Manchester
Pictures; The Mersey Hotel, date unknown, from the collection of George Cieslik, and Princess Parkway, Northenden, 1965, m38617, Princess Parkway, Northenden, 1965, m38612, Princess Parkway Didsbury, 1965, 38621, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*A New Manchester Parkway, Manchester Guardian, January 19th, 1932
**The 1945 Manchester Plan, was a bold plan to regenerate the city
***Princes Parkway, Wythenshawe’s History and Heritage, http://www.wythenshawe.btck.co.uk/DownMemoryLane/PrincessParkway
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| The Mersey Hotel, date unknown |
But they did. George Cieslik sent over some fine photographs, while Catherine shared her memory of the pub at its best, when it offered live entertainment, which had included, Little and Large, Les Dawson, and Freddie and the Dreamers and Jimmy Ruffin.
It was Jimmy Ruffin who attracted Catherine who wrote, “Thank you Andrew for bring a memory smile to my face this morning.
I may have shared my memory before but here it is again. At 16, too young to go in the pub, myself and my friend Christine stood at the French doors at the back trying to get a glimpse of Jimmy Ruffin. We did manage to sneak in eventually!”
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| Princess Road, 1965 |
Which is almost a contrived link to Princess Parkway which was the grand highway out of the city to the newly built estate of Wythenshawe.
Given that the new estate would be a garden city for Manchester’s inner city residents, it followed that the road south to Wythenshawe should be have all the characteristics of a park, with a central island reserved for trees and plants and that either side of the road there would be a large expanse of grassed land.
 |
| Northenden, 1965 |
It was still there in all its glory when I began working in Wythenshawe and it was George’s picture of the Mersey Hotel in front of the Parkway which got me reflecting on what it had been like.
That said work had already begun to transform the Parkway into a motorway in fulfillment of the 1945 Manchester Plan, and by 1974, 50,000 trees and shrubs were torn up, along with foot bridges with more work done later in the century. **
 |
| Didsbury, 1965 |
Location; Manchester
Pictures; The Mersey Hotel, date unknown, from the collection of George Cieslik, and Princess Parkway, Northenden, 1965, m38617, Princess Parkway, Northenden, 1965, m38612, Princess Parkway Didsbury, 1965, 38621, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
**The 1945 Manchester Plan, was a bold plan to regenerate the city
***Princes Parkway, Wythenshawe’s History and Heritage, http://www.wythenshawe.btck.co.uk/DownMemoryLane/PrincessParkway
The small building to the left was the off license... I used to buy my bottle of pop and plain crisps with the blue paper salt portion. Run by Ron and Joan Blair from Ashwood Ave W Dids.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil .....ha plain Smiths crisps, I never bothered adding the salt.
DeleteMy late father-in-law did the reverse carving for the ceilings here.
ReplyDeleteI lived in the Mersey Hotel in the 70’s up to age 10. I have very interesting memories of the pub if anyone is interested.
ReplyDeleteSomeone must have photos of inside Mersey Lights Pub. I would love to see them to bring back good memories!
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to work in Manchester City centre in the late 40s and early 50s and used to travel back to Wythenshawe on the tram up Princess road. Sometimes a thick smog would descend and the trams stopped running, forcing mum and others to walk home following the tram tracks! There would be a great crowd of people walking home she told me and you could hardly see your hand in front of your face!
ReplyDelete