The lost grocery shop on London Road ........ 1960

Now, for me, these images perfectly capture  that time when I was growing up.

And I suspect it will be the same for many others who were also born n the late 1940s, and for whom these pictures  will chime in with their memories of a changing Britain.

There were the empty bombsites, the drab tired looking buildings, and plenty of horse drawn vehicles.

But many of those bombsites were car parks catering for the growth in car ownership, new and exciting consumer products were becoming available at affordable prices, and above all there was a sense of optimism about the future.

So, here we are, on the corner of London Road and Buxton Street with the grocery store of P. Prole, where the promise of the future was edging out the past.

At first glance, the shop front could quite easily pass for one from the turn of the century.  

The tiles, the signage and the metal fitments look dated, but the poster in the window extolling the power of Stergene “To wash away the shadow of nylon” is accompanied with that elegant looking woman wearing the height of fashion.

While just a few doors down, the empty site has become a secondhand car business, where a 1956 Vauxhall Cresta is on offer for £475, making the Black Bentley look decidedly ancient.  

And for those who like period detail, the Cresta is advertised with a “heater” and the Bentley has been given new tyres, leaving just the odd shaped Morris van lurking in the background.

But despite the signs of modernity, the buildings and the area have seen their best.  

The upstairs floors of the shop have long been abandoned, the glass in some of the windows needs replacing, while the roof and gutters look in a sorry state.

Just when it and its neighbours were demolished I have yet to discover, but demolished they were.

The space it inhabited was replaced by what was one a telecom building and is now a hotel.

You can still walk along Buxton Street, but alas access to it is now via a car ramp which passes under the hotel, and the site of P. Prole’s grocery store is marked by a locked  hotel door.

Location; London Road, Manchester

Picture; The shop with a story, J Prole’s grocery store, corner of London Road and Buxton Street, 1960,Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection,  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY