Adventures with a book ……….. 86 Palatine Road

Now, I doubt when Peter set off to deliver a copy of our book to an address on Palatine Road he was quite prepared for what he discovered.

The book is our Manchester - city centre pubs book, containing the history of 78 iconic city centre public houses, divided in to fifteen walks it tells the stories of each of the 78, with descriptions of where they are situated, along with some fine photographs and original paintings by Peter.*

So, armed with the book, and the address, he arrived at the property and immediately clocked the blue plaque, which records that it was here that Factory Records was founded in 1978.

And that for many of us, is in itself a discovery.  

Factory Records was the Manchester-based independent record label established by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, and featured several important acts, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside, and (briefly) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and James. 

Factory also ran The Haçienda nightclub, in partnership with New Order.

And its offices were at 86 Palatine Road, in Erasmus' home on the first floor.

All of which is easy to research, and so having talked to Peter who was inspired “to do”, one of his paintings of the house as well as the plaque, I went looking for its history.

This too was an easy enough task, involving tracking back through a series of historical records, staring with looking for the name of a resident.

This turned out to be a Thomas A Collier who was living there in 1911 with his wife Isabel and two servants.  The Collier's  had been married for 31 years, had two children and had moved into the house in 1893.

With a name it was possible to search the Rate Books and discover that the Collier’s had bought the house from a William A. Arnold, who in turn had purchased it from Mr. John Daniel Robinson.

The earliest entry in the Rate Books was 1885, which pretty much gives us the date it was built.

In time I will go back and see what I can find about Mr. Arnold and Mr. Robinson, but for now I shall close with Mr. and Mrs. Collier who provided the key to the research.

In 1911 he described himself as a clerk in a drapery warehouse and was the only one of his immediate neighbours who was in paid employment.  The others listed themselves as employers.

He and Isabel were from Whitby, his children had left home, and the two of them rattled around in the 12 roomed property, looked after by Susan Davies who was the cook and Lilly Talbot the housemaid.

So that is it, other than to offer up an outrageous advert and announce you  can order the book, along with our Chorlton and Didsbury pub books,  at www.pubbooks.co.uk or the old fashioned way on 07521 557888 or from Chorlton Bookshop

Location; Withington

Pictures; 86 Palatine Road and the blue plaque, 2020, © Peter Topping, 

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Manchester Pubs The Stories Behind the Doors City Centre,Peter Topping & Andrew Simpson, 2016