A printing press ..... a river and the future …… Cambridge Street

The story of the Hotspur Press on Cambridge Street is well documented.

And there will be many people who have watched the surrounding streets slowly transform from run down reminders of our industrial past to bright tall office and residential properties.

So, this week Andy was back walking the familiar route, following the bend in the River Medlock, and clocking the changes.

The two images I have chosen perfectly capture this spot.

The first mixes Hotspur House with the tall buildings behind it and point to that simple observation that the city continues to change.

I am not always a keen fan of the tall blocks that are rising everywhere, particularly those that seem to defy gravity and make the human figure look miniscule.

But then I doubt I would signed up to that burst of new build which spread across Manchester in the early 19th century.

And no doubt I would have railed against the enclosing of the “sweet flowing rivers” by tall factories and warehouses, and worse by hiding them in brick built tunnels.

The end of the city’s first Industrial Revolution has begun to open up those rivers again, but there is still plenty of evidence of that past.

Location; Cambridge Street

Pictures; Hotspur House and the river, 2021, from the collection of Andy Robertson