One day ….. two coffee cups …… and a view of Withy Grove

Now, if there has been one certainty for as long as I can remember its that Withy Grove Stores continues to fascinate people.

It is on the corner of Withy Grove and Dantzig Street.  I have pictures dating from the 1980s of the store, and rather think I may have wandered around it looking for a filing cabinet, a decade earlier. *

In time I will trawl back through the directories to see just when it opened, but that said I bet someone will be able to offer up a date.

In the meantime, I have Hilary Hartigan to thank for sending over four pictures of the place and the surrounding area taken in 2016.  

I instantly recognized where she had been when she took the images, which was in the coffee section of the Arndale Waterstones.  And to confirm it , Hilary has commented, “Yes, I left the coffee cups in to place it. My interest was the buildings at the front, how much longer would they survive?”

It is a question which will hang in the air, waiting no doubt for Derek the Developer, but I hope they do.

But what also fascinated me was the building opposite which from 2020 goes under the name "Nails", but for nine years from 2011 was “Delicious ….Pizzas Kebabs Burgers Fried Chicken”, and before that "T Stensby and Co, Gunmakers, established in 1870".

Now while I am ambivalent about guns and gun ownership, it is interesting to reflect that there was a gun shop in the city centre as late as 2008.

The same street directories running back from 1969 into the 19th century will help shed light on its history.

But for now, I will leave it at that, thank Hilary for sharing her pictures, and as she said trust that others will offer up pictures and memories of this bit of town.

Location; Withy Grove

Pictures, Withy Grove from the Arndale, 2016, from the collection of Hilary Hartigan

*Withy Grove, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Withy%20Grove