Closed Chorlton ……………

Now by any judgement Chorlton is “open for business”.

Closed, former Police Station, 2022

So, when a shop does close it pretty much doesn’t stay empty for long.

The most favoured change of use remains a bar or restaurant with takeaways a strong second, and in the last few years followed by speciality confectionery shops.

Although the tile and floor store on the corner of Wilbraham and Barlow Moor Roads is a welcome exception, as was the launderette which slid into the former Greggs pastry and sandwich place but appears to have closed.

And that is the subject for today which explores those “closed bits” of Chorlton.

Closed, Public Lavatories, 2022

The first two are those sad empty looking buildings by the bus terminus.  Both are no longer in use.

The first is the old Police Station, which is not that old.  

It replaced the one on Beech Road and dates from the 1950s and closed sometime early this century.

I can’t remember ever going in but do remember the air raid siren on its low flat roof which was occasionally tested in the 1980s.

The other closed building is the public lavatory, and here I draw a blank.  I can’t remember when it opened or when it closed.

Both properties seem to be waiting for something to happen.

Open, Chorlton Police Station, 1959

Occasionally a property board will go up for the police station inviting interested people to bid for or rent it but apart from a short period as furniture emporium like its near neighbour it sits closed and abandoned.

Which just leaves me to add that both do deserve a place on a history blog, and more so because with the passage of a few more years less people will remember visiting either, or in the case of the police station I guess it won’t be long before its place in the story of fighting crime is completely forgotten.

Well, we shall see.

Location, Chorlton

Pictures; Closed for Business, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Chorlton Police Station, 1959, m17522, 99 Beech Road, 1958, m17665, R E Stanley, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pas