Clinging on ………. walking the Northern Quarter

Despite the ever-vigilant eyes of developers and investors, bits of that older edgy and interesting Manchester survive amongst the high-rise blocks of apartments, swish hotels and cosmopolitan restaurants.

Exotic Mr. Banksy, 2023

And no where more so than the Northern Quarter.

Like me there are many who have fond memories of the area when it was still a place of bustling wholesale markets, small warehouses and shops selling “odd things and services" which were hard to find elsewhere.

Thomas Street, 1850

Not that this is a swipe at the new businesses, and flats which have reinvigorated a part of the city which had lost much of its population and trade and was really a place waiting for something to happen.

Queue for that pedant to point out that this wasn’t always called the Northern Quarter and for another to demand to see a map with the new name recorded for all to see.

And yes, they have ventured to express themselves before on the blog and have been roundly answered.

But I suppose similar comments were expressed when the area was being developed in the late 18th century, as speculative builders saw an opportunity to “knock up” rows of terraced houses and closed courts to meet the demand for homes for the countless thousands of people seeking work in the new factories.

All of which brings me back to the corner of Thomas Street and Shudehill where, amongst the new can still be found those fascinating businesses which vie with The Lower Turks Head and the Hare and Hounds.  They include the trophy shop and w the CD and Vinyl shop at 13 Shudehill.

And what a perfect platform for Mr. Banksy and his friend the happy Tiger.

Instead, I shall reflect on how Thomas Street had changed by 1851 when it was a mix of traders and small manufacturers with a few shops, and pubs suppling the inhabitants of the nearby streets.

In time some of their homes and workshops were replaced by the grander offices and warehouses of Imperial Buildings and Market Buildings which are still there today. 

Salmon Street, once known as Little Stable Street, 2023

I will go looking for the stories behind the door of number 1 Thomas Street where the surgeon John Greenwood lived, long with Edward Hardman, hairdresser, George Blackwall, leather cutter and James Humphrey, last maker.

And I may try to explore the history of William Taskers’ eating house at number 11 and a bit about the White Lion, two doors down at number 15 Thomas Street.

But for now, I am intrigued by the name Brooks on the doorstep of that vinyl shop and the change of name for what was once Little Stable Street but became Salmon Street.  

It is the first little street off Thomas Street on the northern side and had been renamed by 1894 and I guess may actually have become Salmon Street sometime on or after the Wholesale Fish Market was opened in 1873.

Banksy, the Tiger and a magazine, 2023

A little mystery someone will have the answer for.

Well we shall see.

Location; Shudehill, Thomas Street

Pictures; Banksy, the Tiger and a magazine, changing Salmon Street, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Thomas Street, 1850, from Adshead’s map of Manchester, 1850, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/