It was 53 years ago ……. the music was good … the sun shone ….. and we were all happy

Today I came across this poster.

That poster, 1970

And in a trice I was back 53 years ago with friends wondering what to do on an indifferent Friday night in late August.

The usual haunts were discarded, and someone mentioned the Isle of Wight Festival, and without much thinking, other than to collect sleeping bags we were off in Tony Behan’s car, heading out of London in the late evening for the coast.

Some where on that hill was me, 1970

The rest really is a blur.

On arrival we found that a section of the festival was camped on a hill above the site, it was free and to my shame we opted to camp three.

Memories are vague with the passage of half a century, but I remember falling asleep to the sound of the Doors and marvelling at heaps of camp fires dotted across the hillside which illuminated the night sky.

Alas ours was a but a short stay, Tony had to be back in London for work on the Monday and so my one real experience of a festival and one of the legendary ones, was a day and a night.

To which when my lads ask, “What did you do at the Festival?” I can only ruefully reply I was a “Hippy for a day”.

But it was memorable and allowed me to bore friends with stories of the event as we watched the film Woodstock on a day when we should have been in lectures.

And I might say added to my image with our kids of something more than just Dad, the teller of silly stories who forgets things and always managed to ruin their best tee shirts in the washing machine.

Me, 1970

I could go on about the significance of the event, the huge collection of talent that was on display or the awful conditions down by the latrines.

But I won’t other than to say over the years I am amazed at the number of people who I have discovered were also there, two of whom I worked beside for nearly 20 years.

I thought of including their stories in the ones I have written over the years, but those belong to them.

Location; The Isle of Wight

Pictures; today’s reminder of yesterday, the poster, 1970, me in 1970 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and at the Festival, 1970, Roland Godefroy,who granted permission to use the image  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 

*Isle of Wight Festival, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Isle%20of%20Wight%20Festival

The one you don’t send home …. picture postcards from the seaside

I am guessing you could make out a convincing case for why these cards were just a representation of surfers on an Australian beach in 1914.

They come with the explanation on the reverse that the six are different depictions of surf bathing.

“The surf bathing at the beautiful seaside results, mainly, Coogee, Bondi and others near Sydney is almost all the year round the chief recreation among those who stay there.  

It can be indulged in without fear of injury from the sharks that infest these seas, if the bathers are content to disport themselves in the breakers and do not venture into the deep seas”.

Alas only three of the six made it into the collection, and none of them have messages on the back, that said the packaging and the commercial information did, and is a nice touch.

I especially like the guide to what Tuck and Son thought would be popular that year, ranging from their "Wide World" Series to the Charles Dickens Centenary with "Two Thousand Collections" in between.

And they are a reminder that the company was international with offices across the world and subject matter from all but one of the Continents.

All of that said I wonder if the appeal of them might be that there isn't a sea gull, a kiss me quick hat or a bag of seaside chips to be seen.

Just a group of young "things" enjoying the surf together, which some maiden aunts might not approve, nor some mothers who might wish for a scene of the cliffs.

But then that is me falling into the assumption of how morality stalked the holiday resorts, and I don't think it did. 

Location; Australia

Pictures; Surf Bathing, 1914, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/ 

The one we missed in Leicester ….. from 1926

You may have to kiss a lot of toads before you meet your Prince/Princess Charming, and in the same way as a tourist in Leicester you do come across a shed load of dreary buildings before happening on one you like.

And I like the De Montford Hall which ranks alongside the Guild Hall, the Museum and a heap of delightful old buildings down those twisty turney streets which Leicester still does well.

We never got as far as the Hall, so I have brought out my picture from 1926 from the collection and added the one from Google maps.

Of course, I would never as a tourist presume to write about its history to people who live there.

But I couldn’t resist lifting this from the back of the picture postcard, “De Montford Hall, erected by the Corporation of Leicester in 1913 at a cost of £21,000”.

To which a Mr. Law added to his daughter in Rhyl “Still here but I am going home tomorrow to see Mummy”.

And that is it, other than to thank Tuck DB for giving permission to use the card from their collection and of course Leicester for some handsome places to write about.

Location; Leicester

Picture; De Montford Hall, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and in 2018 courtesy of Google Maps

 

The Knitting years .... number 1 balaclavas and other hats

Now I bet not everyone will claim that a collection of knitting patterns is a bit of a history book.

But if you have enough of them, then I rather think you have some of the story of the middle decades of the 20th century.

I say middle decades because our Jillian who collects the knitting patterns has them from the 1930’s through to the ‘70’s and she roams the charity shop chains with a mission not only to save these knitting patterns but press them back into use.

I should know I will soon be the proud owner of a jumper with a zip and collar and dancing reindeers in brown and red.  She made the original for me in 1970 and I am looking forward to the new one.

But back to the patterns, for here contained on the front covers are how we dressed during the age before online shopping and cheap supermarket clothes.

They include balaclava, and other hats, woollen toys and of course the cable jumper.

So over the next few days I shall be rummaging through our Jillian’s collection and wait for the gasps of “I had that”  “Mine was green” or “Oh God did I really wear that?”and when the series is over there is always my stories about wool shops.*

And there is just one more delight in these old knitting patterns, and that is the game of hunt the famous British actor when they were waiting for the big break and instead had their picture taken with a nice “cardy”.

Our Jillian has one of Roger Moore which is looking for as I type, and he might well find one of my old mate Joe when in between classes at Art school he too wore a selection of woollen jumpers.

Location; pretty much everywhere

Picture; knitting patterns, 1930-1970 from the collection of Jillian Goldsmith

*The Wool Shop, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=The+Wool+Shop

Charting a tempestous time ......... the cartoons of David Low 1945-53

Low Visibility, 1953

A political cartoon has a short life.

What was relevant, funny and to the point will quickly become quite incomprehensible and unless you have the historical knowledge to unlock it, the  message will just be an image with no meaning.

Now I was reminded of this when I came back across a copy of Low Visibility which is a collection of cartons produced by David Low between 1945 and 1953.

The book contains 149 cartoons mainly focusing on foreign affairs and covering everything from the immediate post war period to the growing tensions between the Soviet Union and the West and taking in conflicts in the Middle East, and the Far East as well as Britain’s response  to the demands for colonial independence.

Some are completely lost to me and will only offer up their message through serious research.

The Verdict, October 1 1946

Others I do understand even if the subtle nuisances of what was being said are still vague and a few leap out of the page and make complete sense.

Of these last few the ones on the future of a defeated Germany and plight of the millions of displaced people are very clear, as does the powerful comment on the Nuremberg Trials.

Verdict was published on October 1 1946 after the Nazi leadership had been found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, and while today it might be difficult to identify each of the condemned men their bowed heads in front of those they murdered is a powerful comment now as it was back them.

Pictures; cover from Low Visibility, 1953 and Verdict, 1946

* Low Visibility A Cartoon History, 1945-53, David Low, 1953

“Two pieces of cod, and some shrimps” ……. shopping for fish on Wilbraham Road

Now, we do still have independent food shops, but there aren’t many of them.

So here from sometime in the early 1980s, is the wet fish shop on Wilbraham Road.

I have no idea exactly when I took the two pictures but judging from the tree, it will have been winter.

At first, I thought it might have been Mac Fisheries, but this was further up the road closer to the bank, and anyway may have closed by the time I took the picture.

This shop was which was Inshore Fisheries was at 482 Wilbraham Road and the place still sells fish although it trades as Out of the Blue.


And as you do, I went looking for references to Inshore Fisheries, and found a wholesale company of that name, which operates across the north.

I know that our shop was doing the business in 1969 and with a bit of research should be able to establish when they opened and when it changed its name.

Of course, given that they were there in the early 1980s, there will be people who remember them and can tell me some stories.

But for now, I am equally intrigued by the shop owned by Mac Fisheries, which was at 468 Wilbraham Road.

 It was part of a chain of fish shops started by Lord Leverhulme in 1918, whose original plan had been to purchase the Isle of Lewis and resurrect the Scottish fishing industry, using the island to land fish from the fleets and then move them to Fleetwood where the fish would be processed and then sold in his shops.

The plan was later centered on another island and proved successful with the company buying up independent fishmongers to create chain.

By the 1970s the business was less profitable and in 1979, the company was sold on and the fish shops closed within months.

All of which leaves me with the shop that survived, and a hope that someone might recognize themselves in the pictures and get in touch.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; shopping for fish on Wilbraham Road, circa 1980s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

One museum …. a posh walk …. and the picture I never took

Well actually it was a series of pictures, of which New Walk and the entrance to your museum were two of them.

What is worse is that I thought I had, so as part of the continuing contribution to stories from a tourist in Leicester, here is the museum in 1926 from a series produced by Tuck and Sin in 1926.

Eric of Knighton will sniffly comment that “it don’t look much different” and that is the point.

That said I bet it wasn’t as exciting inside in 1926 as it is today.

We only had half an hour to spend there but it was fun.

Leaving me just to fall back on an image of the entrance from Google maps, which replaces the one I would have taken.

Location; New Walk, Leicester

Picture;  The Museum, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and in 2018 courtesy of Google Maps

Another of Chorlton in the mid 1980s

Now sticking with pictures of Chorlton’s recent history, here is another from the camera of Tom McGrath taken in 1985.

It speaks for itself but if you want the original story it is From Temperance snooker hall to a Wetherspoon's pub.

And then you can wander off to follow up on Temperance Halls or  Chorlton in the 1980s.


Picture;  by Tom McGrath

Saving that bit of Chorlton’s history for another century and a bit …..

For many the Lych Gate on the village green is one of the iconic images of where we live.

Meeting at the Lych Gate, circa 1900

It has stood at the entrance to the old parish burial graveyard since 1887 and was erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.

And long after the parish church was abandoned and demolished and most of the gravestones carted away it stood as a reminder that this was the spot where most of Chorlton were baptised, married, and finally buried stretching back into the 17th century.

But this listed building is now in need of some tender care and attention.

It last had a make over in 1993 when the bell tower “was repaired with specialist Victorian tiles from Staffordshire”. *

Repairing the Lych Gate, 1993

The need to revisit the building was raised by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping earlier in the year as part of a bigger initiative to restore the former parish graveyard.

Looking towards the graveyard, 1981

Suggestions included relocating the remaining gravestones, creating a ramp at the southern entrance, and a series of story boards which would explain the history and significance of the site.

Central to the plan would be the establishment of a Friend’s group of volunteers who would adopt the graveyard, and in partnership with the City Council look to maintain the place and look to its future.

To this end Andrew and Peter contacted Cllr Mathew Benham who organised several meetings with Neighbourhood Services and the plan for the Friend’s group is advancing.

And now there is an application in for “fabric repairs and redecoration of the Lych Gate and boundary wall”.**

The application from the City Council to do the work was submitted in May and is now out for consultation, and you can see the plans in detail by following the link below.

There will be many who will greet the news with great pleasure.

The Lych Gate, 1980

Some, because the Lych Gate is a special part of  Chorlton while for many others it will be the memories of hearing the bell at New Year or from illicit games in the tower. 

An arch and a heap of gravestones, 2023

And for those who would like to join this exciting project there is now a Facebook site which will feature regular updates and contributions from those who want to see the graveyard continue as a focus for our history into the next century and a bit.***

Leaving me just say the report of the 1990s repairs needs a tad correction, because the gate dates from 1887 not 1897 and the church was demolished in 1949 not 1930.

Location; Chorlton Green

Pictures; The Lych Gate, circa, 1900 from the Lloyd Collection, Target Tower Repairs, South Manchester Express and Advertiser, 1993, and pictures of the Rec, 1980, 1981, and 2023 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Target Tower Repairs, South Manchester Express Advertiser, April 8, 1993

**Listed building consent for fabric repairs and redecoration of the Lych Gate and boundary walls, 136990/LO/2023, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=RURB6TBCJOG00

***The Friends of Chorlton Graveyard, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1381914932356270  

A gate ….. a lost spire …… and the bit we missed

 When you are a Leicester tourist you will miss something.

St Mary's Gateway, 1926

And we did, which was St Mary’s Gate, Castle View and the Church.

That said we had packed a lot into the Saturday morning, and it was raining.

I don’t think we had even clocked that there had been a castle or that there was a gate we could walk through to access St Mary’s Church.

St Mary's Gateway, 2020

Although we did happen by accident on a stretch of Castle View, saw a bit of the church but alas moved on.

All of which was only revealed when I dipped back into my collection of Leicester Tuck picture postcards which date from the 1920s.

I raid them on occasion for scenes of the city long before now, and so here is St Mary’s Gate perhaps 20 or so and bit years before I was born.

I could at this point slide into the history of the gate, the church and the castle, but that would be arrogant.

After all I am but a tourist and those that live in the city will be well aware of their past, but I will quote the description from the back of the postcard which includes the Romans, King Lear and the stocking frame.

Castle View and the church, 2019

“St Mary’s Gateway. A fine view of the battered and time worn gateway with the noble spire of St. Mary’s beyond.  

The old walls and gateways carry us back to the ancient history of Leicester.  

The traditional residence of King Lear and his daughters, it was a fortified town under the Romans.  

Its modern prosperity dates from the introduction of the stocking frame (1686) and is now the centre of the hosiery trade”.

‘Nuff said.

Other than to observe St Mary's spire was taken down for safety reasons but everyone in Leicester will know that.

St Mary's Church, 1926

Location, Leicester

Pictures; St Mary’s Gateway (Roman), Leicester, From the collection of Tuck and Son, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and the scene in 2020, courtesy of Google Maps

So was that Luxembourg? ............... holidays by hotel labels in the 1950s

Now I don’t even know if hotels still give away suitcase labels.

If they don’t that is a shame because I am sitting beside some of the ones my dad collected in his years as a coach driver and they are fascinating

Not that he ever stuck them on his suit cases, he just brought them home which may have been an earlier version of the tourist habit of collecting the soap and shampoo from the bathroom.

He was at the luxury end of the motor holiday trade and his passengers would whisked on a seven, nine or fifteen day tour of mainland Europe from the Benelux countries as far as the Swiss Alps and the Italian Lakes.

They would be fed and accommodated at good hotels, provided with a first class guide and had time off to wander as they wished.

But it was a fairly rigid timetable which has often prompted me to think if you dozed off or looked away long enough from the window you might well have missed an entire country.

It is not my idea of a holiday but was so successful that it kept Glenton Tours going from the 1920s well past the time Dad retired in 1982.

That said it was still a wonderful way of seeing new places allowing you to get a sense of what  made each country and town along the way that little bit different.

Today most of us just get on a plane and with in a couple of hours have arrived at the destination,  having spent the entire journey ordering a drink, wrestling with a packet of peanuts and pondering on what to buy from "the onboard offers."

Only after the bags have been collected and passport control completed do you get a sense of where you are which even then may be some what muted by the long wait for the holiday tour bus to fill up and set off.

All of which makes me think that the fifteen day coach holiday to the Italian Lakes, taking in a bit of France, lots of Luxembourg and Bellgium and northrn Italy has some merit.

And so for no other reason than I haven’t looked at these labels for half a century I shall post a few a week, and in the fullness of time will go looking for each of the hotels.

Pictures; hotel labels from the 1950s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Who moved that bus stop? …………. and other challenges to my memory ….Didsbury …. 1967

It started with a conversation with my friend Barbarella about the lost shops of Didsbury, and in particular, the stretch from M&S to the Santander Bank.

I casually mentioned the photo shop close to the bank and then doubt set in as to whether it had been there back in the 1970s, when I waited for a bus, or indeed if it was still there a few decades later.

Now, I know there is one there today, but thought it might have moved from where I remembered it.
 So as you do I checked out the site on street google and while there is a photo shop, there is no bus stop, and there hangs my dilemma, because for years I stood at that bus stop and would often give up on the bus and go in and buy some film.

These were the decades when I still used smelly film, developing them and printing them at home, along with a sideline in colour slides, which with trial and error led me to prefer Agfar film.

But as so often happens the absence of that bus stop led me to question my memory.

And then  Barbarella restored my memory with “Now it’s opposite the Coop and the next one just passed Saints and Scholars”, which was confirmed almost immediately afterwards when I came across another picture from 1967.

There was the bus stop, and more importantly there was the camera shop, complete with Agfa sign.

I did then go looking at the bus routes on the destination board, which even I thought points to me really needing to get out more, but if you want to give the full flavor of Didsbury in the 1960s, you must dig deep.

That said my guide to bus routes for 1969, shows that none of the three services were running by then, which make me wonder if there was a second bus stop with more services and which of the three went into town, and which headed towards Barlow Moor.

Someone will know, and they may also be prompted to share their memories, sparked perhaps by the picture of Wilmslow Road in 1969.

We shall see.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Wilmslow Road, 1967, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY

Travelling Europe ………….. with a suitcase and a clutch of hotel labels

Now, history comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and today I am back with the humble luggage label.*

They were something I grew up with given that Dad’s job took him across the Continent from the beginning of May till the end of September.

Not that he ever used them on his suitcase, instead they sat in envelopes, to be taken out occasionally by me who was fascinated by the magic of the pictures and the destinations.

And now a full sixty years on I am admiring them all over again, more so because of the style of much of the artwork as well as the history behind them.

But the passage of time has been cruel and nearly 40 years stored in a cellar has resulted in some of them for ever being fused together, while others were just lost through neglect.

Still, enough have survived to give a flavor to that world of hotels and travelling during the middle decades of the last century.

The seasoned travelers could also add labels for the steam ships, which took passengers from mundane places of Calais and Antwerp to exotic destinations halfway around the world.

Travel often and far enough and your suitcase was an advert for the holidays you took.

But dad was not on holiday, instead his was the job of driving the coach that took his passengers from London, across the Continent as far as the Swiss and Italian Alps, along with the French Rivera, the Black Forest, and for good measure the Dutch tulips and windmills as well as Paris and a selection of European cities.

All of which meant he accumulated luggage labels from all over, and the fun has been to see just how many of these hotels still exist.

And the surprise is that many are still in business, retaining their old name if a little modified, from the grand Hotel Regina in Venice to the Pitter in Saltsburg and many more.

Of course, most will have undergone change, and I expect dad and his passengers would have wondered what Wi fi was, as well as marveling that each room would come with a television as standard.

Once or twice I have contacted some of the places, offering to share an image of their ancient hotel label, but none have been interested enough to reply.

But then most are now owned by corporations, with hotels across the world, and while the original name may have been retained, most will have added a brand title, and the interior will have taken on a uniformity, which is the same for Paris, Berlin or Rome.

Likewise, each in the chain will sit on the same company web site with little to distinguish its uniqueness and no hint of its distinct history.

Leaving me with just these old bits of their past, when each hotel commissioned their own artist to create something with style, and in some cases a hint of humour which made them stand out from the rest.

Location; across Europe









Pictures; luggage labels, circs 1940s-50s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Hotel labels, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Hotel%20labels

Brand new Manchester ……….. replacing the hole in the ground …. 1960

Now I always like to dig deep, trawling the historic records to support a picture.

But this time I rather think I will just leave it at the image, and instead let everyone going looking for what they want.

It is 1960, and the new look Manchester is about to rise from the ground in front of the bus depot.

Nine years later I would sit in the Milk Bar in that parade of shops opposite the buses, enjoy the view from the restaurant of the Hotel Piccadilly, and look at the three buildings that occupied the site while walking through the old gardens.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Brand new Manchester, 1960, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk 

Letters from the Western Front

Mr and Mrs Davison and their son, date unknown

I am rereading the letters of George Davison.*

It has been a moving experience and one that has taken me from his first letters and postcards to his death on the Western Front just five months before the end of that war.

And taken me to Woolwich, Ireland and finally France.

But the collection is bigger than even this because it starts with his school records, includes the letters he sent to his future wife and finishes with the terse official correspondence from the War Office and along with all these is a series of further documents taking us into the 1950s.

They cover his enlistment in Manchester, his time in Woolwich and Ireland before his arrival in France and also reveal the changing addresses of his family.

I have yet to read them in detail but as I move to scan the last letters of May and early June I know that I will soon record his last letter because he was killed on June 17 1918.

And nothing quite prepares you for the knowledge that soon there will be no more letters from George and that the link with his wife of seven years will be severed.

His final letters talk of the irritations of moving around the Front including the loss of personal equipment and the varying quality of the accommodation and on June 15 wrote

The last letter from George to his wife, June 15, 1918

“You would be surprised to see some of our living places – at present we have an excellent dug out about 20 feet below the surface. 

It has however two drawbacks – poor ventilation and only artificial (candle) light.  

Compared to some it is a Palace.”

And this was where he died on June 17 when the dugout received a direct.  All three men in the dug out were “killed instantly” and according to the Royal Engineers who inspected the position “it was not considered safe to recover the bodies.

The dug out was then filled in and is marked as the resting place of your brother in law and his comrade. ”**

Now I have read and reread those last few letters and they still have the power to move me.

I was prepared for the fact that he was killed but you can never quite shake off either the manner of the death or that the description in the letter of July 6.

And that I think is all that needs to be said.

Picture; of George and Nellie Davison and additional material courtesy of David Harrop

*George Davison, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/George%20Davison

*extract of the letter sent to Bdn W.F.Evans, R.A.F, July 6 1918

How to be a tourist in Leicester ……. Gallowtree Gate … homework .... and a remarkable find

First  the tourist apologies for getting it wrong .....sorry Gallowtree Gate for calling you a street ... blame it on Tuck and Sons in 1926.

No defence I know as so many Leicester readers have pointed out, for which I hang my tourist head in shame. 

And promise to do better by checking the names off against a modern street map and not just relying on Mr. Tuck, who got it so wrong in 1926.

I tried ringing him but he ain't taking calls. So back to the original story ... about a Gate not a street.

Now there are two simple ways to be a tourist in Leicester or for that matter anywhere.

The first is to ignore the guidebooks, forsake advice and just boldly set off in the expectation that the journey will offer up plenty of surprises.  

The second is to carefully research the city with the help of the guidebook and the internet and if there is one search out the tourist bus.

I have always chosen the first course and as result walked for miles, missed heaps of interesting things, and ended up at a derelict car park.

Tina prefers the well-researched approach including the bus, and since giving into her way of being a tourist I have never been disappointed.

But back in January having done the research thingy we came unstuck with Gallowtree Gate.  I vaguely remember that gate was an old word for street but did think there might be a Roman connection.

And I rather laughed at the idea that the street might have a connection with hanging people.

Tina’s research revealed a lot to which I threw in my collection of Tuck and Son picture postcards which date from 1926.

These led me to expect a throughfare of Victorian and Edwardian buildings with a few modernist ones squeezing into gaps made by Mr. Hitler’s bombs.

But not so on the Saturday we found Gallowtree Gate with its post war shops and pedestrian way, which was a tad disappointing, although I think I was able to locate where Dun and Co were.

That said my picture post card offered up a nice message on the back from Minnie who was staying in Beaconsfield Road, and was “having a nice time, lovely weather. Plenty of motor rides [having had] a nice ride down from Heanor." 

And the added surprise was that Beaconsfield Road is still there, which may not have been the tourist attraction we had anticipated but was still a nice bit of historic continuity ……. Even if the City Planners had done for my Gallowtree Gate

Location; Leicester

Picture; Gallowtree Gate, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/ 

One bank …… a tile shop ….. Café Nero ..... and a block of flats ….. the new Four Banks

So as everyone will remember there was a Chorlton discussion on retaining the name the Four Banks for the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

The planners preferred name of Chorlton Cross was and is unloved and unused. The historic name of Kemp’s Corner has all but passed out of living memory as has the previous Bank Square.

And like these two earlier names the Four Banks arose out of the everyday experience of those who lived in Chorlton.

In the first half of the last century, Kemp’s Corner made perfect sense because of Harry Kemp’s Chemist shop with its big clock which made it the commonly accepted meeting spot in Chorlton before the age of the mobile.

And likewise if you have a bank on each corner, then the Four Banks, or Four Bank Corner makes equal sense.

But the days of suburban banks is going, and Chorlton is no exception.

So, the news of planning applications for a set of apartments and shops on the site of the old HSBC and a Café Nero in the former Santander Bank offers up challenges for new names.

We shall see.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Chorlton former banks, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The Lost Chorlton pictures ......... no 5. ......... a shop

Now in the early 1980s there were those that believed the formation of the SDP would prove a mould breaking event which would transform British politics.

Extravagant claims were made about the future, and with that in mind the SDP rented out a shop on the corner of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road in what was a very prominent position for the General Election of 1983.

Some in the Labour Party feared that they might be beaten into third place, while others in the Conservative Party smiled at what they saw as a splitting of the vote on the centre and left of politics.

Here in Chorlton where we had joined the constituency of Manchester Withington, the four candidates, were Fred Silvester who was defending the seat for the Tories, , Francis Done for Labour, Bernard L Lever for the SDP and Michael Gibson who stood as an Independent.

In the event while the Tories were returned there was a swing of 3.4% away from them and Labour achieved 34% of the vote, with the SDP polling 24%.

Four years later the seat was won by Keith Bradley representing Labour, with a swing of 4.8% with third place going to the Liberals.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the shop, 1983, from the collection of Andrew Simpson