Chorlton honours its oldest cycle shop

On a wet miserable Remembrance Day over 30 people came together to watch the unveiling of a blue plaque at Ken Fosters Cycle Shop.

 Cll Mandie Shilton Godwin unveiling the plaque, 2023

It was part recognition that there has been a cycle shop here on Barlow Moor Road for over 80 years and also that Fosters is more than a bike business.

Ken Foster, 2023

As many know it is also engaged in charitable work, is a promoter of Chorlton Arts Festival and has opened the back of the shop up as a venue for the performing arts as well hosting history talks and exhibitions by local artists.

So, a mix of friends, the interested, and bike fans gathered for the unveiling by Cll Mandie Shilton Godwin of the blue plaque which was followed by a short talk from Ken Foster on the history of the family business.

Ken’s dad took over the cycle business from two brothers in 1954, and now rank as the oldest business in Chorlton.

The idea of a blue plaque trail has been floating around for a while, but has now been taken up by Chorlton Civic Society and aims to record those people in Chorlton who in some way have made a contribution to where we live, coupled with buildings or events that are part of our history.

They are not necessarily looking to remember the conventional “famous person” or the most elegant property, but people and buildings which are significant in our own history.

The plaque

Chorlton Civic Society has begun to collect suggestions for further plaques and has already attracted a group of keen supporters.

And that is it for now.

Location; Barlow Moor Road,

Pictures; unveiling the plaque, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson