Just how do you honour a shop with history?.......

Now it’s not a silly question nor is it an irreverent one, but a genuine search for a fitting memorial to a shop that has not only sold its share of baked beans, but been at the heart of local politics and the community for 97 years.

Hardy Lane Co-op, 1959

The shop is the Hardy Lane Co-op on the corner of Barlow Moor Road and Hardy Lane and is the Hardy Lane Co-op.

It was opened in 1929 to serve the new housing estates which were being built along and behind Barlow Moor Road.

What marks it out is that it has a meeting room and has the distinction of being one of the last Co-op stores to retain a community space which can be hired out. Once there used to be hundreds of such spaces above Co-op shops across the UK.

But sadly most have now gone.

And the Hardy Lane Co-op Rooms can boast a rich and diversified series of events which have taken place in its room.

They range from meetings of the Wood Craft Folk to pollical assemblies of the Labour and Co-operative Parties as well as acting as election rooms for the two parties, and a heap of social events from film nights to whist evenings.

That banner, 1937

A favourite story of mine is the regular meetings of the Chorlton and Manley Park Women’s Co-operative Guild which was founded in 1922, and commemorated with a banner in 1934.

I remember looking up at the banner during meetings and events throughout the 1970s into the 1980s and beyond which were enlivened by some of the original participants of the local Guild who did “tea duty” in the interval having contributed to discussions of the Co-op Party on a variety of topics.

And so, I will be returning to all these moments in the story of the Co-op rooms, but for those who can't wait I can recommend that wonderful blog written by Lawrence Beedle on all things Hardy Lane Coop.*

The Hary Lane store, 2009

Leaving me just to announce the news that a Blue Plaque will be installed on the wall of the Hardy Lane Co-op Store later this year.

Watch this space.

Location; The Hardy Lane Co-op Store

Pictures; Barlow Moor Road, 1966, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass the banner of the Chorlton and Manley Park Women’s Co-operative  Guild 1937 and the Co-op Store in 2009, courtesy of Lawrence Beedle

*Hardy Lane Scrapbook, https://hardylane.blogspot.com/