31 Booth Street ………. and the embarrassing revelation

Now this is 31 Booth Street, and it is a building I have passed for over half a century and never given it a second glance.

31 Booth Street, 2022

But on Monday I was drawn to the entrance partly I guess because of the welcoming light above the door on what was mostly a grey day.

And as you do, I went looking for its story.

In 1903 it was home to Grundy, Kershaw and Samson who were solicitors, and I can track them back to 1876, when they were plain Grundy and Kershaw.  

Booth Street circa 1900

Three years later they had expanded to become Grundy, Kershaw, Saxon, Samson and Watkins which must have made for a long letterhead, but within a few years they had lost Saxon and Watkins.

The obvious next task was track the building back to its construction and using old maps, the street directories and Rate Books, I confidently came up with a date between 1864 and 1878.

All of which seemed a neat piece of research, dashed only by the date carved above the door which I had missed.

This proclaimed the construction date as 1868, which fitted the research but leaves me a tad embarrassed.

Still, I like the entrance and can record it was owned by the County Fire Office and was home to a variety of professional companies.

While earlier in the century the site was home to an engraver, a glass manufacturer and a plumber, and is evidence of the slow transformation of this bit of the city from  industry to commercial use.

To which I can add that my friend Anthony has tracked our firm of solicitors through the late 19th century into the 20th as far as 1961 which is a pretty long time.  Along the way they acquired new partners and may still have been at 31 Booth Street just eight years later when I first wandered past as an eager undergraduate.

Now that would be a nice bit of continuity.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; 31 Booth Street, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Booth Street circa 1900, from Goads Fire Insurance Map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, https://digitalarchives.co.uk/

That iconic Police Station in the heart of the city

Now I never have ventured into the old Bootle Street Police Station, and so I was fascinated by a series of pictures Andy Robertson sent over yesterday.

It was headed “Brutal plight of Bootle Street” and the images certainly fulfil the title.

The building was opened in the  1930s as the headquarters of the Manchester City Police.  

And its magnificent Portland stone exterior on South Mill Street spoke volumes of the power and authority of the City’s Constabulary.

Of course, the business bit was less impressive but none the less filled the bill for decades, but by the turn of the century this was less so and Greater Manchester Police began to move out, leading to its final closure.

By which time the developers began looking to the transformation of the site and the area.

But that is someone else’s story, * as are the pictures of the interior. **

So instead, I shall just leave you with Andy Robertson’s pictures, and go away for the weekend to miss the torrent of comments about developers in general and this particular development.

Location; Bootle Street

Pictures; “Brutal plight of Bootle Street”, April 2022, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*City Police Headquarters, https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour6/area6page19.html

**Abandoned Cells of Bootle Street - Manchester - Skyliner Tours, http://www.theskyliner.org/blog-1/bootle-street-cells