A pub ... the old Police Station ..... and heaps of change on Bootle Street

I have always been fascinated by the long narrow twisty roads that run off from Deansgate up to Mount Street and Albert Square.

Bootle Street, 1849

And of these Bootle Street is a favourite.

Armed with just a bit of historical knowledge and the odd old map it is one of those streets which fires up the imagination.

In the 1840s it was fronted by back-to-back properties with narrow passages which led on to closed courts and heaps more small two roomed houses, with the added dismal attraction of Quaker’s Burial Ground beside Bootle Alley.

Today most of the tall buildings have their back to the street, and like other such city streets it can feel like walking through a canyon.

But there are attractions like the Abercromby with its long history and association with Peterloo. 

Model Zone, 2014

And until recently it was also Model Zone that shop which was full of plastic kits of aircraft, locomotives and cars which transported me happily back to my childhood and was always worth a twenty-minute detour from the planned day.

At present the northern section from Southmill Street down to the pub and a little beyond is being redeveloped as part of the St Michaels grand plan, which has seen the pub kitchen of Abercromby demolished and will do away with the Jackson Row Synagogue, and the rear parts of the former Bootle Street Police Station.*

The details of which are there to see on the City Council planning portal,** but for now I will just fall back on the pictures Andy Robertson took last weekend on an adventure which took him down Bootle Street.

Picture; Onward Buildings 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and detail of Bootle Alley, 1849 from the OS of Manchester & Salford, 1849, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/  and Bootle Street in 2023, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Bootle Street by the Abercromby, 2023

*It’s happening: Demolition works start at St Michael’s, Julia Hatmaker, North West Place, March 2022 10:00 Julia Hatmaker, https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/its-happening-demolition-works-start-at-st-michaels/

**Bootle Street, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, 114664/FO/2016, Partial demolition of existing buildings. Development up to 171.6m AOD comprising residential (Use Class C3), offices (Use Class B1), hotels (Use Class C1), place of worship (Use Class D1) and leisure/food and drink uses (Classes A1, A3, A4, A5 and D2). Creation of public spaces and new public realm, provision of basement car parking, highway alterations, landscaping and associated works. Land Bounded By Jacksons Row, Bootle Street, Southmill Street & 201 Deansgate Manchester M2 5GU, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=OHHY99BCI2L00&activeTab=summary

Bootle Street, 2023

A little bit of our past on Bootle Street ….a ghost sign

Now I say a ghost sign but it is still possible that Graham Brothers [Motors] are still in business.

But as a search failed to turn up a reference to them and the front of the building is now a mix of restaurants I suspect they have long gone.

The sign is on Bootle Street which is the working side of one of those grand buildings which offered up offices and shops on the posh side industrial premises at the rear.

Back at the beginning of the last century the entire block was a mix of shops and a restaurant facing Peter Street while the rear was the Packing Warehouse of John Stevenson & Sons, so it is quite possible that at some time in the mid 20th century Graham Brothers occupied a bit of the rear.

And it is a reminder that once the city centre had its fair share of messy businesses which rubbed shoulders with more upmarket ones.

I will continue to go looking for Graham Brothers, and maybe some one will offer up a clue.

We shall see.

And two people have come forward with an answer to the location of the firm.  

Just hours after the story went live, David Dolman, commented, "Graham Bros moved to Chester Road Stretford.  They were Vauxhall agents, the garage is still there but has changed names a few times. It is now called Arnold Clarkes".

And because the historian in me likes to offer up more sources, Andrew Holland has added "Graham Brothers was a car dealership which relocated to the corner of greatstone Roadd and Chester Roadd. Its still there but under another name. I used". to buy off them. They were still going in the late 80s

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Bootle Street, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson and Peters Street, circa 1900, from Goad's Fire Insurance Maps, Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/