A final goodbye to the City’s Police Headquarters ………

 Another bit of the city’s history finally vanished last week.

The courtyard, circa 2018

There will be many who remember the old headquarters of the City of Manchester Police on the corner of Bootle Street and South Mill Street.

And for many it was just a place you took for granted.

Looking back at the collection I only took one picture of the building and that dates from after it had finally closed when weeds were sprouting up in the man courtyard.

That said I could only find three images of the place in Manchester’s Local Collection, but happily the Manchester Guardian was on hand to report in detail what it called the “Northern Scotland Yard”. *

It opened on July 17th, 1937, cost £100,000 and was according to the Manchester Guardian “an example of how the needs of one municipal department has been met by another municipal department.  The city architect, Mr. G. Noel Hill and his staff designed the whole of the building, fittings, furniture, and decorative schemes.” **

The Police Station, 1972

The building was equipped with a back up electrical supply, a crime information room with radio equipment, “an extensive department for fingerprint records and the examination of fingerprints.  

A chemical laboratory, with a balance room and store, and an optical laboratory, with two dark rooms equipped for criminal investigation.  

The optical laboratory is a general optical workshop and maybe used as a photographic studio”.

And because it was the both the City Police Headquarters and home to A Division of the Force, there were two kitchens and dining rooms “equipped with up-to-date gas cooking apparatus”. 

The large rectangular courtyard measured 150 feet by 50 feet, occupied the centre portion and was partly roofed over making it “convenient for dealing with motor vehicles”.

But by the beginning of this century, it was no longer fit for purpose and was slowly run down, leaving the site an attractive potential for developers.

Gone, 2022

And recently the demolition of the building began with Andy Robertson on hand to record it.***

Now Andy will keep going back till not one brick is left standing, and so this is Sunday he was there to see all had been knocked down.

Leaving him to return at a later date to see the site cleared and the process of building a new start in earnest.

Location Bootle Street, Southmill Street and Jackson’s Row

Pictures; looking into the courtyard, circa 2018, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Police Stations, Police Headquarters, South Street, Bootle Street, Manchester, h. Milligan, 1972, m55810, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and all that is left, 2022, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Northern Scotland Yard, Opening of the Manchester’s New Police Headquarters, Manchester Guardian, July 17th, 1937

**City Police Headquarters, Jackson’s Row, Manchester, Manchester Guardian, July 16th, 1937

***That iconic Police Station in the heart of the city, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/04/that-iconic-police-station-in-heart-of.html

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