Pictures from Beech Road ……… Buonissimo, Muriel and Richard and the bar with lots of names

Now here's a vanished scene, well  almost.

They must date from before 2000, when I swapped smelly photography for digital.

And as you do the last old fashioned photographs were consigned to that very special box, on the equally special shelf, and promptly forgotten for decades.

In the intervening years, Bob and Del rented out the deli to Marcus who retained the name, but then moved on, which is how we now have that fine Spanish tapas bar, while next door Muriel and Richard retired and the last fruit and veg shop became a letting agency.

Nor was that all, because bit by bit Beech Road, slipped effortlessly into a strip of bars, cafés, restaurants and interesting shops.

All of which might well be summed up by the place on the corner with Acres Road, which I remember as a piano shop and and closed for better things.

And without ever wanting to sound like Methuselah I can claim to have eaten there from when it first opened as Café on the Green, and later when it was known variously as Blue Note, the Nose and Marmalade and the Parlour.

And since the Parlour a heap more

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; Beech Road; sometime before now, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Welcome Jane Eyre to Beech Road ……………..

 This is Beech Road in 1935, and I doubt that anyone at the time would have thought that sixty years later it would be the centre of Chorlton’s bar and restaurant revolution.

When I arrived in 1976 it was still a mix of shops where you could buy fresh food from several butchers, a green grocer and at least two grocery stores, as well as a bag of nails a gallon of paraffin,  balls of wool and get your hair cut.

But the growing dominance of supermarkets and changed patterns of shopping dealt a death blow to these traditional shops which had cornered the market for almost a century.

And in their place came Café on the Green on the corner of Acres and Beech, Bob Amato’s Italian Deli and Primavera, quickly followed by the Lead Station.

 And it is of Café on the Green and its successors I am reflecting on.

The building has had a varied history, starting off as a hardware shop, becoming a hair dressers and then  briefly selling pianos, before settling down for its long association with food.

And without ever wanting to sound like Methuselah I can claim to have eaten in the place when it first opened as Cafe on the Green, and later when it was known variously as Blue Note, the Nose and Marmalade, the Parlour and more recently Suburban Green.

And now it has changed again opening in early December under new management and run by the two brothers who made their name with the Northern Quarter restaurant, Jane Eyre, which was “Built and named in memory of our mum, [and is] a warm and welcoming neighbourhood bar. Serving classic cocktails with a twist, an eclectic range of keg and bottled beers and simple, great tasting food using the highest quality ingredients”.*

There are signs that inside the place is undergoing a makeover, while outside the walls have become a very nice dark blue.

So, that is it.  

I could of course just make the observation that the entire stretch of land from Acres Road up to Chequers was Blomely's Fish pond, which vanished sometime in the 1870s, and that according to our local historian, Mr. Ellwood a small water course ran the length of Acres Road which was paved over.

But that is for another time.

For now, I look forward to the new restaurant and close as you would expect with a medly of pictures from them old days.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Beech Road in 1935 courtesy Marjorie Holmes of the transformation from the Nose, Marmalade, the Parlour and Suburban Green, 1990s-2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Jane Eyre, https://www.thejaneeyre.co.uk/

Early morning on Beech Road ……

Something is stirring at what was Elk, and before that a succession of restaurants back to Primavera and before that a grocery shop to its beginnings as a “slaughterhouse” in the 1870s.

Beech Road, 2021

I have written about Mrs. Thorpe who took over the newly bought shop in 1879 and set up a new business.*

The very first tenant was a Mary Jane Kershaw and it is not clear what she sold in the shop but by the following year when Mrs Thorpe took over the tenancy it is listed as a “slaughter house” and she continued to do the business of selling meat from the property till the beginning of the 20th century.

Beech Road, 2020

For a while after that it was confectioner’s and then a bakery and later a grocer’s shop run by the Lambert family. 

I remember it as such and its conversion into a card and gift shop before it returned to its old connection with food.  For this was Primavera opened by Patrick Hannity in the early 1990s and then by degree becoming Beggars Bush and Mink before re opening as Elk.

Primavera was a very different restaurant to what had gone before in Chorlton and quite rightly drew customers from other parts of the city and out into Cheshire.

Its mix of imaginative dishes heavily influenced by the cuisine of the Mediterranean has been widely copied across Chorlton but seldom bettered.

And so the cycle begins again.

Location; Beech Road

Pictures, Beech Road, 2021, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Mrs. Thorpe, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Mrs+Martha+Thorpe

The Nose on Beech Road ............... another lost Chorlton bar

Now I don’t think we do recent history very well.

And that I suppose is because we rarely regard it as history.

It sits there as just a vague memory or an occasional question to a friend about what was down at the Four Banks in 1990 or what replaced

Woolworth's when it closed.

Nor do we bother to take pictures and if we do they seldom survive.

So while there are shed loads of images of Chorlton and Whalley Range in the 1900s there are few regularly posted from the 1970s or 80s.
As we all know there has been a bar revolution, which is a very recent thing.

Go back just to twenty five years and most of what are now bars were shops selling traditional things like shoes, wool, electrical goods and paraffin.

Now I am fully aware of the debate around that revolution but for now I just want to reflect on the rise and demise of one of those bars.

It was the Nose on Beech Road.

Today number 60 is the Parlour but as a bar/ restaurant/cafe it has had quite a few different names and before that it did other things.

My memories only stretch to the mid 1970s when it was briefly a piano shop before it began its long association with food and drink.

And without ever wanting to sound like Methuselah I can claim to have eaten in the place when it first opened as Cafe on the Green, and later when it was known variously as Blue Note, the Nose and Marmalade before reopening as the Parlour.

Along the way it extended sideways on to Acres Road and acquired its set of street furniture. Happily the present set of tables and chairs are more comfortable than the early steel ones which seemed to balance precariously on the uneven surface.

In 1911 it belonged to Mr Wheatley the ironmonger who sold paraffin, waxed string and brass nails and later it was a hairdressers.

There are a few pictures of the business when it did all of those things  but few of the later years.

So I was pleased when I found these.  I can’t remember when they were taken but I printed them off and so will date to a time when I was still using both a digital camera and my old

Pictures, The Nose circa 1990s from the collection of Andrew Ssimpson

For the Friends of Barlow Moor Road .......

Now I know I should get out more.

And so with that thought in mind I decided to renew my subscription to the Friends of Barlow Moor Road [Chorlton Branch] with a short stroll from Chorlton Brook down to Kemp’s Corner, which now goes under the official title of Chorlton Cross, but everyone calls the Four Banks.

I was pleased to see that the M&S store was where I left it, although oldies like me may just associate M&S with the Manchester & Salford Co-op, but that is just me showing off.

However the news from that fast food place opposite, is that it was all fenced off and appeared to be going through a makeover.

I suppose if I checked the City Council Planning Portal I would find the details but that I will leave to others.

Instead I shall dwell on those changes to Morely Cheeks, that bar with the unusual name.

It had once "been Argyles as well as a bank, but had started out as a branch of T. Seymour Mead the grocery chain. But there is a sort of logic in that odd name because the original Morley Cheek’s was named after the Reverend Nicholas Morley Cheek ,who was appointed to our own St Clements parish church in 1791, and remained in place till his death in 1805. That said, he appointed in quick succession two stipendiary curates to oversee St Clement’s, while he went off to build St Stephen’s Church in Salford". *

There is more but you will have to look it up in Manchester Pubs The Stories Behind the Doors Chorlton-cum-Hardy, which Peter and I published last year.**

At the time we commented that “even the Reverend will not survive the makeover at Morley Cheek’s, which as well as a refurbishment will soon see the bar change its name”.

At the time we were told it would be in a few months, but that seemed to have been delayed for almost a year, but as I passed last week it is in full swing.  Regulars may wonder at the plight of the night safe which was retained from its time as a bank will survive.

We shall see.
Leaving me to suggest you compare Peter’s paintings with the finished alterations to both MacDonald’s and the bar.

Painting; McDonalds Chorlton. Painting © 2016 Peter Topping, & Morley Cheek Chorlton. Painting © 2017 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

*Manchester Pubs The Stories Behind the Doors Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping, 2017

**A new book on the pubs and bars of Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Chorlton%20Pubs%20and%20bars

The loss of Oddest

I was saddened to hear that Oddest on Wilbraham Road has closed.

As ever, the social media sites were quick to home in on its closure, beginning with questions about why it was not open, followed by speculation on what might replace it, along with the inevitable  tranche of stories and memories of the place.

What seemed to be missing from the chatter was any appreciation of what its closure meant to the staff who worked, there and at the two other outlets in the Northern Quarter.

And it was left to the Evening News to record that 40 jobs have gone, which is a tragedy in any one’s books.*

There will be more than a few of the uncharitable sort who argue that this is evidence of there being too many bars in Chorlton and call again for a return of the traditional retail outlets.

Sadly in an age of on line shopping, giant supermarkets and the Trafford Centre, the demand for the small independent green grocer, grocer and shoe shop are not high on most peoples’ shopping list.

And that in turn leaves many High Streets chasing a mix of charity shops, niche businesses and bars to fill the void.

The same uncharitable voices may also dismiss my response as nothing more than self interest, given that late last year I co-produced a book on Chorlton’s pubs and bars with the Manchester artist Peter Topping.

Since its publication there have been a few bars which have changed their name, one that was going to but didn’t, another which closed as we were writing the book and the opening of Zitano, that excellent pizza restaurant on Beech Road.

What is more remarkable is that most of the establishments are open and appear to be flourishing, which may say something about Chorlton.

And that brings me back to Oddest which opened in 2009, had a complete refurbishment five years later and always seemed busy when I passed.

Those in the know, or perhaps think they are in the know, may offer up an explanation for its demise, based on the steady decline in the pub trade which may now be biting into the bar business.

But such speculation I will leave to them, who may in their endless pontificating give some thought to the staff of Oddest, the Odd Bar and The Blue Pig which together formed the chain.

Location; Chorlton & Manchester

Painting; Oddest,  © 2017 Peter Topping

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Odd bar, Oddest and The Blue Pig have closed down - leaving dozens of staff jobless, Beth Abbit, Manchester Evening News, January 5, 2018, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/odd-bar-oddest-blue-pig-14118281