I have seen the future and it works* …….. shopping in 1961

I like this picture because it offers up a range of shop fronts, from the traditional to the brand new.

And there is no doubting that when Shelia Montgomery and the Electricity Board opted for their bold and striking  fronts they were staking a claim to being modern and at the cutting age of the new Britain.

Back in the late 1950s and early 60s I was too young to appreciate  just how much of a break with tradition they were, and by the time I was in my teens they were so commonplace that I took them for granted.

But in 1961 they stood out as very different from the fashion shop of S. Pickles, which will noy have changed over much since the row of houses with their shops were built.

And walking back along the parade, Rushtons, Sprent and the supermarket had also chosen modernity over tradition.

A full sixty or so years later I rather think all five look dated in comparison to number 111, which modern shop fitters might seek to imitate.

I had thought we were on Princes Road and certainly some of the other pictures in the collection suggest so, but pinning down these shops has so far proved inconclusive.

And happily Michael Wood, came back with this, "Looking at the shop fronts I just got an inkling this was Alexandra Road, and sure enough in the Local Image Collection there is Sheila Montgomery on m30313, next door to Rushtons just before they too had gone for a makeover with the trendy brash new signboard seen in your photo!  

My mum used to occasionally go shopping along here in the 60s as it offered some cheaper alternatives to the Chorlton shops, and I used to pass along here whenever I got the bus into town.  

It was always bustling, with so much dense housing nearby.  There is also m30349 in 1972 both Sheila and Sprent beyond Rushtons have disappeared and the place looks a bit jaded!  Interesting series of photos".

And as ever Michael's correction shows how the blog is always a collaborative project.

To which Tony has added the entry from the Street Directory which I think will date from 1962 and offers up the full range and variety of shopping paradise.

Location; Manchester

 Picture; street directory, 1962, courtesy of Tony Petrie, shop fronts, 1961, 1961-3476.4, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*"I have seen the future, and it works", Lincoln Austin Steffens, 1919, after visiting the Soviet Union

It’s how we did it in 1970

To be fair shops like these were doing the business for decades before this picture was taken in 1970.

But within a decade and bit, independent shops selling toys, prams and bikes would have been squeezed out by big shinny stores which could buy in bulk, reduce prices and lay out their multiple wares in big spacious spaces.

And the same fate faced many grocery shops, leaving shops like Pinkertons to expand  into selling a range of foods alongside their newspapers.

What I like about the image are the details, starting with the modern signage, the sheer variety on offer at Browns for Toys, and the reference to credit couched in that phrase “Terms Arranged”.

The shop was on the corner of East Court Terrace, but its location has as yet defeated me despite trawling the directories.

But someone will know. ...... And someone did .... almost by the return of post, Andy Robertson looked up the place in the 1969 directory, and discovered that

"Pinkertons 34 Stockport Road, Ardwick, Brown's Cycle Dealers at 32 and John Kirk, grocer at 36.

This block was between Eastcourt Terrace and Old Elm Street, opposite the Apsley Cottage pub, near the Apollo".

And that has allowed me to revisit the story and add the companion picture, which neatly places the two photographs in the run up to Christmas 1970.

Location; Stockport Road, Ardwick,

Picture; Browns for Toys, 1970 -2804, and 1970 - 2811, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

How we shopped in 1961 …. from corner shop to supermarket

If you were born in the first half of the last century you will have experienced one of those transformations in how we shopped.

What was the present .... 1962

Long before online shopping, and the big out of town store, there was the appearance of the supermarket which with its self-service and discounted prices squeezed out the traditional small family run grocery shop, and in time also did for the butchers and the greengrocer.

Once upon a time in that age before the freezer or even the fridge, most people shopped on a daily basis at the local parade of shops, or in the market, while for the posh there was still the option to have your order delivered by the “boy on the bike”.

Our local grocer’s was Attins on Queens Road where the selection of food was limited and in the case of cheese stretched to white or red.

But of course for a seven year old there was the attraction of the broken biscuit box in front of the counter, and the fascination of watching the butter and cheese cut to order, as well as the knowledge that because you were known any short fall in the cash you had with you would be subbed by Mr. and Mrs. Attins until your next visit.

What was to be the future ..... 1961

Now we still do have corner shops, they never went away, but even they have gone up market, offer a degree of self -service and as like as not will have food from around the world, sitting beside jars of Branston and Ovaltine.

So, to celebrate both the old and the new, here is the traditional corner shop with its range of things we bought in 1961 and one of Adsega supermarkets which started with one store in Gorton in the early 1960s before expanding to 47 outlets and then being taken over by Tesco in 1965.*

Many will remember them.

Here in Chorlton they had a shop in Manchester Road, and today long after they vanished from our streets they have their own Facebook page.

But what I like about the Adsega store, is that like the traditional shops and the market stalls some of the products were displayed on the street.

Picture; shop fronts, 1961-2, 1962-3782.7, & 1962-3764.1, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* THE STORES THAT TESCO ATE: A LOST PRECINCT NOT SO PERFECT TEN https://mancunian1001.wordpress.com/2017/10/11/the-stores-that-tesco-ate-a-lost-precinct-not-so-perfect-ten/

That house on Tib Street ………………… with a long history and uncertain future

I can’t say I ever really noticed no. 88 Tib Street, but I wish I had.

February 2018

It stands almost on the corner with Whittle Street and already its neighbour has vanished, leaving it shrouded in scaffolding next to Gullivers.

It has been empty and boarded up from 2008, and probably much earlier, and despite passing it many times, I only clocked its existence last week when the Manchester Evening News ran a story on its uncertain future.*

And that article, reminded Andy Robertson that he had taken a picture of the place last February, all of which prompted me to go looking for its story.

The MEN, referred to it as “one of the last remaining weaver's cottages in the city centre, dating back to the 18th Century”, and a quick look at the maps of the period show that it was there by 1794, and is clearly marked as a workshop of some description on Adshead’s map of 1851.

January 1851

Just when it stopped being a workshop and indeed a weaver’s cottage is unclear.

In 1849 the Rate Books show that it was occupied by a Thomas Higgins, and the annual estimated rent for the property was £18.

Now I  can follow Thomas Higgins around the city, in the years before and after 1849.

He appears on Whittle Street, Long Millgate, Sutton Street, Hanover Street, Reather Street and Portugal Street, with guest appearances also in Hulme , and Chorlton-on Medlock, which clearly suggests we are dealing with more than one man.

So, the historian in me advises caution in linking number 88 to any one man, but the romantic makes me lean towards the Thomas Higgins who described himself as a handloom weaver in the 1851 census and who was living with his family on Portugal Street.

May 1959

A year later a Thomas Higgins is listed in Whellan and Co’s Directory of Manchester, as a tailor in the firm of Waite and Higgins at 10 Reather Street, which was off Oldham Road.

It is possible that a handloom weaver in a shrinking and dying industry might have branched out into a tailoring business, or we might just have the wrong Mr. Higgins.

Either way, our house appears to sever its links with the textile trade, and for the rest of the nineteenth and 20th centuries becomes a shop.

In 1861 it was home to a Benjamin Leigh who was a beer seller, a decade later it was occupied by a printer, and more recently was a florist in 1959, and ten years on, a toy dealer.**

All of which would appear to be almost the end of the story.

We shall see.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; number 88 in 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson, in 1959, L. Kaye, m05812, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass 
and Tib Street in 1851, from Adshead’s map of Manchester, 1851, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*'The city I love is crumbling around me'...anger as 200-year-old Northern Quarter building looks set to be demolished, Steve Robson, December 1st, 2019, Manchester Evening News, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/the-city-love-crumbling-around-17328242

**Sources, Manchester Rates Books, 1849-1900, census returns 1851-1871, Whellan and Co’s Directory of Manchester, 1852, Slater’s Directories of Manchester  and Salford, 1850-1911

Back on High Street ....... with memories of Bachers, a tram, a hand painted sign and Tea 42

Now I like the way a story goes off on one.

So on Monday I wrote about the English Lounge on High Street which was once the Hogshead and long before that the Wheatsheaf Hotel.*

It was a pub I have never visited but during the course of the story I reflected on the shop next door and that brought forth a shed full of memories.

It is now Tea 42 but was the fabric shop which I visited on Saturdays when Tina was on the hunt for material and while I groaned when the plans were hatched I secretly looked forward to waiting behind the bales of cotton while she struck a deal.

It had the lot from faded architecture a bit the worse for wear to that cornucopia of fabrics but it was always the building that intrigued me so I was pleased when Peter told me he had painted the present building which shows off that iron tracery to its best.

For a long time this 19th century frontage had been obscured by modern signage although I have to say I never clocked the shop's name so it was nice when Angie and others not only provided the name  but also offered up a rich set of memories about the shop and similar shops.

For Angie it was during  “my first year in school sewing class and this involved an afternoon trip to Bachers to choose our fabric. I can still remember mine was navy blue with white polka dots and took forever to make it into an apron.”

White Pauline recalled “I seem to think my Mum and all her friends lived in Bachers on a Saturday. In later years me and my three sisters all purchased our material for our wedding dresses and, bridesmaid dresses from there. Trimings were bought from Fred Aldous Lever Street.”

And of course the mention of Fred Aldous brought forth even more comments including some from our Jill who whenever she is up for a stay from London makes a beeline for Fred Aldous followed by a second breakfast at the Koffee Pot which I am guessing will bring forth more memories.

But for now I will return to Bachers which long ago closed and after extensive work to the exterior opened briefly as a menswear shop and is now Tea 42.

I rather like the restored ironwork frontage which was probably part of what might have drawn me in a century ago when it was the premises of Thewlis & Co tailors.

In time I might find out more about Mr Thewlis but for now I shall end with Angie’s picture showing the building back in 2000 with one of those old fashioned hand painted signs high up by the roof line.

Look closely and that iron work frontage is just visible, but much else has changed, from the type and livery of the tram running down High Street to the new build which has filled the gap beside Bachers Fabrics.

And a thank you to Angie, Pauline, Kay and Nick for comments on the original story*

Painting; Tea 42, High Street, © 2014 Peter Topping,

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

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

Picture; High Street, 2000, courtesy of Angie Thomas


*A pub by another name .............. the English Lounge on High Street, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/a-pub-by-another-name-english-lounge-on.html