“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye ......... stories of the Whalley Hotel

“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye

It is one of those headlines that you just can’t miss.

“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye appeared in the Manchester City News for November 16th 1951 and featured Mr and Mrs Summer who had run the Whalley Hotel for four years.

Mr Wally Summer and his wife Ethel were leaving Manchester for Anglesey, where they were to take over the Anglesey Arms.

“It's going to be a wrench leaving” he told the City News, “we’ve made hundreds of friends since we came to Brooks’ Bar.  I’ve been amazed at the number of people who have come up to wish us luck.”*

The Anglesey Arms is still there just at the edge of the Menai Bridge.

Now in the fullness of time I would like to find out more about Mr and Mrs Summer.

Painting; The Whalley Hotel,  © 2013 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures
*Manchester City News November 16, 1951

Lost Images of Whalley Range number 9 ....... the wedding reception at the Whalley Hotel

Now I couldn’t resist using this receipt for the wedding reception of Mr and Mars Sherratt which was posted recently on facebook by their daughter who has given me permission to reproduce it.

It is dated 1953 and is one of those wonderful little bits of history which are so often lost.

And reminds me of an earlier story about the Whalley Hotel from almost the same period.

Just two years earlier the Manchester City News carried the story of “Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye.”

Mr Wally Summer and his wife Ethel had run the pub for four years and were leaving Manchester for Anglesey, where they were to take over the Anglesey Arms.

“It's going to be a wrench leaving” he told the City News, “we’ve made hundreds of friends since we came to Brooks’ Bar.  I’ve been amazed at the number of people who have come up to wish us luck.”*

The Anglesey Arms is still there just at the edge of the Menai Bridge.

But sadly the Whalley has closed its doors for good so the receipt and the story are a little of its history.

With a bit of digging I may be able to discover if Mr Bowden had succeeded Mr Summers but that is for another time.

Picture; from the collection of Jayne Sherratt Bailey

*Manchester City News November 16, 1951

Lost images of Whalley Range part 5 the cinema and a mystery

Now here is a mystery I haven’t been able to solve.

I am looking at what I thought was an old cinema, long since converted into other uses.

It was on that stretch of Upper Chorlton Road, just before the Whalley Hotel and has gone now but back in 1960 it was the home of Ferodo Ltd and thirteen years later Advance Motor Supplies Ltd.

The building resembles the sort of picture house which began to go up  in the early decades of the last century, and might also have doubled as a variety theatre.

All of which made me assume that was what we had here in an earlier story.

But it is not mentioned in Derek J. Southall’s book on the cinema’s of Manchester* and the local historian Philip Lloyd has no memory of there being a cinema there.

So that is the mystery.

I suspect when I can get access to the street directories for the middle decades of the 20th century I might be to track down its earlier history and get a date for its construction which was sometime after 1911.

So in the meantime if anyone has anything to add I would like to hear from you. And pretty much righy away Chris Geliher, posted "1933 directory has it as Brooks's Bar Billiard Hall Co. Ltd. Andrew".

*The Golden Years of Manchester Picture Houses: Memories of the Silver Screen 1900-1970 by Derek J. Southall and

Pictures; Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, north east side, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40806 and again in 1973, photographer unknown, m40728, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

Lost images of Whalley Range part 4 the Post Office opposite the Seymour, and a collection of Dinky toys

There has been a post office on Upper Chorlton Road for over a century and for most of that century it was run by the Lloyd family.

Of course things have changed.

The Seymour Hotel has gone, few now remember the area was called the West End and the post office is no longer run by the Lloyd's.

So I shall slip back to 1960 when the parade of shops including our post office looked pretty much as they had done at the beginning of the last century.

Back them the post office was also a stationer’s and a private lending library and offered up a whole range of other things including dinky toys.

These were made of metal and during the time I was growing up became ever more sophisticated featuring everything from plastic windows to working suspension, 'fingertip steering', detailed interiors, and jewelled headlights.

All of which was a far cry from the simple box on wheels that I had first been given and perhaps the point to stop before I slide into some nostalgic ramble about the toys of the 1950s.

Picture; the Post Office, Upper Chorlton Road, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40740 , courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

Lost images of Whalley Range part 3 the Whalley Hotel

I only ever once visited the Whalley Hotel which I think was sometime around the summer of 1975.

There was never any particular reason for this other than it was always somewhere I passed on the bus from town home to Chorlton, and once on the bus it always seemed a faff to get off.

That said the place has dominated the corner since the 1890s.

From the outside it doesn’t seem to have changed much.

The hedges have gone as has the large building which is now the rear car park.

And the houses along Withington Road have also been demolished.

Like some of the other Whalley Range pictures I have been featuring I am hoping that these of the Whalley will stir a few memories which might appear as a post.

Of course it has now closed, and has been converted into residential use.

Picture; The Whalley Hotel, Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40816, m40813, m40814, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

Lost images of Whalley Range part 2 the petrol pumps

I wonder when these petrol pumps on Upper Chorlton Road were taken away.

They were recorded by A.H.Downes in the summer of 1960 and were on the site of the furniture store.

In an age of big computer operated petrol pumps which do all most everything but make a coffee I like these three.

Simple design, and simple machinery but they did the business and take me back to my childhood.

They come from that time when someone would come out of the garage and work the pump,offering to wipe the windscreen and was available for motoring advice.

You still find this service in places like Greece and rural Italy and no doubt even here in remote communities.

They have long since vanished but the telephone kiosk was still on the same spot just a few years ago.

Picture; Petrol-Pump, Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, north east side, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40781 and again in 1973, photographer unknown, m40728, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

Lost images of Whalley Range part 1 the cinema

I am on Upper Chorlton Road in 1960 with A.H. Downes who took a lot of pictures of the area.

In the distance you can just make out the Whalley Hotel and the junction with Brooks Bar beyond.

But what interests me is the Ferodo building which I must have passed countless times over the years and not given much thought to.

It vanished before I realized it was under threat and I wish I knew more about it.

That said I know there will be someone who does and kick myself for not taking more careful note of Derek Southall’s wonderful account of Manchester picture houses because I am pretty sure that he mentions this building.*

It is similar to many which were built in the early decades of the 20th century, and was one step up on the simple wooden huts and old vareity halls which were converted into picture houses as the novelty of cinema caught on.

But then I could be wrong we shall have to wait and see.

It certainly looks similar and  a little grander than the one further up Upper Chorlton Road which has survived as a furniture store.

So I shall just leave it there on Upper Chorlton Road in 1960 and wait for the memories, stories and details of the place to flood in.

Picture, Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, north east side, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40806 and again in 1973, photographer unknown, m40728, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

*The Golden Years of Manchester Picture Houses: Memories of the Silver Screen 1900-1970 Derek J. Southall

Lost Images of Whalley Range number 6 ....... the Allied Library 1962

This was the Allied Library which was on the corner of Upper Chorlton Road and Wood Road North.

It had grown as a chain of rental libraries in the years after the last world war and at its peak in March 1962 it hired out 362, 000 books through 1,489 bookshops.

And it is a reminder that a long side the public libraries there were a shed load of small shops ranging from newsagent to bookshops which rented out books.*

Picture; Allied Libraries at No 202 Upper Chorlton Road taken in August 1960 Downes A H m40870 Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Chorlton’s private lending libraries, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%27s%20private%20lending%20libraries

Lost images of Whalley Range part 7............ the lake in the park

Now there will be the pedant who points out that the lake in Alexandra Park is still there and perhaps someone else who challenges linking the park with Whalley Range.

Added to which I bet a few will remember seeing this picture before on posts about the Alex Park and Whalley Range.

But that won’t stop me, so here from the Valentine collection produced around 1906 is that view of  the park.

Picture; the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date circa 1906, courtesy of Ann Love