Mr Hoyle's fine show warehouse and offices ................ nu 50 Piccadilly

Joshua Hoyle building, 2016

Joshua Hoyle’s fine building on the corner of Piccadilly and Auburn Street was one of those places I knew well.

It was after all close to the College of Knowledge where I spent three years and was one of the buildings you saw as you came down the long stretch from Piccadilly Railway Station to the lights.

I think it was still inhabited in the late 1960s although it looked pretty grimy and unloved.

But once upon a time it was the show warehouse and offices of Joshua Hoyle, cotton spinners.

Poster, 1920

In time I will go and look up the history of the company. I know that they were established in 1834* built a fine new mill in Bacup in 1865 and moved their offices from  number 24 Mosley Street to Piccadilly  in 1904 when they built the new showroom and warehouse at the corner of Auburn Street.

For a long time the building lay empty and neglected but is now a hotel which Andy Robertson photographed on a fine May day.

And it points to that simple observation that you don't have to tear down every old building just because it is no longer in use for the purpose it was designed for.

That said there are plenty of conversions which have made a dog's dinner of the original  building, and I have yet to go inside the place.

But it looks heaps better than it did and that is enough for me.

Entrance, 2016

So there you are.  Of course if any one would like to treat me to a night in the place I won't say no.

Location, 50 Piccadilly, Manchester




Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson 2016 and poster 1920 courtesy of Graces Guide to British Industrial History


*Graces Guide to British Industrial History, http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Joshua_Hoyle_and_Sons