Watching a little bit more of Moss Lane West vanish

You know you are getting old when more and more of the places you took for granted are vanishing under the swing of the demolition man’s ball.

This little stretch of Moss Lane West is one that I have passed countless times on the bus and given little thought to.

Not so Andy Robertson who was passing yesterday and decided to record the end of some of the shops.

Back in 1969 this parade had offered a valet service, a restaurant, a baker, along with a tobacconist, delicatessen and carpet dealer and I can also remember a variety of retail out lets but no more.

Since Andy wandered past in the February of 2014 the scaffolding has gone up and already some of the buildings have vanished.

I looked for a planning application for the site but haven’t found one yet which is a puzzle.

That said this was yesterday and I suspect fairly soon there will be nothing but a hole in the ground.

All of which makes me think that there must be a shedload of old pictures, stories and memories of these shops.

In time I hope these may come out of the shadows  before the last swing of that demolition man’s ball.

Pictures; Moss lane West, 2014 and 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Tomorrow, inside the Whalley Hotel

So what will a future historian make of those houses on Moss Lane East?

Now I wonder what a future local historian will make of this row of houses on Moss Lane East.

Moss Lane East 2015

Look closely and two of those on our left are clearly not the same as the rest of the design.

Of course some will mutter so what, but there is a story here and it is one that I guess will soon be lost as memories fade and the residents move on.

Moss lane East 2014

I have to admit I had no idea of the story until Andy sent me these pictures he took between February 2014 and this month.

And even then I doubt I would have turned up the tale had I not gone looking for Moss Lane East on Google maps and by chance turned up a story by Amy Glendining from November 2013.

I am not one to lift another’s research so I shall just say that the row which the Council had wanted redevelop in the 1980s and later still demolish fell through because the owners of those two “different houses” refused to budge.

2014

It led to one of those simple compromises which left the two still standing and incorporated them in a new design.

The original story is well worth reading and I hope will still be around in the future when some one ponders on the history of this row of houses.

Pictures, Moss Lane East , February 2014, and June 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Row of shops demolished for new houses – but two residents are staying put, Manchester Evening News, Amy Glendining, November 21 2013, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-moss-side-shops-demolished-6323146