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 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

“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

Rediscovering the Whalley Hotel

Everyone likes a Mary Celeste story. *

Usually it involves a place in perfect condition which appears to be abandoned, with everything left as if the occupants had just popped out for a minute.

And with that comes the hint of a mystery,  or of something not quite right.

In the case of the Mary Celeste it led to all manner of additions to the story which deepened  the mystery, but sadly were not true.

Now I can’t offer up a mystery to go with Andy Robertson’s pictures of the Whalley Hotel which closed suddenly and after a very long interval morphed into apartments.

There is nothing odd about that.

Former pubs, warehouses and churches as well as schools have been transformed into residential properties, with varying degrees of success over the last two decades.

What makes the Whalley just that bit different is that Andy “got in” with the permission of the builders soon after the pub went dark, which I suppose is better described as went dry.

The curtains were still up at the windows, the pictures on the walls, and the last notices to customers were still waiting for someone to read them.

But mixed with all of these, were the bags of cement, piles of plaster board and a mix of power tools.

I didn’t go in the Whalley Hotel that often, in fact the last time I ordered a pint there was in the summer of 1975.

That said, it was a place I passed on the bus most days and more recently a place I have written about on the blog.*

More than that it was a landmark featuring in countless photographs right back into the last century and beyond.

So, for all those who never knew it, and a lot more who did, here are Andy’s last pictures, taken in 2015.

Leaving me just to make an appeal for stories, pictures or memorabilia about Didsbury pubs, which I know is an outrageous piece of opportunism.

But there are no traditional pubs in Whalley Range, and so having written a book about the city centre pubs and those of Chorlton, Peter Topping and I have fastened on Didsbury.

The book is well underway and like the others will tell the stories of pubs and the bars.


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Location; Whalley Range

Pictures; The Whalley Hotel, 2015, after the beer and customers had gone, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*The Whalley Hotel, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Whalley%20Hotel

A new chapter in the story of the Whalley Hotel

There will be many people who have their own story about the Whalley Hotel and even though it closed without much warning the stories still go on.

Well I say stories but for now it focuses on just one which is all to do with its future.

Like many I had wondered what that future might.

At worst there were those who though it might be pulled down while others speculated on a residential conversion.
But what was clear was that its days as a pub were over.

I did go looking at the planning applications but missed the proposal for “a change of use into 14 self-contained apartments (with associated parking, landscaping and elevational alterations”*

And it took a contribution to the blog to alert me to the application which had been lodged in April and approved in July.

All of which makes me wonder if Peter will go back and paint the finished development.

His first painting which was completed in 2013 has featured on the blog in various stories and I  have no doubt the new one will make its appearance in due course.**

And that is all I am going to say for now.

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

*108296/FO/2015/S1 | Change of use of vacant public house (class A4) into 14 self-contained apartments (Class C3) with associated parking, landscaping and elevational alterations | The Whalley Hotel 2 Withington Road Whalley Range Manchester M16 8AA, , Manchester City Council Online Planning, http://www.publicaccess.manchester.gov.uk/associateddocs/MCCList1.aspx?108296/FO/2015/S1

**“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye ......... stories of the Whalley Hotel, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/wally-of-whalley-says-goodbye-stories.html

Celebrating Alexandra Park and remembering the Whalley Hotel.

Parks and pubs are pretty much places we take for granted.

I used to pass Alexandra Park regularly on the bus and when I varied the route swapped the trees and flowers for a view of the Whalley Hotel, neither of which sadly I regularly visited.

All of which is a great shame.

The park has been there since 1868 and has just had its makeover which has not been without a bit of controversy.

But back in 1868 there will have been those who muttered at the expense, the encroachment on open countryside and the size of the flowerbeds.

During those 146 years it has been a wonderful resource drawing in generations of people and it has also been the venue for everything from carnivals to demonstrations.

Its closeness to the city centre made it a good choice for protests meetings with marches which began in Manchester and ended in the park.

In 1902 upwards of 20,000 people marched to the park demonstrating against the Education bill, while six years later a large meeting in the park closed a weekend of activities calling for the extension of the vote.

Now I wasn’t around for either of those but I did march in a huge anti racist demonstration through the city sometime in the 1980s from Strangeways to Alex Park.

And at different times the park has also been the destination for Whit Walks, hosted Fun Days and just been somewhere to go on a summer’s day.

For some I suppose that morning stroll in the park might be followed by an afternoon in the Whalley Hotel which is not that far away.

It has for over a century and a bit been another of the landmarks of the area and there will be plenty with fond memories of the place.

From the days of the horse drawn bus to the Corporation tram it was one of those places you saw as you left Brooks Bar for Chorlton.

And in 1951 the departure of Whalley Summer as publican gave the Manchester City News one of those headlines you just don’t ever forget.

“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 by the Menai Bridge.

“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.”*

I rather wish I had been around to do the same, but given that I was only two at the time I shall content myself with the thought that there will be plenty of people with pictures and stories of nights in that pub and days in the park which would stand beside the tale  of Mr Wally Summer.

Now I am sure some of these will be covered by the Alexandra Park Heritage group who I am told have some fascinating archive material, and no doubt these will be matched by some equally fascinating material from the Whalley Hotel.

All of which just points to that simple observation that you should never take your park or pub for granted.

Pictures; Alexandra Park, 2013 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the Whalley Hotel late 19th century from the Lloyd Collection

*Manchester City News November 16, 1951

Coming next; the Park during its make over courtesy of Andy Robertson

Goodbye to the Whalley Hotel?

So, the Whalley Hotel is closed and up for sale.

I passed the place earlier in the week and saw the sign.

Now I had spotted the story on facebook but was mindful of the April Fools prank that posted pictures of the place with boarded up windows, but this time it seems to be true.

And as if to confirm the fact Andy Robertson sent me three pictures of the closed pub yesterday.

I wonder at the future of the place.  The Southern on Mauldeth Road West stayed closed for a long time before becoming a restaurant and this fine building is in a prime location.

That said it stands on a large piece of land which no doubt could be redeveloped for flats.

I have looked and there is no planning application in as yet for the site at 2 Withington Road, Manchester M16 8AA but it is early days.

I can’t say I have fond memories of the place, I went in only once on a Sunday in the summer of 1976 and the visit was set against the slow and pretty painful unravelling of a long term relationship, so no happy hour at the Whalley that day.

But I know lots of people who enjoyed the place and it was still advertising itself as part of the Irish Festival in March, so to an outsider like me all a bit of a surprise and  it has provided me with some good stories over the last year and bit and been a subject of a painting by local artist Peter Topping.*

So I hope it does reopen even given that seemingly unstoppable trend for pubs to close, the victims of a recession and changing life styles.

The old Seymour at the other end of Upper Chorlton Road went a long time ago leaving Whalley Range with just those small cafe/bars which may be the future but lack the grandeur and the history of places like the Whalley.

Pictures; the Whalley Hotel, 2014,  from the collection of Andy Robertson,

*The Whalley Hotel, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Whalley%20Hotel