Coming soon that new petrol station on Wilbraham Road

Now we must surely be entering almost the end of that story of the garage on Wilbraham Road which Andy Robertson has been recording for the last year.*

There has been a petrol station on this spot for over half a century I rather think for much longer.

And before that it was the home of our first cinema and variety theatre which takes us to the very beginning of the last century and also connects us to one of the most important cinema chains operating in and around Manchester.**

And the final bit of the story is almost upon us.

I notice that what look like the pump machines have arrived, all the signs are up and it can’t be long before the first customers are filling up.

All of which means that fairly soon the story of the previous two garages, along with the theatre and cinema will not be much more than a tiny footnote in the history of Chorlton.


Pictures; that garage on Wilbraham Road, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*The story of a garage, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20garage

**H.D.Moorhouse, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/H.D.%20Moorhouse

Passing the Pleasaunce

Now when Chrissie sent me this picture I was totally mystified and I have to say remain so.

I am sure there is something she is not telling me.

Picture; on Well Hall Road on a March Day, © Chrissie Rose

Down on London Road .............. contrasting the old and new

Now I like this photograph by Andy Robertson which nicely captures that new Manchester which has been going up over the last decade.

Along with the tall buildings, the bridge across London Road and the tram lines there is the in distance the Crown Courts.

And it is the first in a short series which seeks to juxtapose the old and new.

Location; Manchester

Picture; London Road, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Stories of a vanished brewery, a closed pub and a ghost sign once hidden and now rediscovered

Now one of the exciting things about Andy Robertson’s pictures is that they are beginning to record bits of the city which I have never visited or bits which I long ago forgot about.

So here is the Edinburgh Castle on Blossom Street which in its day must have done a fair trade.

According to that excellent site Pubs of Manchester it can be traced back to 1811, only closed recently and while it was not the most welcoming of places it could still have an exciting future.

The interior has fared well and for all those interested in what it looked like should visit the site.

In the meantime I am fascinated by the ghost sign which can still be made out above the door.

And like all good ghost signs it seems to have reappeared from the shadows with it’s own story.

The pub as the sign proudly proclaims was a Chester pub and Chesters merged with Threlfalls in 1961 which in turn was acquired by Whitbread’s in 1967.

There is a fine photograph of the Edinburgh in 1970 sporting the Whitbread logo and name, so our ghost sign will I guess have been painted over just a few years before.

And now it is out there again and perhaps that may be the first step along the way to the place reopening.

Pictures; Edinburgh Castle on Blossom Street, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*the Edinburgh Castle, Pubs of Manchester, http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/edinburgh-castle-blossom-street.html

By the moat at Well Hall ............ two of two

There is something quite magical about the reflection of light on water especially as the light is failing.

And Chrissie has captured that magic in a series of pictures she took earlier in the month.

And that is all I want to say.

Picture; by the moat at Well Hall, 2015 © Chrissie Rose

Down on the Old Road at the Seven Stars

It would be a full seventeen years after these pictures of the Seven Stars Hotel were taken that we moved into to a flat just off the Old Road and another forty-three before Andy Robertson photographed the same pub.

And in that time there has been acres of change.

First the clearance of some of the old terraced property and the decline and final abandonment of the workshops and other industrial units along the road then the brave new experiment of the decks followed by more gentle social housing followed by the  development of private residential estates.

Nor did pubs stay aloof from those changes.

There used to be a saying that in many inner cities areas there would be a pub on every corner and even with clearances of the 1960s and 70s they would be left in an expanse of open land like some sea litter left after the tide had gone out.

But as Andy’s series on lost pubs shows many have also vanished from the scene.

Some went after the departure of their customers shutting up shop and left as empty and decaying buildings.

Others were found new uses, from restaurants, to offices and some to residential use.

A few clung on and as areas were redeveloped so they

flourished once again as places to get a pint, swap stories and just relax.






Pictures; the Seven Stars Hotel, 1955 m12492 and m12494, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and the Seven Stars 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Celebrating our Municipal Town Halls part 1 .......... Leigh Town Hall

An occasional series celebrating our municipal history and in particular our Town Halls

Leigh Town Hall

It is all too easy to become cynical about public service and the achievements of local government.

Back in the 19th century when the “Northern powerhouse” was getting its first airing and cities like Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle on Tyne were making the country’s wealth local government was at the centre of improving the lives of local people.

As Sidney Webb said the “municipalities have done most to socialize our industrial life.”  And so a resident of Manchester, Birmingham or Glasgow could benefit from municipal supplies of water, gas and electricity, travel on municipally owned trams and buses, walk  through a municipally maintained park while knowing his children were being educated in municipally run schools.

“Glasgow builds and maintains seven public ‘common lodging houses’; Liverpool provides science lectures; Manchester builds and stocks an art gallery; Birmingham runs schools of design; Leeds creates extensive cattle markets; and Bradford supplies water below cost price. 

There are nearly one hundred free libraries and reading rooms. The minor services now performed by public bodies are innumerable.”*

And all of that was evidenced not only in the Corporation parks and schools and baths but in the town halls which were solid examples of both civic pride and local democracy.

Which brings me to Peter’s painting of Leigh Town Hall, which was built in 1907 after three years in the making and which has been described by Nicholas Pevsner  as "An exceptionally good building, expressive yet not showy."

So that just leaves me to wait for Peter to paint more of our great Northern Town Halls, and perhaps even some of those I knew from growing up in London which I can write about in the series.

Not so much a challenge more a statement of intent

Painting; Leigh Town Hall,  © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

* Webb, Sidney, from Historic, Fabian Essays in Socialism 1889