A trip down memory lane around Manchester....

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Took my bike in to Pop Up Bikes the other day and drove back down the 'bottom road' - Smedley Road, Hazelbottom Road, Waterloo, and ended up coming up Factory Brew. Mrs Ewing was driving and I was providing the commentary -that's where the flats were that looked like a liner, ICI had their recreation ground, and this is where the CWS Biscuit Works were. Onto Factory Brew - there used to be a Royal Mail sorting office here, Oh, it's still Royal Mail, and this used to be the Corpy depot (Balfour Beatty now). The Empire, long gone, was the Saturday afternoon venue for a tanner, and then on this corner were three pubs and on that corner Martins Bank, from this junction all the way down Moston Lane to Conran Street were shops, shops and more shops - the shops where yer could spend an age looking in the window to see what they'd got. Boggart Hole Clough didn't seem to have a way in off Rochdale Road, and the set-back 'garden' just on the way down the hill to the old bus 'time office' was a mass of overgrown and unkempt vegetation. The golden age was certainly the 50s.

 

[Fat Chance]

Terraced houses on the left were on the bottom of the new road where it collides with beswick st....can spy the don cinema on this pic..for years folk on new road buses would tell the conductor/driver ' the don'...

 

[yerwot?]

The Nissen Hut (cinema) at the side of St Anthony,sChurch,Portway/Cornishway circa early 50,s

never even knew it existed, must have been a twin with the "Coronation" at the top of Longley lane in Northenden. There was a similar one in Urmston. The Scala in Withington had gas lighting which grew brighter and dimmer depending on demand. It was the only place which had two-seater cuddle-seats up-stairs. Saturday matinee 6pence to get in, then the stampede when the national anthem came on. In the sixties when hair-styles needed half a can of spray it was quite common for some dickhead to put a match to them. Kin 'ell...

 

[A57 the snake]

Lewis's(Which is now Primark) in town 2 weeks before Christmas and going to the basement to choose your toys

Also remember having my hair cut in the basement in Lewis’ .. then queuing up to see Father Christmas .
Also remember a cafe facing Piccadilly gardens called the milk maid .Great memories.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

Also remember having my hair cut in the basement in Lewis’ .. then queuing up to see Father Christmas .
Also remember a cafe facing Piccadilly gardens called the milk maid .Great memories.

My dad used to be a bus driver and I would go to work with him on the buses. Piccadilly Gardens bus station in the 80's was a bit of a dump but there was set of stairs in the middle of the station and when you walked up them inside was a full canteen for the drivers. I loved it in there. It was just a bit further down to the right of this picture where the 261 is

 

[A57 the snake]

My dad used to be a bus driver and I would go to work with him on the buses. Piccadilly Gardens bus station in the 80's was a bit of a dump but there was set of stairs in the middle of the station and when you walked up them inside was a full canteen for the drivers. I loved it in there. It was just a bit further down to the right of this picture where the 261 is

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Great stuff mate would of been my dream that ..my uncle was a bus driver in the selnec years he’d take me to Hyde road bus depot on a few occasions.
My old fella used to take me to work on Saturday mornings he worked on briscoe lane next door to the fire station, it was a commercial lorry garage I’d get to go in all the wagons in the garage absolutely brilliant memories. Little did I know then but we must of literally walked across the centre spot at the etihad to get there.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

Great stuff mate would of been my dream that ..my uncle was a bus driver in the selnec years he’d take me to Hyde road bus depot on a few occasions.
My old fella used to take me to work on Saturday mornings he worked on briscoe lane next door to the fire station, it was a commercial lorry garage I’d get to go in all the wagons in the garage absolutely brilliant memories. Little did I know then but we must of literally walked across the centre spot at the etihad to get there.

My dad was based at Hyde Road so been there hundreds of times. The Canteen was huge upstairs with the kitchen in the middle and at the right end was the games room with around 10 snooker tables and dartboards. The skid pan was behind the depot and I loved seeing hundreds of buses just parked up in the morning and always remember the smell of oil and diesel in that place.

If we weren't with him and he was on a day shift he would normally end up in The Star Pub across the road!

 

[yerwot?]

My dad used to be a bus driver and I would go to work with him on the buses. Piccadilly Gardens bus station in the 80's was a bit of a dump but there was set of stairs in the middle of the station and when you walked up them inside was a full canteen for the drivers. I loved it in there. It was just a bit further down to the right of this picture where the 261 is

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growing up in the fifties in Withington, seemed like every street had a conductor or driver living there, years later many passed away in their late fifties early sixties, the split-shift system and the Woodbine / Senior Service John Player culture taking it's toll as well. Industry/commerce in big cities depended on public transport, there was no H S E overseeing conditions , it would take another 40 years to be effective

 

[A57 the snake]

My dad was based at Hyde Road so been there hundreds of times. The Canteen was huge upstairs with the kitchen in the middle and at the right end was the games room with around 10 snooker tables and dartboards. The skid pan was behind the depot and I loved seeing hundreds of buses just parked up in the morning and always remember the smell of oil and diesel in that place.

If we weren't with him and he was on a day shift he would normally end up in The Star Pub across the road!

Yes mate the pub after work was a ritual my dads was the Vulcan and the angel in gorton.
Diesel smell takes me back as well .

 

[Resurrection Joe...]

When Blackley village used to have a ....village.
Golden lion to the left.