It really was beautiful back then wasn't it?, I loved this slide show from the Year of my birth too, I remember so many of those lovely shops too, it's so sad to see it now, I have never been back since leaving after 57 years.
Lovely reminder of how Moston was when I was growing up there in the 1960s. It actually started going downhill in the early 1970s when, almost overnight, you couldn't leave your plants on the doorstep or they'd vanish and you had to lock your front and back door even nipping to the corner shop. My Gran always said it was because some rough types were moved to Moston when their slums were demolished. No idea if that's right but I did see the place decline back then. We lived on Norman (later Nigel) Road, just round the corner from Ronnie Camp's paper shop, and I'd walk up the road to Lily Lane primary.
Brilliant video. This was just a bit before my time. I was born in 1962 but by the looks of things you could have probably spent all day on the Lane looking at the different shops.
Brilliant. I was born in 1951 and these shops were my life. It got even better because there were shops all along Conran Street/ Upper Conran Street and Rochdale Road formed the third side of thd triangle. Many an hour lost just wandering, and that was without the market. Town? Who needed town in the 50s and 60s?
I worked at Alec Rennie ltd 44-46 Moston Lane in the early 60's up untill the demolition. Moston Lane was a fantastic shopping area then and look how the area has gone down. I blame the Council! To the maker of this video - Thank you for the happy memories.
Looked like a great neighbourhood with shops locally for everything from shoes to lino! The traction poles that supported the trolleybus overhead still very much in evidence though now leaning back without the weight and tension of the overhead that pulled them upright. The last Moston trolleybus passed by in 1955, but I remember the overhead still in place between the Gardener's Arms and AVRO's.
Wow as a young boy I knew this area so well it's a shame it has deteriorated so much since then in 1960, Great photos put together thanks to who did this.
We had similar scenes in the 1950s and 60s going down into the town centre from where I used to live in Bolton. loads of retail shops, restaurants and pubs. You didn't need to actually go into the town centre to go shopping or have a pleasant night out, it was all nearby. All gone now, like in most parts of northern of England.
Great to see this. I grew up on Ashley Lane in the 60's, it was a good place. Used to collect monies for my coal man nieghbour on a Friday night, had a few hundred pounds in my pockets, not sure you could do this today. Thanks for the memories.
@@christopherdaly9384 Hi Chris, Yes, it was Alcock, what a good memory. It really was a decent neighbourhood, although some of the residents in the council houses at the end of Ashley Lane lived their lives at high volume and on the street. A lot of the houses behind Moston Lane were still 2 up and down (all gone), and still many a tin bath in the living room of a Friday night, but the people were great. My brother and I decided to visit all the old places we lived a few years ago. I was born in Cheetham Hill, and lived in Higher Blackley. Cheetham Hill is now more akin to Karachi. Moved to Newton Heath and lived on Oldham Rd, now all bulldozed. Ashley Lane, Moston. All the houses south to Church Lane Bulldozed and new houses. Our old house still survives, but the back alleys now all have 10 foot steel barriers to stop people getting through. Moston Lane now seems to be Somali. Moved to Manchester Rd off Stockport Road, this area seems to be Lebanese. I think perhaps I am seeing some sort of pattern?
@@stephendalton6339 Hiya,yeah I agree with your observations.I knew your brother Graham,when at Lily Lane School,I remember going with him and your mum in about 68 to visit a relative of yours on a street off Thorp Rd that doesn't exist now. I lived on the estate, Hesford Ave 😅 I always thought it an ok place with some quite genteel people there,at that time.Alcocks was our Coalman for a time.I remember Frairys shop across from yours and them winning the football pools!!🙂👍
@@christopherdaly9384 Hi Chris, well who would have believed it with one post (which I rarely do). It's really great to hear from you. Actually Lily Lane school looked to be in good condition and well maintained, I was very surprised to see North Man Grammer School where I went gone. I agree with you, there lots of quite nice people in the area. Graham Frairy was a good mate, we often stayed at each others house, but lost touch, I never knew they won the pools, that's great. Thorp Rd, That was my grandad and his sister, they got moved into a block of flats only 5/600 metres away from the old house when it was bulldozed, The flat was OK, but everything smelt of boiled cabbage, and they did not see any of the neighbours, they hated it, and passed very quickly. When my mum remarried mid 70's, we moved to Stockport. Graham went to tech college and then University in Salford. He worked for Ferranti's for a short period and then went back to a company set up by the uni and kind of stayed there. They were into robotics, Graham was eyes (vision systems), anyway it eventually got bought up various times (one after he and some other guys bought it) and is now part of a big French company, and they did OK out of it. He just moved about 20km north of Nice (his 2nd wife is french). I spent most of my life (after couple years at the council in manchester) in oil exploration, mainly Africa and Middle East. We took early retirement 17 years ago and moved to a lovely seaside town 3 hours south of Perth in Western Australia. Our sister who is in Stockport is still friends with a girl from the house on the opposite corner from Frairys, they were really genteel people as you say.
My aunt lived on Ashley Lane....No.62. Mary Doyle. Her husband, my Uncle Norbert, made and repaired dentures. I was born a bit further up Moston Lane, in Caledon Ave., off Romney St. Parents emigrated to New Zealand in '59 when I was just 3 years old and now I live in the US. Have been back to Manchester at periodic intervals over the years and Moston Lane is a case study in urban decay. Every time I go back it's deteriorated a bit more. Now it's a ghetto. Terribly sad.
Having been born and bred in the new, clean and green Wythenshawe in the 1950s I never knew any of the "dirty old" Manchester until I started work in the 70s. By then much of it had been lost to slum clearance. So these old photos fascinate me. I'd loved to have walked those streets.
I was born in Moston,went to Moston Lane School,i agree the place is now in a terrible ,run down state,i dont even like driving through,its so depressing.
Hi, @Muffin19ify I have been looking for pictures of my grandma's shop that was on the corner of Moston lane and Acton st she ran it right through the war but sadly passed away before I was born in the 40's. I think i have found it but not sure as the street sign is a bit blurred. Does anyone know the one? or better still have any pictures? Or perhaps some stories her name was Small so I would think that was what it was called? I would make me very happy if you could help at all.
Hi , at 8.32 the off licence is on the corner of Acton St., on the opposite side was Wykes music and record shop. Miss Wykes used to teach at Alfred Street School and , I think, had had polio. My grandmother lived on Acton Street in the 1950s. It used to be a wonderful area. I hope this is helpful to you.
@@jpennill Thank you but it looks like I may have the wrong corner my grandparents names were Mr and Mrs Small and they had 5 children. But thank you for the reply.
@@caroleuktv Hi Carole , if you look on the Manchester City Council website and go to local images collection you will find more images of Moston Lane from the 50s and 60s. Meanwhile I have a Kellys Directory from the mid 1960s which I will check for you to see if your family are listed. I will let you know if I find anything.
@@jpennill Thank you munster, however that may not be early enough as my grandparents had past away before I was born in 1953, all I know is that the shop was still open during the war. What I do know is that it was on the corner of Acton street and Moston lane.
omg how times have changed, not for the better. Moston lane is all takeaways and all ethnic hairdressers now. Full of litter and the character of the place destroyed. :(
