Return to Manchester - after half a century's absence

In March 1978, I packed my worldly belongings into a hired Ford Transit van, said goodbye to the flat in the village of Romiley, that I had shared with the previous Mrs Bailey, and headed off south in the direction of London. After graduating, my then wife had secured a permanent, and well-paid job in the capital, and after a couple of months of living on my own I was heading towards London as well, in order to join her. More importantly, I wasn't just leaving Romiley, I was saying farewell, after four years, to the conurbation that is Greater Manchester, in order to start a new life back down south.

In late September 1973, I had left my parents comfortable middle-class home in Kent, to take up a place at the University of Salford. I was a rather shy and self-conscious young man with an interest in rock music, and in particular what came to be known as “prog rock.” Somewhat ironically, my stay in the Manchester area began in the town of Romiley, when my aunt and uncle kindly offered me room in their spacious and modern, detached house, on the edge of this large, Cheshire village. They made this gesture because there was a shortage of student accommodation at the university, and unlike other hardier "freshers," I really didn't fancy kipping down on the floor of the sports hall!

I left Manchester a wiser and more confident individual, having acquired a wife, an honours degree in biology, a taste for good beer, and an appreciation of unspoiled pubs. I'd also engaged in a lot of different student activities, been on several field trips and, during the summer of 75 (isn’t that a Bruce Springsteen song?), had gone off Inter-railing, spending a month travelling by train, all over Western Europe with a friend who I'd made during my first week at university.

I missed Manchester, particularly when I arrived in London and the harsh reality of finding a job hit home. My wife and I also had to find somewhere to live, because whilst her parents kindly allowed us to stay in their Wandsworth home, it was rather cramped, and at times, rather strained. I soon picked up work as an office temp, working stints at the British Medical Association and also at the BBC. I hasten to add, as I was employed in the Purchasing Department of the Beeb, located in a converted Georgian house in Cavendish Square, there wasn’t the glamour of Television Centre or Broadcasting House.

So, whilst work was quite easy to find in the capital, accommodation was much less so. Eventually we struck it lucky and found a two-bed flat, occupying the first floor of a large 1930s semi, in Norbury. For those who don’t know the capital well, Norbury is situated between Streatham and Croydon. During our time there, we made a few return trips to Manchester, staying with my Inter-railing friend, who had remained in the city, after securing a post as an Environmental Health Officer, with Manchester City Council. Eventually the lure of the capital, where his parents still lived, was sufficient for my friend to find a similar position back in London, and those long weekend visits to Manchester came to an end.

A decade or so later, having changed houses and employers a few times, and with a new wife as well, I found myself back in Manchester for a flying visit in order to attend a course. I can't remember what the course was about, but at the time I worked for a company that manufactured and sold food supplements - vitamin and mineral pills to you and me. This was a lucrative market to be in, and it provided me with gainful employment for the best part of a decade. I'm estimating this visit would have been in the early 1990s, in effect 30 years ago, but it didn’t allow much time for exploration or sight-seeing.

It is with much excitement then, that I announce shall be making a return visit to Manchester this coming Friday (tomorrow). It's only a day trip, but it's one I've been wanting to make for a long time. I came quite close on a couple of occasions, the first being January 2018, when I'd made plans to attend the Manchester Beer Festival. Unfortunately, those plans were scuppered when Mrs PBT's ended up in intensive care, following a bout of pneumonia, which then developed into sepsis. Fortunately, she made a full recovery, but it was touch and go to start with.

The second occasion wasn't actually a trip to Manchester, but rather was a “Proper Day Out” exploring the pubs of nearby Stockport, in the company of some of a handful of members of the Tapa-Talk, Beer & Pub’s Forum. With Manchester just 7 miles away from Stockport, it was a case of so near, yet so far, so what was it that prompted me to make that long overdue visit? 

 Well, I had some unspent birthday money from Eileen and Matthew, and whilst it wasn’t exactly burning a hole in my pocket, using it for a day out exploring a location I had last enjoyed properly, half a century ago, seemed a good idea. My return train journey wasn’t exactly a bargain, as whilst Advanced Return rail tickets were available, they were nowhere near as cheap as the tickets purchased, over the past couple of months, to cities such as Norwich or Birmingham. For example, my return ticket to Brum was in the region of £22, whereas my ticket to Manchester cost me £75. Still cheap, but pro-rata significantly more expensive than my visit to Birmingham.

I've an early start, as my train gets into Manchester Piccadilly at 9.19 am, and I shall then be heading off, by train from Victoria station to my old stomping ground of Salford University. After a look around the campus, to see how much it’s grown over the past half a century, I shall be bussing back into central Manchester for a tour around some of my favourite pubs, which include a couple of National Inventory entries. I’ve got quite a list, but all are proper pubs, which excludes trendy craft-ale bars, full of hipsters, and serving over-priced murk. 

In no particular order, the pubs I’ve marked for a visit are, the Hare & Hound, the Unicorn (for the Draught Bass), the Old Wellington + Sinclairs, (both pubs were under wraps, and several feet in the air whilst the Arndale Centre was being constructed around them, when I was last in Manchester), the Marble Arch, the  Peveril of the Peak, which will allow a chance for a look at the G-Mex Exhibition Centre. The latter was formerly Manchester Central station, but it was used as a car park when I was last in the city. There are several other pubs too, including the two next door to each other in Kennedy St, if time allows, but my return train is the 17.35 from Piccadilly. Quite a day then, and there will no doubt be a few reports, when I return.

The final thing is I don’t have that many relevant photos to illustrate this post; certainly, none taken during the 1970’s. There probably are some, stuffed away in a box at home, but none of them are digital. Also, with the hassle associated with old-fashioned 35mm film (getting it developed, and then printed), people just didn’t take photos with the frequency and in the number they do today.

I have included instead, a couple of the photos that Amberley Publishing, allowed me to use, when I reviewed their well-researched and well-illustrated book, Central Manchester Pubs, written by Deborah Woodman. You can read the review again here, and seeing as I am giving their publication another plug, I trust I am not abusing the permission they gave me, or infringing any copyright.