Progress and pitfalls in 10 years of change
MANCHESTER was building for the future in the 1970s. Massive developments were under way that would transform the city for ever. The decade saw the construction of the Arndale Centre, the Ringway runway extension,
Oxford Road station and the M602 motorway along with many other projects.
Terrace houses that had been homes for generations were torn down in favour of social living experiments like the notorious Hulme Crescents and the folly that was the Fort Ardwick estate.
For many who lived in slums surviving from the Victorian era, the new homes were a blessing.
But for others they were a curse – poorly designed, badly built and quickly neglected.
Today Nostalgia looks back at how we lived and shopped in the 1970s – the progress and the pitfalls of ten years of change.
Salford’s first tower block, the eight-storey Clement Attlee House, was completed in May 1956. Its first 15-floor block was under construction in the early 1960s.
The city’s largest development was at Kersal, where thousands were rehoused in tower blocks owned by the local authority.
But as the 1970s dawned, much of the city’s housing was still row upon row of terraces mostly owned by private landlords.
In spite of its rehousing programme, Salford in October 1974 was said to have the worst slums in Europe. Our photo shows Mrs Sloan and her five-year- old son Jeffrey inspecting the damage following the collapse of part of a ceiling.
Kitchens were basic and many homes still had outside toilets. At least the one in our picture from 1970 has lino on the floor.
Life was anything but a dream for the Passman family – mum Mary, 16-month-old Jacqueline and dad Robert – who were tenants of Hulme Crescents.
The apartments linked by concrete walkways were part of the largest public housing development in Europe. Hulme Crescents aimed to accommodate 13,000 people.
In November 1973, when our photo was taken, there were problems with sewage disposal, central heating failures, vermin and completely inadequate waste collection.
Hulme was swiftly branded the worst public housing scheme in British history.
Rows of terrace houses are still prominent in the view across the rooftops of Salford taken in July 1974. The floodlight towers of Old Trafford can be seen in the distance. Trafford Park and No. 6 Dock are in the background on the right.
The Old Shambles, including the 600-year-old Wellington Inn and Sinclair’s Oyster Bar, posed a problem for Arndale Shopping Centre architects Hugh Wilson and Lewis Womersley.
The Shambles were among the last Tudor buildings left in the city and too important to simply bulldoze. But the development needed them to be raised five feet above their original level.
The solution was to create a massive raft capable of supporting the buildings’ combined weight of 470 tons and then jacking them up to the required height. Concrete foundations were then poured in.
The process started with a lift of just half an inch, shown in our picture from July 1971. The hydraulic jacks are clearly in evidence.
Work on the Arndale Centre itself started in 1972 and lasted for seven years.
The Arndale Tower and 60 shops opened in September 1976, with the Knightsbridge Mall and Northern Mall opening in May and October 1977.
The 200-stall Market Hall, Boots and the bridge to the Shambles were completed in 1978.
Cannon Street bus station, British Home Stores and Littlewoods were added a year later.
Just as the Arndale Centre was being completed, a prominent Manchester store was hit by a devastating blaze. Fire broke out at Woolworths in Piccadilly Gardens at around 1.30pm on May 8 th 1979.
The store was the company’s largest outlet in Europe. Flames started in the furniture department after a damaged electrical cable ignited furniture filled with polyurethane.
The fire spread quickly and the burning polyurethane produced thick smoke making it almost impossible to see.
There was no sprinkler system and escape via the upper floor windows was impossible as they were fitted with iron bars. The fire brigade had to send for specialist cutting equipment to remove them.
Around 500 people had been in the store. Of these, nine shoppers and one member of staff were killed and 47 injured. Most of those who died were found in the restaurant area, unable to make their escape due to the thick toxic smoke.
Our photo shows an aerial shot of firefighters tackling the blaze. The second floor was gutted and the third suffered severe smoke damage.
It was the worst shop fire for casualties since the Second World War and the biggest blaze in the city since the Paulden’s store fire of September 1957.
Memorable images like these – and many more like them from the M.E.N. archives - feature in Clive Hardy’s brand new book Around Manchester in the 1970s.
It’s now available to pre-order at the special price of £17.99 (free postage and packing) from the iNostalgia website – inostalgia.co. uk. Alternatively you can fill out the coupon on this page. The offer, which also includes a free electronic version of Clive’s previous book Around Manchester in the 1960s, closes on September 30 th so make sure you place your order now!
The book will be despatched in the week beginning September 25th. It will then go on general sale at a recommended retail price of £19.99.
In the meantime, Clive Hardy’s previous books, the muchacclaimed Around Manchester in the 1950s and Around Manchester in the 1960s, are on sale at all good bookshops.
Alternatively you can order the books from the iNostalgia website.