The end of an era for historic Co-op building
SITE BRANDED ‘DANGEROUS’ AS COUNCIL BEGIN DEMOLITION
AN historic former co-operative building in north Manchester will have to be demolished, the council has confirmed.
The former Failsworth Industrial Society building at the corner of Oldham Road and Old Church Street in Newton Heath has been branded ‘dangerous’ by inspectors.
Issues with the derelict building, plus ongoing resurfacing work, have caused major traffic delays on Oldham Road this week.
In a statement, Manchester council said Oldham Road was closed overnight from 7pm to 6am to begin the demolition. Work will continue this evening at 7pm.
The building, which dates back to at least the 1890s, has had several planning applications approved in recent decades but work never progressed.
The site was recently acquired by L2 Property. Director John Leighton said sadly the building is now in a ‘very dangerous’ state and will have to pulled down entirely.
No firm plans for future development are in the pipeline as it stands.
L2 Property worked with One Manchester on the adjoining plots of land to secure planning permission for a 139-home residential development last year.
The site, split by Newton Street at the end of which is the Grade II listed Newton Silk Mill, will see 100 apartments available for social rent and contained within a sixstorey block and 39 townhouses available for affordable rent.
But there is no future for the remains of a building that played a significant role in Manchester’s co-operative movement.
The Failsworth Industrial Society was founded by a group of fourteen local men in 1859 based on the same rules as the famous Rochdale Equitable Pioneers.
The men pooled their meagre earnings with the aim of purchasing ‘food, firing, clothes and other necessaries, by carrying on in common the trade or business of general dealers’.
The first secretary was Thomas Hayes, a handloom silk weaver by trade.
Like many co-operatives in the north, the group proved hugely successful and over the following decades began to acquire land and open their own premises.
The building at the corner of Church Street formerly opened in 1898 and was said to be one of the first in Manchester to be lit by electricity. According to a book published in 1909, ‘the occasion was celebrated by a public demonstration’.
“Processions, headed by bands of music, started from the New Road and Miles Platting branches and the proceedings were witnessed by several thousand people,” it said.
The building has stood largely empty in recent years, although there were some tenants as recent as 10 years ago.
A Manchester council spokesperson said: “After receiving a report of a potentially dangerous building in Newton Heath, the council launched an investigation.
“Further to this, we have served notice on the building, which requires demolition.
“Traffic management is in place on Old Church Street, the inbound carriageway of Oldham Road and Dulverton Close, to ensure the public’s safety ahead of the demolition.
“It will also be necessary to close Oldham Road between Old Church Street and Dulverton Street overnight on both Friday 8 and Saturday 9 January (from 7pm - 6am on both nights), to allow the work to proceed safely.
“It is expected that demolition will be completed and all road closures removed early next week.”