THEN & NOW PICCADILLY

Welcome to Then and Now, where each week we compare images of Manchester streets, landmarks and buildings from bygone days with how they look today

THREE different types of transport are pictured alongside each other in our main image of Piccadilly in 1915.

First in line and partly obscured, is a trolley-bus.

It was, quite simply, a double-decker run on electricity through trolley poles.

An environmental dream, the trolley-bus was quiet, fume-free and more flexible in traffic than a tram.

It could also accelerate like a sports car and stop on a sixpence!

Side-by-side are two horse-drawn wagons and a driverless car, a tell-tale sign of the transport revolution to come.

Oldham Street is on the left of the image – and you can just make out the old BBC building among a smattering of offices boasting grand architecture.

The white buildings on the right are still there as is nearby Clayton House.

Today, the thoroughfare once cluttered by traffic has more open spaces for pedestrians, but the shape of the surrounding area looks very much the same. After years of decline, regeneration has thrown up some eyecatching residential and leisure conversions.

For many years, Piccadilly has been the central hub of the city’s public transport system.

Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria railway stations are close by.

Many more images from Then and Now are featured in the new book The Changing Face of Manchester published to mark the 150th anniversary of the M.E.N. It’s on sale for a limited period only at £7.49 plus postage and packing. Check out the advert on the Nostalgia

pages for details.