STOCKPORT ROAD (the A6) is seen here looking south, about 100 yards south of Matthews Lane. Levenshulme United Reformed Church can be seen further down on the other side of the road. The pet and aquatic store Gay Lyfe has been there for many years, its name unchanged. On the corner opposite us is an example of the Irish presence in Levenshulme: the green-painted Emerald Cafe.

May talks about the 1920's: "Stockport Road was vastly different to what it is now. It used to be all privately owned shops, no supermarkets - I remember Pappadopoulos womens clothing shop on Stockport Road, near Milton St Longsight. The main road was nice then but it has deteriorated now."

Joyce remembers the early 50's: "Teenagers as a whole didn't drink. We used to go to the cinema, or into a milk bar to listen to the top 20 music, and put money in the juke box - It was like a meeting ground. We drank coffee, milky coffee so it was something special. By then milk had come off rationing. Those were the sort of meeting places you'd go to."

LEVENSHULME UNITED REFORMED CHURCH stands on Stockport Road about a quarter of a mile south of Matthews Lane.

Its design is interesting, with two end gables on either side of the steeple. Perhaps one is an extension. Congregations have dwindled, but the church is still in use.

WE ARE ON STOCKPORT ROAD LEVENSHULME and it's a gloomy, drizzly Sunday 31st of October 2001. The A6, thundering with traffic during the week, is quiet today. Levenshulme United Reformed Church is in the centre of the picture.

It's interesting to see how the original buildings have been covered with modern additions such as adverts, signs and metal shutters. The building on the right looks to be a former chapel. Today, Connections Dance Studios occupy the first floor.

Joyce says: "The building where Connections Dance Studios are now used to be the Co-op grocery store. There was no such thing as a supermarket. During the war you had to be registered at a grocers and butchers for rations. Upstairs, in that building I learnt to sew. There was a machine shop upstairs. I went there aged 17 and learnt to make shirts and pyjamas."

FOUR STREETS IN LEVENSHULME RUNNING OFF STOCKPORT ROAD the A6 - All of them similar with rows of terraced houses, street lamps, telegraph poles, cars parked up on the pavement, and bags of rubbish left on the streeet.

In the picture lower right is Cromwell Grove - A number 161 bus operated by Mayne is about to turn left onto Stockport Road.

EWM says: There is something depressingly romantic about these rain-soaked Manchester streets. Perhaps sitting out on the terrace in Florida or Australia, you might think back to your bedsit days in Manchester and think: "Ah, I wish I was in Levenshulme on a drizzly Sunday afternoon!". Or maybe not!

PORTVILLE ROAD is seen here from the junction with Stockport Road, the A6. It's typical of many late 19th century streets in this area. These houses were once quite grand, but nowadays they look rather run down.

EWM says: Even in the era of fibre optic underground cables, cellphones and satellite communications, phone lines are still strung out from telegraph poles in the old fashioned way. Perhaps Eyewitness in Manchester is being sent down one of those phone lines right now.

LEVENSHULME is a multi-cultural place, influenced by both Ireland to the west and Pakistan to the east. Here you'll find halal meat and Irish pork sausages on sale a few yards from each other.

EWM says: The Arabic style writing at the top spells out, not surprisingly: "yaadgar kebaab house". The Urdu style Arabic script below includes the words: "lehum halal" or halal meat. This butchers shop on Stockport Road had already closed down when I took this photo, and this sign has since disappeared.

STOCKPORT ROAD THE A6 seen in January 2002 during a spell of bright weather which followed snow, and already we can see that change has arrived on the A6 in the form of new street lamps.

The layout of the pavements has also been altered, with parking laybys. The A6 Quality Bus Corridor will also have an impact on Stockport Road.

Straight ahead is the steeple of Levenshulme United Reformed Church

EWM says: Unlike other aspects of urban design, the style of contemporary street lamps has gone back to old-fashioned ornamental motifs, and I'm not sure if I like them. Like Manchester City Council's lights in front of the Central Library on St Peters Square, these ones stay on all the time!

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