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Then and Now: Wilmslow Road, Withington

THEN: Wilmslow Road in 1950

The suburb is less than five miles from the city centre and the main thoroughfare Wilmslow Road is still as bustling today as it was then.

Surprisingly there are actually more cars on the original photograph taken in 1950 but anyone who travels through Withington regularly today knows how congested it can be at times.

It is one of the busiest bus routes in Manchester with hundreds of journeys made everyday picking up students who live in Withington and Fallowfield.

Withington is also home to the world famous Christie's Hospital, where pioneering work by doctors is at the forefront of the battle to beat cancer.

NOW: Busy bus route

However it was not always like this and at the beginning of the 20th century it was still a rural and agricultural area with many farms, a distinctive feature of the district.

But the city's rapid population explosion meant the new residents had to be housed somewhere and new housing estates soon replaced the farms. Transport also changed with the introduction of horse drawn trams which were replaced by an electric version in 1902, stopping at Lapwing Lane.

The photograph is one of more than 77,000 images stored in the Manchester archives on an easy-to-use computer at the city's Central Library.

What are your memories of Withington?

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