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Then and Now: Market Street

THEN: Market Street in 1900

But the buildings and landscape have definitely changed to keep up with the demands of modern-day consumers.

Few of the thousands of bargain hunters visiting the high-street chains know about Market Street's humble origins as a lane leading from Manchester's medieval market place out into open countryside.

As the lane became more built up, it was widened in 1821, and its present function as a principal shopping street was established by the mid-1900s.

The Arndale Centre now stands at the spot once occupied by J Levy tailors at the turn of 1900.

The Levy building is similar in style to the Rylands building, further up Market Street, which now houses Debenhams.

NOW: Still a hotspot for shopping

The tram tracks in the early photo were dug up in 2001, 50 years after they stopped being used, as part of a £1.8m facelift for Market Street.

But they serve as a reminder about the city's current campaign to get back on track with the planned Metrolink extensions to south and east Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale.

The Market Street area took the full force of the IRA bomb in 1996.

Today, the bustling area is one of the most popular shopping venues in the country.

The archive photograph is part of a collection chronicling the changing face of Manchester during the past 250 years on a computer at Manchester Central Library.

What are your memories of Market Street? Have your say.

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