manchester mancunians expats
Thursday, 24th February 2005
Then and Now: Ancoats
Martin Dillon  JUNCTION . . . what was once a peaceful place for a chat now roars with traffic as one of Manchester’s busiest junctions where Oldham Road meets Great Ancoats Street. The urinal and fountain shown in the photograph of New Cross, Ancoats, at the junction of in Oldham Road and near its junction Great Ancoats Street, have gone and you would be risking serious injury trying to stroll around through this area today.
It is now one of Manchester’s busiest junctions and thousands of cars pass through this busy daily.
A closer inspection of the old picture will see a sign for women’s ladies fashion shop Bon Marche, which has long gone.
Ancoats was once the centre of the world’s cotton industry which attracted a huge influx of Italian migrants and created what became known as Manchester’s Little Italy.
In more recent years the area was also home to hundreds of journalists as Manchester gained the reputation as the Fleet Street of the north.  WINDS OF CHANGE: The same junction on Great Ancoats Street today The old haunt of journalists and pressmen from the former Daily Express building next door was closed after a man was almost killed in the trouble and the pub boozer wrecked.
Nowadays there is a much brighter future for the area as millions of pounds are being invested in new homes, offices and leisure facilities.
The archive photo is part of a collection on a computer at the Central Library, chronicling Manchester’s changing face in the past 250 years.
What are your memories of Great Ancoats Street?
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