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Then and Now: Shudehill

Horses and carts outside the Gaping Goose pub

Today, a passing glance at this historic section of the Northern Quarter wouldn’t be complete if it didn’t include the marketplaces of Smithfields/Shudehill, a robust trade district and an early centre for popular literature – a tradition continued today by Frontline Books on nearby Newton Street.

Picture the scene in 1900: the public houses are roaring full, the streets are swarming with men and women, and the shouts and laughter of mill girls and boys mingle with the as the music that floats out of pub windows.

The CIS building

The cobbled streets have gone and only a few of the buildings around Shudehill have retained their stuccoed warehouse look – in stark contrast to the towering CIS building pictured punctuating the skyline.

Where imposing architecture boasting graceful cast-iron columns once stood, the CIS looms large overlooking the changes to an area that remains a mecca for business, trade – and enjoyment.

The archive photograph is part of a collection chronicling Manchester’s changing face over the past 250 years. The collection comprises more than 77,000 images on a computer at Manchester Central Library.

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