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Then and Now: Newton Heath

THEN: Thorp Road in 1914

The latest in our Then and Now series was prompted by MEN reader Ken Lane, a member of New Moston History Society, who has always been fascinated by the photograph he owns of Thorp Road in 1914.

It is just a stone's throw from where Newton Heath, an aspiring Manchester football team, started playing in 1878.

They later became known as Manchester United.

On the same Thorp Road site, now occupied by a factory showroom for Thorp Road Furniture, the Newton Heath Congregational church was built around 1887.

NOW: A lot has changed over the years

By 1937, the church itself started to struggle and, after much consultation, it was decided to sell it.

The site was sold for £1,000 for the building of a cinema - a price that included more than 96 square yards of land, the chapel, and Sunday school buildings.

The Ceylon cinema opened a year later, with the interior so planned by the architects that the pillars of the building were retained without obstructing the view of the screen.

Newton Heath now had three cinemas - the other two were the Pavilion and the Magnet - but none of them exists today.

After the closure of the Ceylon in the mid 1970's, it first became a carpet warehouse and later a furniture factory, pictured, which is still around.

What are your memories of Newton Heath?

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