Fairbrother Street, Salford

A disused warehouse. A graffiti haven.


Now owned by Woodland Exports, and used as a storage facility for vehicles and trailers.

Caythorpe Street, Moss Side

An entire street boarded up, in vivid shades of red. Caythorpe Street is now the site of a regeneration scheme in Moss Side, looking at providing affordable eco-housing in the area.

Chorlton Lodge, Alexandra Park

Alexandra Park was designed in 1869 by Alexander Hennell and was opened to the public on August 6th 1870, having been purchased by the Manchester Corporation from Lord Egerton for £24,000 in 1864. 

The park contained Chorlton Lodge to the East of the main entrance. The Lodge was designed by Alfred Derbyshire in 1868, and was originally intended to be to the West of the entrance.

In 2005 I offered to buy Chorlton Lodge from Manchester City Council. They refused, claiming that the building was required for 'one of their client groups'. The building has laid derelict since, although a 2010 pledge of £2 million is said to be helping to regenerate the park, including a full restoration of Chorlton Lodge.

Cheadle Barnes Hospital

A donation of £26,000 for the founding of a new convalescent hospital in Cheadle, was made in 1869 by Robert Barnes. Construction of the hospital, named the Barnes Convalescent Home, started in 1871 and was completed in 1875. It was constructed of bricks, the clay for which was provided locally.

During World War II the hospital was used as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers. The main use for the hospital in its later life was for geriatric care and stroke patients.Following its closure the hospital temporarily housed a large group of refugees from Kosovo. It was featured on Most Haunted Live in September 2005. The site was briefly occupied by around 100 gypsy families in February 2007.

The main building is Grade II listed and lies on green belt land. The site is now owned by Reality Estates.

Cheadle Bleach Works

A former mill in Cheadle. A mill has been on the site since the 12th Century, originally used as a water powered corn mill. It was later converted to a chemical plant, owned by Thor Chemicals, and produced chlorine bleaching agents for use in the dye industry in Manchester at the time. It closed down in 1993 and was left derelict until 2008 when it was partially demolished prior to being converted into housing.

By the time of my visit, most of the mill had been demolished and workmen were on site, beginning building for luxury apartments.

Brochure for Apartments at Cheadle Bleachworks

Victoria Baths II

I was asked to accompany an English A-level trip to Victoria Baths only a few months after my first visit. I thought it would be interesting to see more of the building and how it had changed in the time between my visits.

Victoria Baths

The Victoria Baths, near Longsight in Manchester, were designed as a prestigious baths complex by Manchester's first City Architect, Henry Price, and opened by Manchester Corporation in 1906. In their design and construction no expense was spared. The facade has multi-coloured brickwork and terracotta decoration, the main interior public spaces are clad in glazed tiles from floor to ceiling and most of the many windows have decorative stained glass. For 86 years the Victoria Baths provided both essential and leisure facilities. Private baths and a laundry were housed there along with three swimming pools and the Turkish Baths. The main swimming pool was floored over in the winter months to hold dances. In 1952 the Victoria Baths installed the first public Aeratione in the country.

The Victoria Baths was closed in 1993. The building is now in very poor repair and yet remarkably intact with most of the stained glass and original tiling remaining. the Victoria Baths is listed grade II on the List of Buildings of Architectural and Historic Interest.

St Thomas' Hospital

A disused hospital near my childhood home.

My Mother worked here before my birth. 

It’s the End of an Era for Historic St Thomas’s          

Anne Arnold

October 29, 2003

Scores of well-wishers are expected to attend a service  of thanksgiving to mark the closure of St Thomas's Hospital today. The hospital, in Shaw Heath, has treated thousands of older people and psychiatric patients on the NHS and was first a workhouse, opening its doors on Christmas Day 1841. 

The Victorian workhouse - known locally as 'The Grubber' was once home to scores of Stockport's poor and unemployed throughout the Victorian era. And when in 1948 the site became Shaw Heath Hospital, later renamed St Thomas's, some of the older workhouse inmates remained on the site. 

Dr Chris Burke, Chief Executive of Stockport NHS Trust, said: "For over 160 years, St Thomas's Hospital has served the people of Stockport. "During that time hundreds of dedicated staff have given their working lives to caring for  patients in what are now old-fashioned and out-dated surroundings.

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