Victoria Street in the 1920's. On the extreme right, on the corner of the top end of Ainsworth Street are Hunter's Tea Merchants. A little further left is the Maypole store and then Althams, who were also a tea merchant/store. Beyond the tram, is the impressive looking Crown Hotel and then the junction of Cort Street, just a little further along.
Facing these properties and out of shot, would be the canvas covered stalls of the Market Square. This photo would have been taken from the foot of Lord Street.
COURTESY OF THE CP COLLECTION
Hi Colin..I've been looking at the 1844 Map of the old Market Square and right in the middle of it is shown a small area marked "Fish Stones" have you any idea what these were ?
ReplyDeleteNot off the top of my head I don't John. They would possibly have been stone slabs, where they laid the fish/fish baskets out, I would have thought, but I'm only guessing.
ReplyDeleteI can't quite work out from this whereabouts the Tontine Street end of Victoria Street is - is it to the right or left of the photo? I'm a regular at Barzooka (used to be the royal...see oldish picture (from the '70s at a guess) here .... http://www.thesharegallery.co.uk/closedpubs/lancashire/blackburn_royal.html ) which adjoins Tontine Street at the end of Victoria Street...are there any older pictures of The Royal knocking about?
ReplyDeleteThese premises are all facing west Lorcan and would have looked onto the old Market Square.
ReplyDeleteThe Tontine Street junction with Victoria Street would be way off to the left of the above shot. In fact if you look at the chap on the extreme left of the photo, well the building above his head would have been next door to the County Courts which are still there today, where you can leave the precinct by the toilets. So the County Courts are just out of this photo, if you know what I mean. Hopefully, you can work out from that how much further left The Royal is. Victoria Street was a long street, which stretched from where T.J. Hughes / Lord Square was, right along to the V where it and Randal Street merge into Whalley Range.
I don't know of any older photos of The Royal. When I was looking for one for the Facebook pubs groups, I just found the one you have, with the scaffold around it (which spoils it really). It's a very ornate pub isn't it? And a shame there's no better photos.
Imagine that Hunter's shop on the extreme right above was where the Lord Square entrance to T.J. Hughes was a few years ago Lorcan, then work your way left from there, across the Mall heading for the Vodaphone shop, then out by the toilets near there, pass the County Court, pass the grassed area with the fountain, pass St John's Church and that's how far it was from Hunter's to The Royal. Hope that helps a bit.
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