The Manchester & Salford Co-op opened its first store in Chorlton on Friday 24th March 1896 at 41 Wilbraham Road. "It is not the largest shop in the district, but it is quite equal in appearance to the best shop in Chorlton." Manchester & Salford Equitable Co-op Society's Monthly Herald April 1896 Pg 1
The whole road was later re-numbered, so unsure where it was. That's until my old mate Andy sorted it all out with some old street directories. This is the building in a later guise as a Maypole Dairy store in 1959, and in 2009 as a betting shop. The M&S Co-op built a new store in 1900 just around the corner next to the Royal Oak public house. Now I always presumed this branch would have closed when the new store opened. But it is still listed in street directories until the 1909 editions. Which is a bit strange having two branches about 500 metres apart. A little more investigation needed to check this....The Hardy Lane store was the third store opened in the district.
Further reading : Maypole Dairies by David Clare
1 comment:
'Ike' Lewis Bookmakers originally only occupied the Royal London building and expanded into the old Maypole premises in the 80s.
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