A doomed shopping parade set to be demolished was once the beating heart of its estate.
In February 2023, it was announced that the derelict shopping parade in North Manchester was to be pulled down in a matter of weeks. Plans were finally approved by the town hall to demolish Eastford Square in Collyhurst, which has lain abandoned for more than a decade.
Manchester council now owns the building off Rochdale Road after acquiring the final unit following years of negotiations with its owner. The three-storey structure has stood on the site since the council estate that surrounded it was built in the 1960s.
Read More: Rare photos capture the early years of iconic Greater Manchester shopping precinct
Read More: The now-deserted 'science fiction' shopping centre built to be like 'summer all year round'
It's hard to believe the crumbling and boarded up parade, recently called the "biggest eyesore in Manchester", was once central to a thriving community. From the Post Office and the butchers to later the hairdressers and the chippy, the shops on Eastford Square offered locals everything they needed on their doorstep.
Last year, the MEN spoke to tenants still living on the surrounding estate, with many still holding fond memories of the parade and its place in the community. Susan Lever, 65, had lived her flat in nearby Roach Court tower block since 1968.
Collyhurst-born and bred, she remembered a very different world from the ghost town the square has since become. "It was thriving round here," she said.
"It had everything you wanted. You had all the shops and then three pubs within walking distance.
"The chippy was one of the best ones going about 25 years ago. The queue used to go right past the shops.
"Even the post office was full. The community was fantastic. You could talk to anyone.
"The people who worked at those places were more friends than shopkeepers. It'd take two hours to go for a bottle of milk because you'd be talking to everybody.
"Kids used to play football and be on their bikes out here. There's nothing now because they split the community up by moving them all out."
Now, with the square's days are numbered, the MEN has unearthed images from the Manchester Central Libraries Archive showing how different the parade and surrounding estate once was. The images, taken between 1971 and 1986, show the square's surrounding flats which were demolished some time ago.
Children can be seen riding bikes and playing the streets. Other images show the estates now lost shops and Post Office.
When the MEN recently posted a selection of the images to some of the popular Manchester community Facebook Groups, people took to the comments with their own memories. One person said: "I lived on Hamerton Road facing the shops; very convenient, had all you needed".
Join our Greater Manchester history, memories and people Facebook group here.
Another person agreed, saying: "It was a well used resource back in the day and had everything you needed to do your shopping. It even had a bakery at one point in time."
Another said: "Loads of childhood memories of here. I think there was a chippy on the end right side, 1980s. I remember the shop, hair salon where I would have my hair cut as a child."
A former shop employee on the parade said: "I work at the Spar and took it over when Fred retired. [We] used to do our own bacon and gammon, and also roasted our own ham. Nothing tasted better than when it was still warm."
Another person remembered: "It was a lovely set of shops: Fred, Billy and Roy running the Spar. Tony the hairdresser at Shady Lady. Brilliant times."
Another posted: "Lived across from there in one of the blocks in the late '80s. Used these shops regularly when I moved there from South Manchester. Everyone warned me how rough it was but I loved it there the people - [they] were the salt of the earth."
Love Greater Manchester's past? Sign up to our new nostalgia newsletter and never miss a thing.
As well as the Spar and hair salon, many remembered the chip shop being excellent back in the day. But it was the sense of community that many people remembered fondly, saying they wouldn't change where they grew up.
Back when the MEN interviewed people still living in the surrounding area last year, another resident, Norman Stack, recalled: "There was a Chinese chippy, a café, a hairdressers and a paper shop. Everybody used to use them, it was the heart of the community.
"When all the maisonettes were up, it was very busy. When they knocked them down, not as many people used the shop.
"It's sad to say it, but it's got to go. It's been an eyesore for a long time."
Plans to transform this part of Collyhurst have been in the pipeline since as far back as 2006, when the council first decided to ask the government for funding for regeneration work. The area was earmarked for a landmark Private Finance Initiative (PFI) - one of the biggest in the country - that would have seen 1,300 new homes built as part of a £250m scheme.
Does Eastford Square awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
The post-war maisonettes that surrounded Eastford Square were bulldozed several years ago in preparation for the regeneration. While the shopping parade and the council-owned 1960s tower blocks off Hamerton Road remained, the loss of a large part of the Collyhurst community was felt sharply. As the years passed by, the shops emptied.
Now, 1,500 new homes are planned in the wider area on the edge of Manchester city centre under the Victoria North scheme. A new tram stop on the Bury, Rochdale and Oldham Metrolink lines is also planned near the site.
And although specific plans for the Eastford Square site are still to be decided, the demolition of the 'ghost town' shopping parade has been welcomed by many. The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands work is set to start in spring.
However, Harpurhey councillor Pat Karney is hoping the building will be gone by the end of this month. He said: "It's the biggest eyesore in North Manchester."
Read Next:
- "What a waste": Greater Manchester snooker hall abandoned and left to rot
- From cough drops to missiles: 12 lost factories that employed generations of Mancunians
- Relive epic night out at lost Greater Manchester nightclub in fabulous photos from 2005
- The day a decade ago that TVs were 'ripped from walls' at a lost Manchester shopping centre's closing sale
- Wide-eyed Sainsbury's shoppers on opening day of now lost Manchester supermarket
