Hello Guys

As promised, and I'm really sorry the quality of these is CRAP, here's a few pictures I took back in 1986 and 1987 of the CIS and Sunley.

The photo's are actually quite clear, but they're printed on nasty orrible' matt paper which does not scan well!

Anyway, when I took the photo's of CIS in 1987, even then there was some superficial damage to the tiles. Only slight mind.

The picture of Sunley from a distance, was I think from the CIS Car park.

The Picture of Sunley was end of 1986, (bet some of you were still in nappies???)

Check out Sunley, hardly a dish on top of it back then.
NEC used to advertise on it. In case you're wondering it says......

Fax, Car Telephone, Computers, TV Video.

Not sure when they took these down??

So does this make me a Veteran? :dance2:


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/sunley1986.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/sunleyfromcis.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/cis1986.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/1d3756a9.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/cis1987up.jpg

Thanks mate.

The towers haven't changed much, but looking at that GM bus, that red phone box and them cars (is that a Reliant Robin I see?) doesn't half make me feel old.

Interesting to see those buildings where the new multi-storey is going up by the CIS.

Cheers for them pookey,those adverts on the side of Sunley,have brought memories back, you certainly are a veteran :)

Sunley looks more interesting with those signs on the side. Did they light up at night?

Sunley looks more interesting with those signs on the side. Did they light up at night?

Not that I remember mate. But heh, we could do with a few Neons.

I wouldn't have fancied putting them signs up there. :ohno:

I remember them lit up. They had a disco light effect. One would light, go off, the next would light, go off until it got to the end when all lit up before woosh, darkness. I remember them from driving down through Broughton from my Gran's in Prestwich. I could never remember what building they were on but thanks to these ace pics, a small corner of my brain has been filled.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/sunleyfromcis.jpg

I was born in 1986...Fuck me wat a dump Manchester once was...I mean are those abandonned warehouses in city center manchester? Looks like a bombs gone off...

Manc Guy,shut up your making me feel like a right old git :laugh:

Manc Guy,shut up your making me feel like a right old git
You have to be one to feel like one blad ;)

I cant beleive the city center was bad as that...Though being brought up in Newton heath, seeing such sites isnt such a shock the system...Im Sooooo glad im not the age you old codgers are :lol: i'da been ashamed to even call myself mancunian...But alas now i am so proud....

Remember them Toilets in picadilly gardens? Looked like they were made out of thin plated tin? huge mammoths male/female plonked right in the center of manc...I used hate usin em as they stunk to high heaven... Thank god they arent there anymore...

Beleive me matey ,most if not all British cities were SHIT HOLES back then,,Thatcher's days ,would we have em back? would we fuck

When all the buildings were covered in black smut. Those were the days.

1986 was the year I was first allowed into Manchester by myself. I was 14.

Used to go buying Levis at the underground market and visit Picadilly Records. Happy days. It wasn't all bad.

You took the words out of my mouth there highriser. In fact I almost found myself starting to reminisce for a moment - that is until I realised I probably sounded like 'old people' always used to.

Now where was I..... ah, yes - during the war.........

Got anymore pookey? A pre conversion G-MEX would be worth about 50 bonus points if you're interested.

Beleive me matey ,most if not all British cities were SHIT HOLES back then,,Thatcher's days ,would we have em back? would we fuck

I guess so...Though i thought thatcher was an idol? I dont know im confused about her, i have little knowledge on her other than she was the PM a while back...Was she a tyrant? fuck knows....

Now where was I..... ah, yes - during the war.........

Very funny Lol...

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b64/Chorltonred/34.jpg

Thanks to AOR. I'm sure he won't mind.

As awful, sickening and wrongful the thought of bombing and terrorising people and their homes (or where they chose to live their lives) its sad to think that if that bomb hadn't of happened, Manc would not be as half as nice as it is now :(

I nicked the pics, but if we're on the subject of the old Central Station (pre-GMex conversion):

http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/buildings/gmex2.jpg

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/m/manchester_central/manchester_central_old2.jpg

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/m/manchester_central/manchester_central_old1.jpg

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/m/manchester_central/manchester_central_old3.jpg

Not so much used as a concert venue these days, but I've got some great memories of seeing James on a very snowy winter night in 1990, and the Pixies when they played there the year after. The acoustics weren't great and it was eventually usurped by the then Nynex, now MEN Arena

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/sunleyfromcis.jpg

I was born in 1986...Fuck me wat a dump Manchester once was...I mean are those abandonned warehouses in city center manchester? Looks like a bombs gone off...

I was born in 1968. When I was your age, back in the 80s, Manchester may well have looked like a dump, but it was anything but.

A bomb did go off, in fact loads of bombs went off in 1940 and 1941, which is one explanation why Manchester looked the way it did in 1986

Just one more for luck: Cheers Aidan.

1982:

http://www.aidan.co.uk/md/ManCtrlStnSwVw1982.jpg

You need to understand Manchester's history, before you can call it a dump.

[QUOTE=Manc Guy]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/sunleyfromcis.jpg

Sunley looks strange with nothing on top...in a funny way...she suits them big ugly aerials better!
Is this pic taken from the road opposite CIS which leads down to the spiral Arndale car park entrance?
I think they kept the frontage of this didn't they and built the flats behind them?

You took the words out of my mouth there highriser. In fact I almost found myself starting to reminisce for a moment - that is until I realised I probably sounded like 'old people' always used to.

Now where was I..... ah, yes - during the war.........

Got anymore pookey? A pre conversion G-MEX would be worth about 50 bonus points if you're interested.

PM, I think I've got a couple more round CIS and Sunley, but they have people on them, and are crap quality.
Manchester City Centre was a different place back then, pretty run down in some areas. But I loved it all the same. Just wish I'd taken more photo's!
:mad2:

[QUOTE=Manc Guy]I guess so...Though i thought thatcher was an idol? I dont know im confused about her, i have little knowledge on her other than she was the PM a while back...Was she a tyrant? fuck knows....[/QUOTE

An idol,was she fuck, and just stay confused about her ,most people are still to this day confused about her,,,,that women's in the history books ,so lets just keep her there, shall we :)

I dont remember the G Mex though being Central Station, what year did it become GMex?

I dont remember the G Mex though being Central Station, what year did it become GMex?

Central Station was closed in about 1969 I think. It lay derelict for a while and was also used as a car park. It was converted into what is now G-Mex in about 1986 by then Central Manchester Development Corporation.

Central Station, from what I remember, opened in 1880 and it is the largest single span railway arch after London St Pancras. Or something like that. Basically there are no pillars insiude the building holding the roof up.

50 bonus points to andyains. It was the car park phase I vaguely remember and was really after seeing again, but then I got a kick out of your images anyway.

btw - keep those bonus points in a safe place. If you manage to collect 100 points you could trade them in for half a pound of Werther's original!

This is worth a read if your interested:

http://www.leytransport.i12.com/mcent.htm
Apparently the station closed down on 5 May 1969 (the same day as Exchange)

http://www.leytransport.i12.com/mcentc.jpg

http://www.leytransport.i12.com/mcentg.jpg

http://www.leytransport.i12.com/mcentk.jpg

http://www.leytransport.i12.com/mcentn.jpg

Last picie shows the bridge which the trams come down into the city centre from the south.

How things have (improved) changed.

So am I the only person the have any old pics?

Surely someone else must have some old pics of our tall buildings?


Coming up to date, how about a requests post?

I'm trying to get back to Manchester regularly, don't mind taking some request shots. Keep it clean. :dunno:

An interesting bunch of pics there.

Personally I'd say the renovation of Central Station was year dot for Manchester's current regeneration. People tend to think of the 1996 bomb as being the catalyst but I disagree; things were changing long before then. G-Mex was possibly the first time in post-war Manchester a derelict building was restored rather than demolished. After that came Castlefield, Salford Quays and innumerable warehouse makeovers. ("Salford Quays is entirely modern buildings!" I hear you cry. True, but previous plans involved completely filling in the Ship Canal at the Quays. The canal itself was saved along with a couple of the bridges and them cranes.)

Many people say what a dump Manchester was back then, but there were still a load of fabulous buildings. After all, the Town Hall, Central Library, Midland Hotel, Refuge Assurance Building (as it was then), Reform Club, Free Trade Hall, etc., etc. were there in the early 80s too, even if they were in need of a polish. Besides, I always found the scenes of urban industrial dereliction alluringly mysterious.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/m/manchester_central/manchester_central_old1.jpg

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/m/manchester_central/manchester_central_old3.jpg

The cycle of regeneration->Delepidation.
How long before our shiny new monuments of the late 20th early 21st century go the way of the Central station and maybe even back from the shadows as renewal projects like the GMEX. Bear in mind that most modern buildings are design to 'live' for only 50years.

1986, this forumer wasn't even born!

A host of old photos of everything Manc can be found on the council image archive:
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/


Portland Tower view mid 60s
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=68519

http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=66827&size=400x334

looks like new york

Portland? Chris have you been on the shandy again!

Oppps sorry. View from the Portland, my bad, blame the booze

/\ it was taken from portland

look at all these talls proposed for the greengate/cathedral area in the 60's:

http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=77964

caw123.....Oh my God. The last picture you posted is incredible. It reminds me of my very early childhood. You can still get a feel of the old industrial Manchester.

I can remember being taken into town by my mum, going to the Royal Exchange, Halle (yeah she's posh) and Kendals, and parking in the old shell of Central Station. I don't remember it as a station though.

Manc Guy, I don't know quite how to explain this to you because I'm an old bugger, but not that old........Manchester looks like a very different city in some of these photos, but it's always had the same quality that it has today......it's always been a really dynamic and exciting place. It maybe doesn't look like it, but it always was.

Shocking that innit, and to think, they actually built some of it.

Look at all the shite they had planned for Aytoun Street!
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=77882

After the war, they were going to turn it into what looks like Coventry. Or Birmingham. Portland St was going to be fronted by up to 50 mid-rise (Portland sized) Towers. Not nice

Has anyone seen the images of the proposed ceremonial/processional route from the Irwell leading up to the Town Hall?? This actually looks like it might have been pretty impressive

So am I the only person the have any old pics?

Surely someone else must have some old pics of our tall buildings?


Coming up to date, how about a requests post?

I'm trying to get back to Manchester regularly, don't mind taking some request shots. Keep it clean. :dunno:


My oh my. .....another thread that makes ME feel really old (speaking as a bona fide 40 year old forumer who has lived 17 years in the Manchester area now and seen more change than most of the people here). I likewise have loads of vintage 80s photographs of city centre buildings in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham to name but three cities..... I have some similar pics of various Manc towers (Rodwell House, Sunley, CIS, Arndale, St Andrews (later Portland Tower), and that fucking ugly one which is now the Travelodge/North Tower) taken in 1983 and 1984 if that's of any interest - but these need scanning in before I can post them all up.....

Mind you, looking back to that era, it may well have been the disgusting Thatcherite years of the early 80s and bad fashion disasters, but then GMPTE was at least one complete body with INTEGRATED bus and train services that all ran more or less on time and weren't split into fucking hundreds of uselessly incompetent and unreliable profiteering money-grabbing companies like they are now whose sole expertise lies in pricing and pissing off the passengers they're supposed to be delivering a service to. Ahhhhh....for those halcyon days when timetables used to mean something and we all had public transport systems that actually worked most of the time, eh? ;)

Look at all the shite they had planned for Aytoun Street!
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=77882

holy shit, is that a car park on albert sq :ohno:

GMPTE was at least one complete body with INTEGRATED bus and train services that all ran more or less on time and weren't split into fucking hundreds of uselessly incompetent and unreliable profiteering money-grabbing companies like they are now whose sole expertise lies in pricing and pissing off the passengers they're supposed to be delivering a service to.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Back in the days when if you were on a red bus you were in London, and if it was orange, it must have been Manchester. What a bloody pity

Margaret Thatcher really did fucking hate the 'provinces' and their non-Conservative councils, didn't she? History is judging that woman more favourably than I imagined it ever would. God, how much did people loathe her at the time.....I did

holy shit, is that a car park on albert sq :ohno:

Probably, but there *was* a car park (of sorts) in Albert Square up to the mid-1980s, when it was pedestrianized.

After the war, they were going to turn it into what looks like Coventry. Or Birmingham. Portland St was going to be fronted by up to 50 mid-rise (Portland sized) Towers. Not nice

Has anyone seen the images of the proposed ceremonial/processional route from the Irwell leading up to the Town Hall?? This actually looks like it might have been pretty impressive

Philip Atkins in his "Guide Across Manchester" book states that the original plans for Portland Street involved a massive high-rise development with towers up to 50 or 60 storeys high. Piccadilly Plaza is the only part of that plan that was built.

I saw the processional route to a *new* Town Hall in the 1945 masterplan -- is that the one you mean?

More old stuff off the council site

Plaza under construction
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=8797

1965, pile of shit
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=8803

CIS 1964
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=975

Portland construction
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=66796

1970
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=66798

1985
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=73603

1965
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=74719

1972
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=8978

Arndale 1980
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=549

Albert Bridge House 1959
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=68388

More horrible masterplans
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=77969
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=77755

Hulme
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=77875

http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=77878

I have some similar pics of various Manc towers (Rodwell House, Sunley, CIS, Arndale, St Andrews (later Portland Tower), and that fucking ugly one which is now the Travelodge/North Tower) taken in 1983 and 1984 if that's of any interest - but these need scanning in before I can post them all up.....



Martin

Would love to see them. Get em scanned our Kid.

I saw the processional route to a *new* Town Hall in the 1945 masterplan -- is that the one you mean?

Oh that's right, it was a new town hall. Yep, it is the one I meant.

Judging from those pics, Sunley must have looked really cool when it was first constructed!

I'd also completely forgotten that Portland once said SWF. I wonder what that stood for. Scottish Widows something or other?

As promised!

1986
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/cis1986.jpg

2005
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/ciscompare.jpg

and... new one, slightly forward from CIS Carpark, on Riga St.
The old Dame's wearing her crown :)
1986
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/sunleyfromcis.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/pookey1967/rigast.jpg