The old cinema by the metro stop and a closed petrol station

Wilbraham Road and a thriving cinema in 1909

There will be no one now still alive who went to the old Pavilion cinema on the corner of Wilbraham Road and Buckingham Road.

It was thrilling picture goers from the early decades of the last century and soldiered on into the 1930s despite stiff competition from our two new purpose built state of the art cinemas on Barlow Moor Road and Manchester Road.

That said my friend Ann remembers her dad fondly talking about the place and the films of Tom Mix and there will be others who in the space of two generations memories can transport us back to the wooden seats of the old picture place sharing the noise of the adventures on the screen with that of the trains arriving at the station next door.

Wilbraham Road and a closed petrol station in 2014

And I was reminded of the old Pavilion which became the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens with the news from Andy that the garage and petrol station that now sits on the site is closed.

Of course it might just be a temporary thing, but garages no less than pubs are going through a lean time.

It was not so long ago that there were two almost facing each other on Barlow Moor Road and now one of these has gone.

But in the case of this one it will become a Morrison's petrol station.*

Wilbraham Road in  1962

So I shall confine myself with looking for when the first filling station popped up on that corner and thank Andy again for being in the right place at the right time.

And he has already done some research and found this image of the corner in 1962 by which time the site has already become a petrol station.

The building housing the office rather fascinates me because there are similarities between it and the Pavilion.

Both were made of wood  and stand almost in the same spot.

Now that makes sense and gives a continuity to the site stretching back to the beginning of the 20th century.

And there is much more including some of the railings that once ran alongside the railway line.

What also fascinates me is the way that bits of our history suddenly pop to the surface when you least expect it.  So while I knew a bit about the cinema and wondered about when the petrol station arrived I put researching it to one side.
Then along came Andy's picture and his research and another tiny bit of the jig saw has fallen into place.

Picture; of the filling station on Wilbraham Road 2014 courtesy of Andy Robertson, and the Pavilion later the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens, 1909 from the Lloyd collection and the petrol station in 1962 by A landers, m18047, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*04424/FO/2013/S1 | Demolition of existing petrol filling station (PFS) and redevelopment to provide a new petrol filling station facility comprising of canopy/forecourt, ancillary sales building with ATM, underground storage tanks, associated parking and other ancillary works.  http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=externalDocuments&keyVal=MXKZLUBC6K000