Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester ......... nu 56 the vanished fourteen and the story of the BBC

The lost streets in 1894

There will still be plenty of people who remember the close network of streets and houses that stretched back from Oxford Road to the Medlock, and from Charles Street down to Great Street.

In all there were fourteen streets and countless houses which were all swept away so that the BBC could have a new broadcasting centre here in Manchester.

The lost streets included Pritchard Street, Hesketh, Leigh and Saville Streets and along with the houses there had been a school and a pub.

Planning permission had been granted in 1968 and after a hiccup building began in 1971 was finished in 1975 and the place was home to the BBC until 2011.

The closed building, 2011

And for those wanting to impress a companion, about 800 staff worked there and with the opening of the second studio in 1981 the BBC closed Broadcasting House in Piccadilly which had been there for 52 years.

And now after Broadcasting House has gone the developers, and builders are back.

In the meantime I wonder how many memories of those that lived in that small area can be shared.

Afterall the buildings onlbegan to be cleared in 1968.

The cleared ground, 2014

Location; Manchester







Pictures; BBC New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, 2011, Andrew Bowden, Wikipedia, and remaining images courtesy of Andy Robertson, 2014,  and map of the area in 1894, from the OS of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/