Take a look at a selection of our recent projects, each carefully researched and thoughtfully presented. Every one reveals the hidden stories, changing layers and character of a place.
A selection of related place-based research and stories by Ric, published on the Here. Then. & Now walking tours website.
Related Research & Stories
The Oxford: Not Just a Theatre Pub
At first glance, this looks like exactly the sort of pub you’d expect to find opposite the Palace Theatre: a handsome old Victorian-looking Manchester pub, photographed here in the 1970s, serving theatre-goers and city-centre drinkers.
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Mrs Sarah’s Chop House
It’s easy to walk past Mr Thomas’s Chop House and see exactly what the name asks you to see: Mr Thomas. A historic Victorian chop house.
But one of the most interesting stories here belongs to Sarah Studd.
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A Building with an Identity Crisis
Today this is the Stables Tavern in Castlefield - its name a nod to the building’s earlier life as stables serving the nearby railway and warehouse district.
But this is one of those Manchester buildings that has lived several lives.
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Sinclair’s: Then-and-Now, But Not Quite…
This is a then-and-now that doesn’t quite line up. And that’s the point.
The ghosted building is the old Coal Exchange, once standing beside Sinclair’s Oyster Bar on Victoria Street. But Victoria Street has gone, the Coal Exchange has gone, and Sinclair’s itself has been moved.
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Back in Time to the Pine Apple Inn
Rewind around 120 years, and my walking tour group would have been standing outside the old Pine Apple Inn on Water Street.
Today, they’re underneath the huge Aviva Studios, home of Factory International.
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A Map, a Memory, and 24 Years of Change
This isn’t a particularly old map - it was published in 2002 - but wow, what a change.
It’s a small part of Andrew Taylor’s Manchester City Centre Map, a brilliantly detailed series that began in the 1990s.
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