TANNERY ALLEY 1950s

by Dave Roberts

The name Tannery Alley probably won't mean very much to those who haven't been Middlewichians for very long, but when we substitute Southway and mention Tesco things may start to become a little clearer.
Tannery Alley is, or was, the public footpath which runs from St Ann's Road and joins Wheelock Street alongside the former Bargain Booze off-licence (now blessed with the not much more dignified name The Booze Centre). 
Tannery Alley was long ago re-christened Southway.
Slightly confusingly the row of shops behind Drinks & Bites at 35 is also called Southway, as is the pathway running from Wheelock Street and up the steps to the strange 'pagoda-like' structure which advertises the presence of Tesco's supermarket to people approaching from that direction.
As Malcolm Hough, who sent us this photo, reminds us the alley did,  at one time, have a third, unofficial, name. 
When the Alhambra was in business as a cinema the locals christened it 'Picture Alley', as it formed a short-cut to that popular establishment for those coming from St Ann's Road and 'Newtonia'.
Of course many who were young at the time will remember that the rear door of the Alhambra was (and still is) down a little alleyway off what became Southway, and it was a relatively easy job to sneak through this door behind the cinema's screen, risking the wrath of 'Torchy', who, we think, was named after Torchy The Battery Boy, a popular puppet TV star of the 1950s. Or did his nickname pre-date this early Granada star?
Malcolm suggests, rightly, that this photo is just begging for a 'Now & Then' comparison and we'll be doing this just as soon as we have time to take a shot of that 'pagoda' which is approximately where these houses once stood.
Unless one of our many photographer friends would like to oblige?
To make our modern day bearings even clearer, the much-admired Barclay House is out of shot to the left. The prospects for this lovely old building are looking brighter now that Tesco has decided to dispose of all the property it bought up for its aborted Middlewich mega-store plan.
We have seen the old buildings in the photo before, again courtesy of Malcolm Hough, when we published this picture:

We first published this picture  here in 2011 under the title 'Mystery Picture' as we weren't entirely sure of the location at that time, although the 'mystery' was soon solved. That's one end of the former Orchard Works to the right and Barclay House is immediately to the left of what is obviously the building in the picture above. We can now see that there appear to be three houses here - two cottages and a fairly substantial house, the main entrance to which was probably at the front facing Wheelock Street.
Were these, perhaps, a couple of workmen's houses and a 'manager's house', relating to the vanished tannery which gave the alley its original name?
The other obvious question is, where did the name 'Southway' originate?
Incidentally, the resemblance between this little section of Tannery Alley and
White Horse Alley is quite striking.

We'll be returning to the scene with some 'Now & Then' shots soon.

Note: We've dated this photo provisionally as '1950s' due to the quality of the photography, although we're open to argument and correction on this. Was that building still standing in the 1960s?

With thanks to Malcolm Hough

UPDATE (9th May 2019):
In the four years since this diary entry was written, there have been changes in the area, the principal one being that 'Big Tesco' has gone, to be replaced by Jack's and that little 'pagoda' now has a 'Jack's' logo on it. The Booze Centre which replaced Bargain Booze has also closed to be replaced by an 'International Food Store'. Various other changes have happened in Wheelock Street. Soon this area will be completely transformed as plans to redevelop the area between Southway and Daerlington Street go ahead. When that happens 'Tannery Alley' will be an even more distant memory.

WHEELOCK STREET 1989

by Dave Roberts
This photo, taken in 1989 by Daniel Preston, is a good example of a picture which captures a moment in time and illustrates how small changes can 'creep up' on us almost without our noticing.
It's one of those photos where everything  looks familiar and yet, somehow, not quite the same.
Daniel took the picture because he was interested in that unusual red and white car (described by him as a 'pram car') and in the process captured, in the background, a little piece of Wheelock Street which has altered over the years, but not beyond recognition.
On the left is Cynthia's Patisserie, at that time simply that. A cake and pie shop.Always very popular and serving high quality food to passing customers
In 2013 Cynthia's is still going strong and many of those customers now linger awhile and take advantage of the tables and chairs on the pavement outside, allowing them to have a snack and a coffee and pass the time of day.
Next door is  Prudential Property Services, now a branch of Reeds Rains and fulfilling the same function in 2013.
This shop has a long history, dating back at least to Victorian times and can be seen in this classic Middlewich scene with ornate gas lamps attached to its walls.
And then comes the Alhambra, dating back to 1920.
Originally a cinema (universally acknowledged to be one of the best in Mid-Cheshire throughout its 40-odd years of service to the town) and now a Chinese Restaurant with a Spanish name.
The ornate art-deco frontage has survived intact throughout the changes the building has seen over the years.
At the time of the photograph the front section of The Alhambra was, controversially, the home to an amusement arcade (the building also catered for bingo and snooker players) and, long before the term 'anti-social behaviour' was invented, people were expressing alarm at the 'great harm' this was doing to the young people of the town, who were liable to run amok because of the licentiousness and decadence brought about by habitual playing of Pinball and Space Invaders.
One councillor felt constrained to point out that Wheelock Street was 'not Blackpool Prom'.
Which, of course, it isn't.
Apparently, playing on slot machines and video games automatically turns any young person into a hardened criminal overnight, meaning that we all run the risk of being murdered in our beds.
Somehow the town survived this threat to our safety and well-being and now the slot machines and video games have been replaced by the entrance to the Alhambra Chinese Restaurant, memorably captured in this night scene by Bill Armsden.
Why don't you take a look through your own photo albums and see if you have. perhaps unintentionally, captured a similar background scene showing Middlewich as it used to be?

SEE ALSO: CYNTHIA'S PATISSERIE 1987

ALHAMBRA BINGO HALL EARLY 1970s

The corner of  Wheelock Street and Southway as it was in the early 1970s when the  Alhambra,in common with so many  former cinemas at that time, was a part of the blossoming craze for bingo.
Like the cinema before it, this new incarnation of the Alhambra was very popular, with patrons being bussed in from as far afield as Stoke-On-Trent to take part in games.
At this time the building had not been radically altered for its new role and rumours abounded that the projection equipment had been left in place and could be brought back into use if required.
The projection room was situated high above the entrance, behind the middle window, and there is a local legend that one of the projectionists carried on a courtship with his girlfriend who lived above the chemist's shop on the other side of the street.
The entrance lobby was later altered to become an amusement arcade and a section of the upper part of the building became a snooker club.
Next door is  James Vernon and Sons' furniture shop,now home to  Drinks and Bites at No 35, and, on the other side of Southway, is the off-licence which later became part  of Bargain Booze before closing in 2013 and re-opening once more as an independent off-licence. At the time of the photograph it was, as can be seen, extolling the virtues of Watney's Pale Ale.
In the intervening years the bottom end of Southway (the former 'Tannery Alley') has developed from a mere access road to the flats above Vernon's shop, and the rear of the Alhambra, into a pedestrian walkway with  hairdressers and flower shops and the Wheelock Street entrance to what is now Tesco's main Middlewich supermarket.

MIDDLEWICH BY NIGHT: THE ALHAMBRA

by Dave Roberts
This is one of a series of photographs taken after dark in Middlewich by Bill Armsden, Jim Moores and Tom Harry Johnson as they experimented with various lenses, filters and lighting equipment to produce some remarkable visual effects.
In this one we see the familiar face of the Alhambra building which started life in 1920 as a cinema and  served time as a bingo hall, snooker hall and amusement arcade before becoming a chinese restaurant.
The original Alhambra was a palace in Granada (the one in Spain, not Manchester) and the name translates literally as 'The Red Palace'.
The use of  the name for a Chinese Restaurant may seem a little inappropriate, but it has meant that the building has retained its original name and, just as importantly, the raised lettering on its frontage which has remained there throughout the building's changing fortunes, giving a pleasing sense of continuity.
Notice in the top right hand corner of the photograph how the street lamp adds a little touch of workaday reality to the scene and gives an idea of just how old the building really is, contrasting nicely with the glamorous coloured lighting at the front of the building.
The overall effect of the photo is, simply, stunning.