Both photos are from the church tower looking towards Queens Square. Some surviving buildings from the older image appear at the top of the modern image.


North side of Ball Street

Gala Day, possibly 1914. Note that a lumber shop (the shortest building) and the adjacent slaughterhouse were replaced first by Central Garage, then by Booths, then by Card Factory.


This building was for many years a garage, the Morris Minor dating it to the 1960s. It subsequently became Booths before they acquired the Teanlowe Centre in which they built their modern supermarket. No. 11 is a card shop at time of writing.


The Methodist Chapel shown in the early image was built in the 1880s and was the 3rd building used by the town’s Methodist community. It was demolished in 1966 having been replaced a year earlier by the current church on Queensway. The coloured photograph shows Barclays Bank on the same site, now vacated by them. The town’s bank branches dwindled down to just Lloyds at 9 Market Place, now closed and replaced by Wall Street.


These two photos were taken over a century apart yet align very well. The one in monochrome shows Chapel Street in the late 19th century, before the Thatched House was rebuilt. The pavement on the left ended at the junction with Potts Alley, now Chapel Street Walk. The Thatched adjoined a former paint-shop which was demolished by Boddington’s brewery in 1902 to be replaced by an annex to the Thatched, however, the town council stipulated that the new building must be set back to make Chapel Street the same width along its length.


The battle to save “The Old Thatch” was lost in September 1900 when Boddingtons’ brewery got the go-ahead to demolish and replace it. The left photo was taken from the opposite side of Ball St looking down Chapel St; note the position of the ground-floor window. The tenant at this time was Nathaniel Charnock (1897-1902). The photo on the right was taken from further along Ball St with the Savings Bank to the left.


Demolition of the “Old Thatch” began in February 1901, and its replacement opened in the late Summer. The b/w photo shows the fully-built new pub with the landlord Nathaniel Charnock (tenant from 1897-1902) looking out of an upper window and the demolition of the side wall of the old Thatched in the foreground. Note that window in the old side wall, behind a man wearing an apron.


Westward expansion of the town centre occurred from the 1960s with the creation of Queensway to link Blackpool Old Road with Tithebarn Street. Pictured in colour is the junction with the current library car park on the right.


The b/w photo could be from the 1930s or 40s. The shops to the right on the colour photo were built more recently.


It is believed that a church has stood on the site of St Chad’s since the Domesday Book survey. Elements of the current building certainly date to the 1600s, but substantial alterations carried out in the late 18th century make the church look from the later era. The addition of a Norman-style apse in 1868, shown in the colour photo, happened after the b/w photo was taken.


The b/w image looks to be from the early years of the 20th century. The building in front of St Chads was demolished in 1935 according to notes on Red Rose Collections.


Page last updated 4 Oct 2024

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