1785 Established by David Holt, and described as the only known example of a factory colony in Manchester, that is, an isolated mill complex with housing for the workers.
1794 Mills advertised for sale following the bankruptcy of David Holt and Company.
Things, as we know, have a tendency to come and go – ’twas ever thus.
A whole history of the area can be found here.
River Medlock Holt Town
The area has seen a transition, in some two hundred year or more, from a leafy rural idyll, to smoke choked industrial hell and back again.
Pollard Street
Photographs from the Manchester Image Archive.
In 2014 I visited the site of the former Distillers Company, later Air Liquide UK, production had ceased. The factory was just about standing, litter and detritus strewn, unloved and unwanted, temporary home to the homeless.
The Industrial Revolution has been and gone – bye bye.
There are plans for redevelopment, couched in the terms of the professional new-speak of the new urban renewalists.
The international design competition for Holt Town looked for a solution to the dilemma of providing a sustainable, distinctive, high density family-led residential community in close proximity of the Manchester regional centre.
Promising open green spaces and housing based on the traditional European perimeter block model, not a mention of a mill.
Possibly lasting a little longer than David Holt’s dream, and subsequent manifestations.
Modern Mooch 
River Medlock, not Irwell!
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Of course it is Geoff, thanks for the reminder have done several wanders from the top to the bottom of the Medlock. Will edit the error.
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I think it is really nice to be able to read up on the history of Holt Town. I lived opposite there as a child and my dad had a business in Holt Town. I used to see people on the balconies than hung over the River Medlock from the frontage on Ashton New Road. As a child I played on the red rec and also ventured down the “Devil steps” to Holt Town many times and through the large metal gates onto the banks of the Medlock. I love history and old photos. It is very informative and I enjoyed reading about it :Thank you )
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Thanks Lorraine always a pleasure to look around these areas – note the changes, and share with good folks like y’self.
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My dad worked in this factory distillers c02 …. shame really they moved the production to irlam
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The steps leading down to Holt town, from Cambrian street (referred to above as ‘the devil steps’) feature in a scene in the film ‘A Taste of Honey’, c1963 – screenplay by the Salford playwright Shelagh Delaney – starring inter alia Rita Tushingham and Dora Bryan.
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Quite so Stephen I had written about the film and its locations https://modernmooch.com/2017/02/07/a-taste-of-the-north/
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The old distillers factory, my dad worked there from 1977 to when it shut in 2009 . Great place to work
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The stone steps between Holt Town and Cambrian street have been badly damaged by an unsuccessful attempt to steal an extremely large stone slab (an operation that must have involved some heavy duty lifting equipment); and currently have barriers restricting access (though these can be by-passed with care). The three bottom steps and some at the top had already been replaced some time ago with concrete replacements – presumably after a similar theft.
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Each time I pass by I note the poor state of the steps – sorry to hear of the attempted theft, time that the council did something other than secure the site. Thanks Stephen.
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My mother was the canteen cook there in the late 1950s
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Rather than repair the damage to them, the stone steps between Cambrian St and Holt Town have now been permanently closed with steel gates. They were a convenient way to access the Holt Town tram stop.
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That’s a great sadness and a great loss to both the pedestrian and film historian.
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