I was asked by SMBC to take folks on a short Stockport walk – beginning at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery and concluding at the Stockroom, a distance of less than a mile.
So here we are beginning at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery a Grade II* listed building opened in 1927.
Designed in Neoclassical Greek Revival style with central tetrastyle Corinthian portico, the order loosely based on Temple of Apollo at Bassae
The Gallery has a long history of exhibitions from some of the art world’s finest artists. Today the gallery boasts an extensive exhibition program, which gives emerging artists a chance to showcase their work.
Designed by James Theodore Halliday of Halliday Paterson & Agate of Manchester.
Sculpture by Gilbert Ledward.
© National Portrait Gallery
Crossing over the Wellington Road South to the site of the former Mount Tabor Chapel 1868 designed by William Hill.
Closed in 1954 demolished in 1969.
The capitals of Chapel’s Corinthian columns, surround the site of the Cockleshell Hero memorial 2017 – sculptor Luke Perry.
The former Edgeley milkman James Conway took part in the Royal Marines’ most famous wartime raid, where he was one of the twelve men who paddled more than eighty miles in canoes up the Gironde to plant limpet mines on shipping in the German occupied French city of Bordeaux in 1942.
Down the hill to Stockport Town Hall 1908 another Grade II* listed building – designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, built in a free English Baroque style.
Although much simpler than continental Baroque architecture, English Baroque designs were equally heavy, sensual and decorative.
Across the road the former Stockport Infirmary l832 Grade II listed – architect Richard Lane.
Currently named Millennium House, home to the Department of Works and Pensions.
Around the back of the Town hall we find Stopford House built in 1975 and designed by JS Rank OBE, Director of Development & Town Planning, Stockport Council.
The painting has recently been much improved by the folks from Merseyway Workshop along with local volunteers.
They also staged the hugely successful Stopford House Party in August.
Back down the road to the old Grand Central.
Formerly a large coal yard, replaced by a huge leisure facility and now a hotel and office complex, with a municipal swimming pool attached.
Next door the former Royal Mail sorting office.
The transformation of a building once dubbed Stockport’s ugliest has been completed, now known as The Mailbox.
When it was built in the 1970s, it was given extra reinforcement due to the risk of IRA letter bombs. The sorting office closed and moved sites in 2010, from when the building was vacant for nearly a decade.
The state-of-the-art development is now home to 117 ‘stunning’ new one and two-bedroom apartments and 12,500 square feet of commercial space. There is an atrium at its heart a roof terrace with views across the town centre.
It also has an eighteen -metre high green ‘living wall’ covering the front and other parts of the exterior, which with 114,500 plants is the largest of its kind by surface area in the North of England.
Over the road the Grade II listed former Central Library – architects Bradshaw Gass and Hope, funded by Andrew Carnegie, opened in October 1913.
Current plans are to use the building as a new home for the Stockport Music Service.
Adjacent is the Garrick Theatre.
The Stockport Garrick Theatre was founded on 24th of October 1901, by engineer Edwin Heys and his fellow actors: fugitives from the disbanded dramatic society of Stockport Unitarian Church. Meeting in what was then The Church Coffee Tavern on St Petersgate, Heys and his friends resolved to found a new society ‘to perform the best plays by the most capable amateur actors and with the finest scenic effects’.
The society purchased its current building, an old mill occupied by an assortment of small businesses, in 1920. Since then, the building’s labyrinthine interior has undergone various refurbishments to enhance the society’s ability to produce theatre to the highest standards possible.
The newly painted murals are by Captain Kris.
Next door the Hat Works – the UK’s only museum dedicated to the hatting industry, hats and headwear.
Occupying part of the Grade II listed Wellington Mill, a cotton mill of 1831 which became Ward’s Hat Works.
Both cotton spinning and hat making contributing to the economic development of Stockport in the C19th.
Across the way the long gone Carlton Cinema Architects: Francis Edison Drury and Joseph G Gomersall.
Opened on 28th July 1937.
In July 1948 the cinema was taken over by the Essoldo Cinemas chain. In 1954 the Essoldo became the town’s first CinemaScope cinema and for many years was the only cinema to offer full stereophonic sound. Richard Burton in The Robe was the first widescreen film to be shown, followed by Marilyn Monroe in How to Marry a Millionaire.
At the height of the Davy Crockett craze, in 1956, Fess Parker made a personal appearance at the Essoldo.
It was converted into a twin screen cinema in 1971, by converting the balcony into Screen 2, it was taken over by the Classic Cinemas chain in 1972. Its final owners were the Cannon Group who ran the cinema from 1982 to its final closure on June 21st 1990.
The cinema was demolished in 1994 and a small park occupied the site for several years.
By 2011, offices had been built on site.
Until March 2025 home to the Sky call centre.
Further down the road the former Wellington Hotel.
Known variously as Ups ‘n’ Downs, Glitz, Bentley’s and the Bees Knees.
Finally, partial occupation by a forlorn Pound Shop – defying economic trends by closing.
Street art by Cats and That.
Next to the Transport Interchange aka the Bus Station.
In collaboration with Transport for Greater Manchester and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, the project redesigned a 10,000 sq m bus interchange, linking the rail station with new landscaped parks.
The development includes a fifteen-storey building with one hundred and ninety six apartments, commercial space, and parking. New parks and riverside spaces improve connectivity and enhance urban living, marking a transformative step in placemaking for Stockport.
Replacing the former Bus Station closed on Saturday 28th August 2021.
Down to the top of the Lowry Steps
LS Lowry snapped in 1962, the Viaduct in the not too distant distance – Grade II* listed structure and remains one of the world’s biggest brick structures.
Railway viaduct opened 1840 by GW Buck for Manchester and Birmingham Railway in brick and stone.
Twenty eight arches of total length over 540m – three spans at either end of 18ft, twenty two spans between of 63ft, and nearly 34m high above the river.
Said to contain eleven million bricks.
Stone moulded impost bands and rusticated faces to piers.
Took 21 months to build, at a cost of £72,700.
Widened to the west 1888 to 1889.
Historic England.
Down on the corner the former George Hotel.
Premises To Let as of 13th May 2018 – on the 2nd April 2018 the licence has lapsed, so this proved to be a barrier to it re-opening.
A former pub in Stockport town centre could be knocked down to make way for a tower stretching 17-storeys high. Plans have been sent to Stockport council for consideration and would bring 76 new apartments to the town replacing The George on Wellington Road, based opposite Merseyway Shopping Centre and near Stockport Viaduct.
Across the way the Heaton Lane Car Park is now rubble.
It is to become the site for the re-sited bus depot, as the current bus depot is demolished to make way for housing.
Though Place North West reports in August 2026:
Talks over a deal for a bus depot off Daw Bank have broken down after the council refused to meet the operator’s financial demands, prompting the authority to use compulsory purchase powers to acquire the site.
Despite protracted negotiations, Stockport Council and Stagecoach have failed to reach an agreement over an important piece of land the authority needs to deliver Stockport 8, a £350m, 1,300-home regeneration scheme.
Leaving Wellington Road we head for the Merseyway Precinct – 1965 architects Bernard Engle & Partners.
Where we find the Alan Boyson screen wall, screening the multi storey car park, now no longer above the Co-operative store, but above Primark.
Next in line the new occupants of Adlington Walk – Stockport’s fabulous Stockroom.
Stockroom is an exciting new creative and cultural centre in Stockport, designed for getting together, getting involved or just popping by for a brew. It has been developed with and for local people and the creative community to build an exceptional communal resource for entertainment and learning.
There’s room for everyone: to make noise, meet friends or find some peace, play, take part, think or do new things.
Part of Stockport’s £1 billion transformation, Stockroom is an ambitious £14.5 million cultural and creative centre that will breathe new life into the heart of the town.
Located in previously disused retail units, Stockroom has been brought to life through funding from UK Government’s Future High Streets Fund, which aims to rejuvenate town centres across the country.
The Stockroom have hosted a tribute to Alan Boyson, the exhibition The Marvel from Marple.
Otherwise open to access the Library service and archives, eat drink and play, use a computer, or a lavatory, read whilst relaxing in a comfy chair, stay cool or warm, stare into space either upstairs or downstairs.
Whatever floats your personal boat, though currently unsuitable for floating actual boats.
Mention must be made of near neighbours the Merseyway Workshop – the plant planters who we met up at Stopford House.
The Merseyway Workshop is a community focused, inspiring place for innovation and collaboration.
A DIY-style hub on Stockport’s pedestrianised high-street. Offering open use of creative workshops, drop-in activity sessions and skill exchanges.
Working in clay and wood, access to a fully equipped B&W darkroom and so much more.
One short mile or so a cornucopia of history – layer upon layer of exciting architecture.
Get out take a walk take a look!
Modern Mooch 