Stopford House – Modern Mooch

A Short Stockport Walk

Posted on September 13, 2026September 15, 2026 by modernmoocher

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.

Sculpture by Gilbert Ledward.

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.

Royal Navy UK

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.

MEN 2023

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.

Cinema Treasures

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.

BDP Design

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.

MEN November 2025

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!

Walking – Talking

Posted on December 11, 2024December 12, 2024 by modernmoocher

I began walking when quite young, then like Felix, I kept on walking, walking still.

The photograph was taking during the Whit Walks in 1958 – aged three, I was engaged in religious pilgrimage, as we know there are many reasons for walking, this is but one.

I was fortunate to grow up at a time when youngsters were permitted to roam freely, less traffic, less anxiety, gave me access to a wider axis of exploration.

The photograph would have been taken I assume, by my mam, on the Brownie 127. When aged nine I wandered alone through the local woods and exposed twelve frames of 44mm 127 film, the prints are long gone, yet I remember each of the photographs and locations clearly.

I went to school, then I didn’t, then I went to Art School, eventually becoming a teenage Constructivist, tutored by Jeffrey Steele, a leading light in the British Systems movement.

The rigidity of the grid, symmetry and orthogonal framing have stayed with me.

Then I went to work for a very long time indeed, then all of a sudden I didn’t. Taking early retirement aged 59 some ten years ago, subsequently taking to the roads, streets and hills of Britain in search of nothing in particular.

In recent years there has been a rapid development in the culture of walking, theories, films, guides, songs and literature. I am fully cognisant of such, yet believe at heart that walking can be free of such baggage, we can stride unhindered, atavistic and carefree/less.

Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye.

Getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing.

In my own small way, I have become part of that baggage, having been asked to lead a walk around Stockport by the the modernist neé Manchester Modernist Society.

The photograph depicts Alan Boyson’s concrete screen wall, attached to the former Cooperative super store designed by Philip Andrew. The two worked to gather on the Hull Cooperative store, which is adorned by Alan’s huge Three Ships mosaic.

Philip was a childhood friend of Alan Boyson and it was Alan’s father, manager of the Marple Co-operative Society, that recommended Philip for an apprenticeship job in 1951 to the chief architect at the CWS in Manchester HQ.

Ships in the Sky

In preparation for the tour, I visited the town’s Local Heritage Library and read extensively from serendipitous charity shop finds.

The two hour route was designed around an economy of distance and elevation, allowing time for others to take in, what may be for them unfamiliar surroundings. A group of around twenty or so folk became sociable and engaged, with a suitably concise and apposite contribution from myself. There are those who busied themselves taking snaps along the way, chatting amiably or simply gazing in amazement.

The service building above the former Debenham’s store.

Beneath the spiral ramp which leads to the Red Rock car park.

The architects for the scheme were BDP – the building was not well received as it was awarded the Carbuncle of the Year 2018.

Stockport’s Town Hall extension Stopford House.

Famed as an imaginary TV police station, this civic building is a civic building I simply can’t resist. I return on a regular basis to wander and snap. This is an open public space that seems little loved and has few visitors.

From then onwards I have been taking folks on Modernist Mooches on a regular basis, two or so a month, during the less inclement times of year.

At about the same time I was asked to exhibit my photographs in Stockport, I chose to mooch about at night. Walking around an almost deserted town, avoiding the glare of streetlights, there is a mild frisson to be about when nobody else is about. The air feels different, exposures are longer, the almost waking world feels arrested, by the low available light.

Merseyway Shopping Centre designed by Bernard Engle and Partners, opened in 1965.

My local shopping centre and as such part of my weekly walking and shopping life.

NCP Car Park located on Stockport Station approach.

Regent House

Asda superstore

I found a copy of Charlie Meecham’s book Oldham Road in a charity shop.

Inspiring me in 2014, to walk in mostly straight lines, though often as not zig zagging along the main arterial roads of Manchester.

Taking pictures on Sunday mornings, in order to avoid traffic, mildly amused to be ignoring the primary function of the routes.

This is one of the more familiar roads, having walked up and down several times over several years. It was to have been an extension of the Mancunian Way, forming a trans-pennine motorway. Much of the property lining the route was cleared in preparation, it was never built, and for years a strange semi-deserted ambience hung over the A57.

Bus Depot

Railway Bridge

The car showrooms which later became an African Evangalist church.

Having cleared away both Victorian and Sixties housing, new architectural forms arose in West Gorton.

Where there were once dozens of pubs, often there are now none.

The Belle Vue Granada Bowl became a Bingo Hall then became nothing.

The 192 bus runs between Manchester Piccadilly and hazel Grove, I often ride between Stockport and town, and back.

I decided to walk the route, photographing each of the ninety eight bus stops along the way.

Piccadilly Station

UMIST Retaining Wall

Ardwick Post Office

Levenshulme

A book published by the modernist – literally eight launderettes.

Which became the first modernist calendar.

Now, everywhere I go, I see launderettes – so arriving in Hanley with time on my hands, wandering around I found this exemplary example.

Having a blog entitled Manchester Estate Pubs, the national media became interested in my photographs. I had spent quite some time, wandering around in search of this endangered architectural typology.

This was Billy Greens in Collyhurst, named for a local boxer, now demolished.

Which in turn became the second modernist calendar.

Followed the following year by fish and chip shops.

So building a vocabulary for my mooching, discovering yet another chippy, laundry, pub, Burton’s, telephone exchange, glazed stairway or underpass.

These things find you, yearning for some small amount of attention and affection.

The Trawl – my favourite peg board menu, my favourite Bridlington chippy.

We are now coming to the end of the car park year – seen here on the wall of my command centre.

The calendar was an adjunct to a walk – Twelve Car Parks.

Here we all are at Circle Square – Fielden Clegg Bradley were concept architects while Leach Rhodes Walker were delivery architects.

In September we walked around Newcastle for a weekend away – taking in Eldon Square, ably guided by local modernist Euan Lynn.

Ending our tour at Manors Car Park.

Following an urban river – the River Irk, an excellent way to devise a linear walk.

The river enclosed in blue engineers brick as it passes under the railway.

A long neglected are is now the scene of mass regeneration – rebranded Victoria North.

The former Traveller’s homes are now rubble.

Rushing miles ahead to Blackley the home of Richard Siefert’s ICI Tower.

And around the corner, these delightful reliefs attached to the Tower Blocks.

I was asked to assist in putting together an exhibition for Collyhurst Voices – walking through the memories of a community under threat.

Walking in the footsteps of Dennis Hussey’s Collyhurst Cowboy – looking toward Dalton Street

Then uphill to Eastford Square and the long lost homes.

Home to William Mitchell’s Totem, the homes long gone and the Council pledged to move the totem too.

The state of play this week, the detritus removed and the base filled in, repaved and safe for a while.

Off now to the Weaver Valley another day another river, passing under Weaver Viaduct

The looking toward Koura Global – leader in the development, manufacture, and supply of fluoro products and technologies, opened a new HFA 152a production facility at their Runcorn site in the UK.

Further rural Modernism as we pass under and traverse the M62, whilst walking around the Piethorn Valley

Then recently visiting several Yorkshire Reservoirs – here we are at Scammonden.

The newest of the Modernist Mooches was to Burnley where we visited the Keirby Hotel.

The former GUS Offices with a mural by Diane and William Morris.

Plus the Charles Anderson concrete relief at the Crow Wood Hotel.

Finally a little light relief – a visit to the Boots factory in Nottingham.

Having innocently board a bus outside the station with a Boots head code , I alighted within the factory gates. Then innocently walking around taking snaps, unheeded until the men in the van stopped me in my tracks.

Who are you, what are you doing?

I am the Modern Moocher going about my business – well it turns out this was not permitted and I was red carded by the earnest security guards and asked to leave forthwith. Suitably rebuked, I politely bade them farewell and headed for the gates.

Stopford House – Again and Again

Posted on April 7, 2020 by modernmoocher

Third time around – on a late lockdown April evening.

I’ve been here before and before, yet I come back again and again.

It’s different every time, deserted at the best of times, during the worst of times it seems even more so – not a soul in sight. The low warm sun affords the bare concrete a pale pink and orange glow.

The mix contained coarse aggregate from the Scottish Granite Company of Creetown, a fine Leemoor sand from the Fordamin Company, together with white cement.

So here we are again, again: