Volunteer, Baring (Boardman) Street

Volunteer, Baring Street. (c) Manchester Local Image Collection. Neil Richardson [1].

The Volunteer stood next door to the Mechanics Arms on Boardman (now Baring) Street, on the corner of Cartledge Street.  The Vol is seen here in 1969, 1970 and 1971 as a Chesters house.  It was also advertised as the Sportsman in 1868 and the bizarrely-named The Case is Altered in 1865, an old expression which, when used on inn signs refers to some alteration in the affairs of the landlord [2].  It stood where the car park is now on Baring Street opposite the derelict Mayfield Station, and Cartledge Street has completely gone.

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Mayfield Station, Fairfield Street, 2004. (c) Subterranea Britannica.

Plans for Mayfield Station these days range from losing it to a new business and governmental development, to a bus/coach station, to even reopening it to ease the pressure on the busy Piccadilly Station.  As shown below, Mayfield is still in a reasonable state of repair considering it's not been used as a passenger station for 50 years, nor as a parcel depot since 1986, the tracks having been removed in 1989.  However, it has found use in the TV industry with the popular Prime Suspect being filmed in there in recent years.  The brilliant but hard-to-find The Last Train post-apocalytic mini-series from Granada in 1999 was also shot here; Mayfield filling in as Sheffield Station following a nuclear attack.

1. www.images.manchester.gov.uk.
2. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).