IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Brassington Avenue, MANCHESTER, M21 8FY

A pleasant area of green space largely given over to playing fields.

The new route to Manchester Airport includes several sections where trams use traditional street track.

Despite the unusual width of Hardy Lane, many of the residents feel a need to park on the footways. In the 1920s Hardy Lane was narrow country lane leading from Barlow Moor Road to Hardy Farm, with a continuation as a footpath to the footbridge over the Mersey at Jacksons Boat. Council housing estates were constructed to the south of Barlow Moor Road in the late 1920s / early 1930s, and Hardy Lane was substantially widened, with a new dual carriageway being constructed from its north end. It was envisaged that Hardy lane would be extended across the river to join up with Old Hall Lane in Sale. This Hardy Lane Extension was never built, although it was shown on maps right up to the 1980s, and the nearby motorway junction was laid out with it in mind.

The planned extension of the Metrolink network to Manchester Airport will see trams running along the centre of Mauldeth Road West and Hardy Lane, continuing to a river crossing near Jacksons Boat. The line is scheduled to open in 2016. When this photo was taken works were ongoing to divert utilities at the junction of Hardy Lane and Barlow Moor Road. This entailed Hardy Lane being closed off at that point. Traffic was being diverted along Cundiff Road, where a point closure near Barlow Moor Road had been temporarily removed.

Despite the unusual width of Hardy Lane, many of the residents feel a need to park on the footways. In the 1920s Hardy Lane was narrow country lane leading from Barlow Moor Road to Hardy Farm, with a continuation as a footpath to the footbridge over the Mersey at Jacksons Boat. Council housing estates were constructed to the south of Barlow Moor Road, and Hardy Lane was substantially widened, with a new dual carriageway being constructed from its north end. It was envisaged that Hardy lane would be extended across the river to join up with Old Hall Lane in Sale. This Hardy Lane Extension was never built, although it was shown on maps right up to the 1980s, and the nearby motorway junction was laid out with it in mind.

On the south west side of the junction with Mauldeth Road West and Hardy Lane. These shops, along with the nearby council estates which stretch all along the south side of Barlow Moor Road, were built in the 1920s. Look beyond the tatty modern shop fronts and note the interesting classical detailing above an ordinary, but pleasingly symmetrical, row of shops.