The Clarion Cafe

A wet Sunday morning found us in the People's History Museum in Manchester - well worth a visit with free entry and a very nice waterfront cafe to boot. Formerly the National Museum of Labour History, this is the national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people in the UK.

The museum tells the story of the history of democracy in Britain and about ordinary people's lives at home, work and leisure over the last 200 years. It contains a collection of printed material, physical objects and photographs which celebrate the lives of ordinary people. Some of the topics covered include: Popular Radicalism, the Peterloo Massacre, 19th Century Trade Unionism, the Women's Suffrage movement, Dockers, the Co-op Retail movement, the 1945 General Election and football.

My blip celebrates The Manchester Clarion Cafe (1908-1936) located at 30 Market Street, Manchester this was part of the wider Clarion Movement. The Cafe was the work of "skilled men from eighteen trades built decorated and furnished"..."The salon was imposing with a Dutch fireplace and ceiling lantern....the Clarion cafe was lit by ships lantern's and the walls decorated with oak panels.

It must have been quite a place and soon became the venue for the leading socialists and labour people of the time to meet.

More here if it's of interest.

The Museum is located in the Grade II listed, former hydraulic pumping station on the corner of the Bridge Street and Water Street designed by City architect Henry Price.

Manchester's Hydraulic Power system was a public hydraulic power network supplying energy across the city of Manchester via a system of high-pressure water pipes from three pumping stations from 1894 until 1972. The system, which provided a cleaner and more compact alternative to steam engines, was used to power workshop machinery, lifts, cranes and a large number of cotton baling presses as it was particularly useful for processes that required intermittent power. It was also used to wind the Manchester Town Hall clock, pump the organ at Manchester Cathedral and raise the safety curtain at the Manchester Opera House in Quay Street.

It's amazing what a bit of googling can reveal :)

Another timely image from IWC