YESTERYEARS: A look back at Witton Street in Northwich

At the top of the slight rise in Witton Street and we see Hormbrey’s butchers to the right.

I would estimate the date as possibly 1937 and the Coronation of King George Vl and Queen Elizabeth.

Witton Street is still paved with stone setts. On the left, there is a Wilderspool Ales sign affixed to the White Lion pub. This is certainly a snapshot in time and in the modern photo taken in 2011 there has been a lot of change and rebuilding.

Witton Street Co-op, early 1900s

Still, roughly in the same area as the last set of photographs but a lot older, I would estimate it is dating from the later 1800s again at the time of a celebration of some sort, probably Queen Victoria’s jubilee. It was a tradition in Northwich with its history of salt mining to build a celebratory arch out of salt blocks.

The location is at the top of the rise in Witton Street with the chemist on the left.

This was a chemist shop for many years and is now Benny Bings bar.

The Rochdale Pioneers founded the Cooperative Society in 1844, and the rules of the society were based on the ‘Rochdale Rules.’

Near Hormbrey, 46 Witton Street, circa mid 1900s

These outlined the proposals such as sharing the profits in the form of a dividend known colloquially as ‘The Divi.’

In 1863 the Cooperative Wholesale Society was formed, better known as the CWS.

Many towns large and small had their own Cooperative society and the one shown here was the part of the Northwich & District Co-operative Society Ltd and was a department store. Note that little has changed over the years; the sets have gone with their fragrant horse droppings, the White Lion next door has also gone, but the hole remains!

Note that the White Lion is three stories high in the old photo, it was later subject of subsidence and until it closed in the late 1980s was a two-story building.

By writer and historian Paul Hurley