Happy belated new year. I thought I would publish my first blog post of the 2023 about my recent photo walk around the marketplace that I did yesterday on a cold sunny Saturday afternoon.

Starting my photo walk on Lower Hillgate, I made my way along Wellington Street up to the Robinsons brewery visitors centre which is on Apsley Street. Making my way pass the stables housing the shire horses for the brewery, I made my way down Churchgate heading towards the marketplace.

On Churchgate, I took a couple of photos of the signage on the side of the brewery building in the distance and noticed a metal barrier in front of me had an interesting pattern which looked like aircraft rotary blades. This could be a connection to the former AVRO aircraft factory which was prominent in the town for many years and which has since closed down. The factory was based south of Stockport town centre in the Cheshire village of Woodford where there is now a heritage museum at the former site.

I arrived at the marketplace and decided to walk down towards Mealhouse brow, a steep incline of a street which eventually heads down towards the Underbank. As it happens, the dungeon was open for viewing and I had a look round as I have never visited this heritage site before.

Before 1824, Stockport justice was administered from this small building and prisoners were held in the cells. It was well worth the visit and I managed to have a look around one of the two cells that was accessible to the public from some steep steps. I was able to look through a hole in the cell wall and view the adjacent cell. While I was in the building, I learnt about the people who had been unlucky to have been imprisoned in the cells and learnt of the gruesome stories of murderers and their fate at the hands of the authorities.

After visiting the dungeon, I walked up towards Staircase House located in the marketplace. I took a few photos of the building and also some of the produce hall which I remember used to be a fish-mongers hall. It is now a trendy food outlet where you can dine-in and have lunch from various eateries. The produce hall is very popular especially at weekends all year round.

Having taken some photos of Staircase House and the Produce Hall, I headed for a much needed coffee at a well-known coffee shop outlet on Warren Street.

After enjoying my Flat White, I returned to the marketplace and took a series of photographs of the exteriors of the Boars Head and the Bakers Vault public houses from different angles. I must admit I’ve never been inside the Bakers Vault.

On my return to my car, I spotted a ghost sign on Park Street near the marketplace. I think the sign was advertising a men’s tailoring shop. There are quite a few ghost signs around Stockport and I spotted another one as I drove home.

Maybe I could do a blog post about these sorts of signs as there are many of them in the area.