Smog, slums and rock 'n' roll - 50 stark photos of Manchester in the 1950s
The country was still financially and emotionally exhausted by the war, with rationing still in place. Poverty and a lack of decent housing meant many families were living in the squalor of inner-city slums.But, as the decade wore on, a new optimism began to emerge. Unemployment shrank as the economy recovered, and towns and cities were transformed by the building of new council estates, tower blocks and shopping centres.
Culturally it was the decade that saw rock 'n' roll music capture the imagination of the nation's youth when 'Rock Around the Clock' reached Britain in 1955 - while simultaneously shocking elders. But compared to today, Manchester still seemed like a different world. Coal fires and smoke from industrial chimneys meant the city's grandest buildings were blackened with soot.
Smog - that troublesome Victorian ghost - still haunted the streets until the Clean Air Act of 1956 reduced pollution.. The photos taken during the 1950s below reveal a very different Manchester to the one we know today. Taken from the Mirrorpix and Getty archives, these pictures offer a window into how people in the city lived, shopped, and entertained themselves during the decade.
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