The College on College Road

The College buildings have appeared in many TV shots - as a school in Coronation Street, a seminary, a convent and other outdoor scenes in many plays and Grenada TV productions.

The college was built in the 1840s as an Independent college in Whalley Range, a new suburb of Manchester, to provide higher education for Non-conformists who were excluded from Oxford and Cambridge. The Northern Congregational College as it was known closed in 1980

It was bought by the GMB and became their national college to train trades-union negotiators. It was also used as a conference and meeting centre by the Local Authority and I can say that they did a very good lunch!

The building was sold again in 2004 and was purchased by the British Muslim Heritage Centre who still own and use the buildings

Whalley Range, two miles from the city centre, was one of the first suburbs of Manchester built as "a desirable estate for Gentlemen and their families". So exclusive an area was it that the residents paid for their own private police force and entrance to the estate was via the toll gate situated at the area now called Brooks Bar. To keep up the tone of the area no pubs were built or alcohol sold although there were several private clubs in the area. Even public transport was resisted until well into the twentieth century.

I lived in Whalley Range for thirty years and it still has its own special character, as a conservation area it has some of the finest tree lined roads in the city and the end of my road had a community herb garden which was maintained and used by the neighbours. Still a grand place to live!