Images of city from yesteryear

A SMALL SET of images taken by a Manchester man have only come to light following his recent death.

- LEE GRIMSDITCH

The photographs, believed to have been taken around 1962/63, are of the Piccadilly area of the city. The evocative photos show the rows of classic department stores such as Littlewoods and Paulden's, near to Piccadilly.

Paulden's was taken over by Debenhams in the 1920s but continued to trade under its original name until 1973. The pictures were taken by John Knowles, who was born in 1939 and grew up in Northenden and later moved to Brooklands.

He captures the bustling shopping street and the action-filled moment pigeons took to the air around the Queen Victoria statue.