Manchester Pubs - The Stories Behind The Doors - City Centre. Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping

million visitors going through the gates. Special excursion trains brought visitors from all over the country which in some cases meant getting up very early to do the trip.

And it was a success, making a modest profit and becoming a model for future displays of art to the public.

Part of that success was the proximity of an existing railway line belonging to the Manchester South Junction Railway who, with an eye on the main chance, built a new railway station for visitors to the exhibition.

Thereafter, the railway station had a chequered existence, closing in 1857, reopening during match days at Old Trafford Cricket Ground and later when Manchester United were playing at home, and finally, in 1931, was renamed Warwick Road and provided daily services.

It finally closed in 1991, reopening six months later as a metro stop and gaining the new name of Trafford Bar.

Sadly, Stretford Memorial Hospital on Seymour Grove, just another short walk away, closed in 2015 never to reopen.

Football, cricket, a park and the gate way south to Didsbury.

Now we won’t dwell on that football stadium close by, nor, to ensure an even balance, will there be any further reference to the cricket place, both of which are within walking distance of the Old Trafford metro stop covered in our Old Trafford to Altrincham book.

Instead, we could explore White City which is just down the road, and which today is a retail park but was once the home of the Manchester Botanic Gardens, an amusement park, and later a sports stadium for everything from athletics to greyhound and stock car racing.

And which, in the November of 1970, saw a major demonstration against the South African Rugby Tour of Britain.

     A little over a century and a bit before that, it was the venue for an art exhibition which lasted from May till October 1857. It was the largest art exhibition in the country, with over 16,000 works on display and over 1.3