The 1960s were the decade when Britain began to truly live again following the economic and psychological devastation of the war.
For the first time, teenagers in Britain were free from military conscription, giving young people a chance to express their individuality and their new found freedoms through fashion, music, art and fun-loving hedonism.
Culturally, the country had embraced blues and rock and roll from the US in the ’50s, reinvented it, and exported it back over the Atlantic in the form of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones with our own ‘British Invasion’.
Manchester also had its own big groups of the era including Herman’s Hermits and The Hollies, while Manchester United’s footballing superstar, George Best, brought a new celebrity to the working-class game that was only a taste of things to come.
But while London may have appeared to be the epicentre of glamour and cool, for the rest of Britain it was not the same.
Uncleared bomb sites, housing shortages and cramped, wretched living conditions were still the reality for many Manchester families.
A programme of slum demolition and the separating of long-standing communities began, as new, concrete tower blocks were quickly built to accommodate the demand for housing.
Just like the rest of Britain, Manchester was changing. To celebrate this defining decade, we have delved into the archives and found 60 photographs of the city in the 1960s.
The fascinating images show Mancunians lived, worked, and had fun in this exciting and transformative decade for the city. Over recent weeks we’ve dug through the archives, counting down through the decades in pictures – and we think these are some of the best images we’ve brought together yet.
Cars around Albert Square in 1961
The newly built Marks and Spencer store on the corner of Market Street and Corporation Street in September 1961
A woman ‘stoning’ the steps in Nelson Street, Manchester. December 1, 1961
Henry’s store on Market Street, September 1962
Doctors in Manchester Town Hall vaccinating members of the public against smallpox, January 1962
Hornchurch Court, Bonsall Street, Hulme, Manchester. August 12, 1965
Chorlton On Medlock, Boundary Street West in 1964
Gorton, Brook House shopping centre, from Gorton Lane facing south in 1964
Manchester City Police Force with their fleet of Mini Coopers On February 2, 1968
The Ritz Ballroom, Whitworth Street, Manchester in 1964
Sugar Lane in 1965
Shopping crowds on a busy Market Street in November 1965
Children play on abandoned cars in Dallas Street, Ardwick, Manchester. August 9, 1965
Embden Street in Hulme before it was demolished, September 1965
Smithfield Market, along High Street, showing Copperas Street and Wholesale Fish Market, Manchester, 1966
The Hatton triplets from Manchester, Deborah, Sharon and Allison with the Quilty triplets, Anthony, Bernard and Frank, October 29, 1964
Student Union building at Manchester University, 1966
Mary Quant (middle) and her Ginger Group on Market Street, Manchester, February 10, 1966
Smithfield Market, Manchester, 1966
Manchester United footballer George Best with his Jaguar E-Type outside his boutique in Manchester, circa 1966
Manchester Airport, Monday July 3, 1967
Great Universal Stores large warehouse on Devonshire Street in Ardwick, Manchester, Tuesday 13th June 1967
A view over the construction site of three-storey flats in Hulme. May 4, 1967
Workers at the Manchester Docks, June 12, 1967
Ancoats, Firbeck Drive from Butler Street. Circa 1967
Children play at the back of Dulgar Street, Openshaw, Manchester. 16th April 1968
Withy Grove Stores, Sorrento Café and the Lower Ship Inn. Withy Grove, Manchester, June 1968
The Odeon cinema on Oxford Street, Manchester, August 1968
Women walking over the level crossing at Earby Station to get to the shops, April 1968
Exterior view of Oxford cinema on Oxford Street, central Manchester. August 1968
A boy looks over his shoulder on Beresford Street, Rusholme, Manchester, where ‘Black is Beautiful’ is written on a wall, 1969
Children playing on the street with tricycle and a wheeled cart, Manchester, England, 1969
Children making the most of the autumn playing on the rubble heaps. Moss Side, Manchester, October 1969
Easter holiday crowds at Belle Vue amusement park, April 1969
Bowling Alley before it became the Golden Garter, Wythenshawe 1966
Car park cricket in the puddles at Old Trafford, July 1964
Residents in the backyard of their home in the Northenden suburb of Manchester. October 23, 1962
American entertainer Sammy Davis Junior jumping for joy en route to St Peter’s Square after arriving at Manchester Piccadilly rail station.
Whit Walk participants gathering outside the Town Hall in Albert Square in June 1960
Whit Walks Manchester. A group of young lads seen here in their neighbourhood before taking part in the Manchester Whit Walk parade. June 1960
The Theatre Royal, Peter Street, Manchester. June 30, 1960
View of the Theatre Royal in Peter Street, Manchester. October 20, 1969
Dogs at the Manchester dogs home in Collyhurst, Manchester, waiting for owners to claim them. December 1969
Housing in Hulme, Manchester. Circa 1961
A taxi and his passengers watch Leslie Shepherd drive his mini mini car through the streets of Manchester, on August 26, 1964
Sir Oswald Mosley visits Manchester to take part in a march organised by his British Union of Fascists supporters, Sunday July 29, 1962
Rolling Stones: Keith Richards leaving Manchester in March 1965
A cleaning lady polishes the banisters at the ABC Cinema in Manchester, during a performance by the Beatles, November 20, 1963
January sales at Lewis’s Department store in Manchester, January 2, 1962
Clint Eastwood, pictured in St Peter’s Square, Manchester. June 12, 1967
Stan Bowles/right and Brian Kidd, who had their names taken by referee Kevin Howley, when they clashed in the Manchester ‘Derby’ on Sat. They are pictured watching a local game near where they live in Moston, Manchester. October 1967
Manchester dustmen walk on the Town Hall. October 1969
A Morris Oxford outside the multi storey car park on Bloom Street on a rainy night in Manchester, circa 1960
