Market Street's lost and forgotten shops in 'grand opening' 1980s photos

A set of photographs offers a glimpse of Manchester's main shopping street as we remember it in the 1980s.

The photos taken in July 1981 show crowds gathering outside Manchester's Arndale Centre on Market Street for the grand opening of the new HMV store. Before the days of Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and other music streaming sites, music shops were meccas for music lovers looking to buy their favourite artist's new single or album.

In fact, when these photographs were taken, CDs hadn't even become available to the British public: that didn't happen until 1982. Instead, music fans would spend their hard-earned cash on cassette tapes and vinyl records (both formats have since experienced a renaissance).

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The photos, taken on Tuesday, July 14, 1981, are part of HMV's archive collection. Earlier in the week, adverts for the big opening ran in the Manchester Evening News, outlining the special guests and the day's events.

The advert read: "Manchester's most popular record store is moving 50 yards down Market Street. To a new shop with three floors and room for more of everything.

"More records. More tapes. More video. And, of course, more discounts."

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The grand opening took place at 12pm, where pop group Buck's Fizz, fresh from triumphing for the United Kingdom in Eurovision a few months earlier, would arrive accompanied by 50 majorettes and the Lord Mayor.

Other star guests booked to sign copies of their new records on the day were Barbara Dixon and the heavy metal band