Selling Cotton Learning Journey

Selling is as important as production because without markets and the means of exchanging wares for money or goods there is no profit or benefit for the producer. If products are sold regionally, nationally and internationally, selling involves a complex network of manufacturing, 'middle-men', warehousing, trading and promotion. Cotton manufacture had simple beginnings but it became a global product.

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Selling Cotton Learning Journey Step 2: Cotton warehouses As the buying and selling of cotton became centralised, merchants utilised residential streets with larger houses, like Mosley Street and Faulkner Street in central Manchester, in which they could store their wares. Many merchants also lived in the then fashionable suburban areas of Ardwick and Ardwick Green, Cheetham Hill and Fallowfield. Soon the volume of cotton being bought and sold necessitated the building of large warehouses to hold the merchants' stocks. From 1825 the commercial centre of Manchester was uniquely dominated by the building of these warehouses. Warehouses were usually between five and seven storeys high with large windows since each storage floor needed good lighting for display of wares. Much of the warehouse architecture showed imagination and Classical influence as well as functionality. One of the most spectacular warehouses belonged to S & J Watts and became known as the first 'cash 'n carry' warehouse. Designed by Travis and Mangnall, it was built on Portland Street in 1851-1856. The six storey building had a completely different architectural design for each floor. The first Italian palazzo style of warehouse, designed by Edward Walters and built by Richard Cobden in 1839, stands on Mosley Street. Later in the 19th century it was used by Edmund Potter, grandfather of Beatrix Potter who wrote the Peter Rabbit stories. Many of the warehouses still remain (2003) but their usage has been adapted. S & J Watts warehouse is now the Britannia Hotel. Joshua Royle's warehouse near Piccadilly has become the Malmaison Hotel. Rylands Building, a seven storey steel frame edifice faced with Portland stone, houses Debenhams department store; and Cobden's palazzo warehouse is home to Lloyd's Bank. The old Middle Warehouse at Castlefield has become a chic upmarket restaurant. Further reading: Manchester: The Warehouse Legacy (English Heritage, 2002)

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