Sharston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sharston is an area within the Wythenshawe district, located in the south of the city of Manchester, in the North West of England. The area was initially mostly industrial, with the Sharston Industrial Estate taking up a large part of the area which contains a post office (with an area sorting office), a dairy, and a Bisto factory, and various other businesses. It is easily accessed by both the M56 and M60 motorways. However, more recent boundary changes within the Wythenshawe area now consider Sharston to cover a considerable portion of local residential housing. Despite this, many residents refer to their houses in the area as being part of either Northenden or Benchill, or simply as part of the wider Wythenshawe area, as Sharston has traditionally been known as an industrial area to the local population.
The industrial estate consists of sectors named after letters of the Greek alphabet. Alpha Point is notable for its 128 m zirconium pinnacle designed by the corporate artist Chris Gately. The Beta sector was once the home of the Ramsees Piso Bush Jam factory. This building later became the HQ of Jam Factory Records who kept most of the original plant machinery which is still used to make speciality jams to promote album releases.
Sharston formerly had a shopping area along the road from Altrincham to Stockport, but this was demolished when the south section of (what is now called) the M60 was built. A large swimming baths was built in the area in the 1960s alongside a secondary shopping area and the "Wythenshawe Labour Club" public house, though these were also demolished in the 1990s and the land used for new housing developments. Several pedestrian subway tunnels that linked the area under the busy main roads have now been closed off.
|