Rock and Roll fans at Belle Vue and elephants walking the streets -brilliant pics of 1950s Manchester

Brilliant images unearthed from our archive capture 1950s Manchester at work, school and play.

Taken from our archives, Mirrorpix, all of these images were taken in between 1950 and 1959 and show familiar streets, landmarks and people across the city region.

Long lost departments stores, Royal visits, newly built houses and when the circus came to town – these are a real trip back in time.

Take a trip down memory lane with these fascinating photos of Greater Manchester from the 1950s.

A Granada TV crew interviews passers-by in Manchester city centre, March 1956
Three ballerinas of the Festival Ballet which opens at the Palace Theatre were attracted by the fine weather to rehearse in a park in Whitworth Street Manchester. Left to right: Belinda Wright, Sonia Arova and Natalie Krassovska. April 1952
Gorton Skiffle Group go through their numbers in Manchester, November 1957
Manchester University and Faculty of Technology rag. Start of the attempt on the world pram pushing record. February 2, 1959
Director David Lean filming Hobsons Choice in Salford, September 1953
A baby sits in its pram outside the front of a house in a terraced street in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester. March 1953
The Murray Theatre Girls seen here performing at the Belle Vue fairground in Manchester. May 1950
Manchester University showing the Oxford Road entrance, Greater Manchester. May 1951
For the last few weeks at the St Luke’s Primary School, Manchester, Greater Manchester have been putting away threepence a week to go on a picnic with a difference, for this is a picnic in the snow. These kiddies never see proper snow because it soon gets dirty in the centre of the city, so the headmistress Miss Ethel Parkinson decided to organise this trip for them. January 17, 1959
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visits the Transformer Factory, Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester. November 23, 1957
Albert Square, Manchester. September 22, 1958
Crowns topped lamp posts to celebrate the coronation in Manchester, June 1953
Mr. Harry Markley (69) of Orient Street, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, who is a traffic warden on Bury Old Road. September 1956
Fog in Manchester turns day into night – here is the scene at 1.30pm in Oxford Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester. November 17, 1953
The College of Technology, part of Manchester University. June 1952
A little girl in a Manchester department store is upset by the doves in Santa’s Grotto when one lands on her head. December 1954
Family Life in Oldham 1952. Mother sews while father watch his youngest son play with his toy car. Whilst his oldest son oils his cricket bat and dreams of being Jack Hobbs. The television in the corner had just begun to challenge the supremacy of radio. July 1952
You would not think that a hippopotamus, with its cavernous, leathery, creaking jaws, could put a pleading expression on its face. But Nick and Tony, of Belle Vue, Manchester, have had long experience of begging for food. July 1951
Coke queue Manchester. Pram loads of coke leaving Gaythorne Gasworks this morning. December 1950
The Free Trade Hall floodlit prior to the opening by Her Majesty the Queen. November 1951