This art deco building on the Butts in central Rochdale was, as you can see, in the midst of a refurbishment when I photographed it in August of 2018.  The building has had a number of different occupants over the years, perhaps most recently a branch of the Santander Bank,  The style of the building and particularly the decoration suggested that it might have been a branch of Montague Burtons at some point and this extract from a 1970s post card conforms that it was.





The redevelopment of The Butts around the newly reopened River Roch includes a plan to locate the Rochdale outdoor market adjacent to this building.  The building itself would then become a food hall in the same style as those in Altrincham Market and Makie Mayor in Manchester.  The Riverbank Market website explains that, "... The new Riverbank Market will be launched in 2018 and will provide the town-centre with a diverse choice of wonderful food and non-food products sold by passionate traders. Thirty market traders will welcome you to the riverside town-centre scene selling anything from fabrics to collectables and the street food traders will make sure you don’t go home hungry.  Ideally located within beautiful surroundings, the market enjoys excellent access to the Exchange and Wheatsheaf shopping centres, trams, buses and taxis as well as being practically adjacent to the new Rochdale Riverside cinema and retail complex."