Pomona
Director's Note
 

                                                                                          “It’s all real. All of it. Everything bad is real.”

                                                                                                        --Moe

 

Pomona is a real place. Labeled “The Lost Island of Manchester,” Pomona is a sliver of land set between the River Irwell and the Bridgewater Canal in Manchester, UK. In the 1830s the island was known as the Cornbrook Strawberry Gardens and was home to a lovely private estate with extensive grounds located about a mile or so west of Manchester city center. The property was purchased in 1845 by William and Joseph Beardsley who sought to capitalize on the beauty of island’s apple orchards, wildflowers, and strawberry patches. The businessmen brothers sold day trips to city dwellers who were eager for time away “from the impurities of the Manchester atmosphere” where they could “enjoy all the pleasures of a rural fete, without the expense of a railway trip.” The Beardsleys renamed the island “Pomona,” after the Roman Goddess of fruitful abundance.

 

Sold to another industrialist who was keen to build upon the success of the day trip industry, the now-named “Pomona Botanical and Zoological Gardens” included plans for a massive entertainment hall. In 1868 the Royal Pomona Palace opened on the island, and it was the largest music hall in Britain at the time (even larger than London’s Royal Albert Hall). All forms of diversions could now be found on the island including shooting galleries, a swimming pool, tearooms, horse shows, political rallies, and concerts, as well as—lamentably—“exhibitions of human oddities” or Victorian “freak shows.” Young people flocked to Pomona, where they could meet up with friends and sweethearts, unchaperoned, for an evening of drinking and dancing. Pomona was such a notorious lovers’ hangout that the phrase “don’t be the kind of girl who goes to Pomona” made it into the popular culture of the time.

 

But by the 1880s, entertainment tastes began to change, and with urban sprawl making its way to the banks of the River Irwell and the Bridgewater Canal, Pomona Gardens found itself squeezed in by factories and could no longer attract customers. When Manchester Ship Canal proposed building docks on the island, in 1888 Pomona Gardens was sold, closed its doors, and became exclusively docklands for over 80 years. When the docks closed in the mid 1970s, Pomona fell into disuse and slowly, the island began to creep back to its natural state, with the ruins of the docklands and the Palace strewn among the vegetation. According to “Transport Statistics Greater Manchester 2016 Public Transport Section,” the Pomona tram stop was the least-used stop in the Metrolink network that year.

 

Yet, undoubtedly, this will soon change. Although previous plans for redevelopment of Pomona had been successfully fought off, recently real estate corporations have been given permission to build housing, a wharf, and restaurants on the island, much to the sorrow of local citizens, dog walkers, and joggers. The wasteland that is currently Pomona will rise up into 19-story-high condominiums.

 

The loop­—the cycle—continues. As it does in every city. Even ours.

 

Robin Witt

June 2019