The Dolls Hospital had its own kindly doctor - and atmosphere all of its own
Imagine being a child, pushing open a door to a old shop - you cough as your lungs fill with the smell of dust and glue. It's dark, but through the door there's a steep narrow staircase; you walk up to the top and into a cramped room.
Based on London Road since the 1930s, the Doll's Hospital became a familiar landmark in Manchester not far from Piccadilly Station. For over 50-years, parents took their children's cherished dolls to the shop's owner, John Higgins, to be mended. Susan Jaleel remembered the shop as "the creepiest place in the whole of town." while Lynn Chapman remembered walking up the narrow staircase to a small room with "lots of doll parts", adding it was "very frightening when you are a young child."
Enjoy our gallery of images of the lost Dolls Hospital below Photos of Manchester's lost Dolls Hospital on London Road Having had a number of premises along London Road over the years, in the 1980s the shop was based next to the Imperial Hotel pub. The building was demolished in 1997 and now a Malmaison Hotel stands in its place.Despite the Doll's Hospital being no more, thousands of children will be forever grateful to Doc Higgins for giving their bashed and well-loved dolls a new life. One such example can be found in a letter printed in the M.E.N in August 1999, from a Mrs A Robertson.
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