I’m not sure whether the great fat pear on the top of this
building is, strictly speaking, a sign, but I’m including it because I love it.
This is Pear Mill, in Bredbury, Stockport, one of the last cotton spinning
mills to be built. A Grade II listed building with six storeys, it started
production in 1913, employing about 300 people. Apparently mills of this period
were often flamboyantly decorated – the pear tops the mill’s water tower. Its
life as a textile mill ceased in 1978 and, happily, the mill and its pear are now
home to a variety of thriving businesses, including a play centre, home
furnishing, a gym and a cycle shop.
