A major slice of Salford’s recent history is set to be preserved and shared with the public, as a new exhibition celebrates both the city’s centenary and the legacy of one of its most distinctive community voices.
An exhibition of archive photographs from the Salford Star, taken by photographer Steven Speed, will open this May at the Working Class Movement Library, marking 100 years since Salford was granted city status.
The exhibition will be held in the Library’s Annex at 51 Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX.
First launched in 2006, the Salford Star quickly built a reputation as a fiercely independent, community focused publication. Initially produced as a glossy print magazine before evolving into an online platform, it went on to publish more than 6,000 articles covering local news, grassroots campaigns, cultural events and in depth investigations. Its reporting often championed residents and highlighted issues that might otherwise have gone unheard, documenting the realities of a city undergoing rapid regeneration and change.
Although the publication ceased in 2021 after a 15 year run, its online archive remains a rich, unfiltered record of Salford life in the early 21st century.
Now, in a move aimed at preserving that legacy, around 200 photographs taken by Speed capturing Salford people who featured in the Star are to be formally donated to the Library’s archive. The images form part of a much larger collection of tens of thousands of items that chronicle the publication’s work.
The upcoming exhibition will showcase a selection of these photographs alongside graphics that came to define the Star’s unmistakable tone, often described as a mix of attitude, humour and deep rooted affection for the city it served.
Organisers say the exhibition is just the first step in a wider effort to make the full archive accessible to the community, ensuring that the stories, campaigns and characters documented by the Salford Star remain available for future generations.
An open event will also take place on May 9, where visitors will be invited to learn more about plans for the archive and contribute to discussions about how it should be preserved and shared going forward.
The exhibition opens on May 4, offering both a celebration of Salford’s past 100 years and a reminder of the importance of independent local journalism in telling the city’s story.
