Sadly missed? Blasts from the past - A reminder of Stafford's past

[Moby Dick]

Joe Ellis opp the old library. Bought my first proper fishing rod and my first gun from there. Spent hours perusing the goods through his window.

Ditto......

 

[harryw]

Gone but sadly missed: every single video shop in the entire town. When I were a lad there was Videoworld on the end of Salter Street, the place behind the offy at the town end of the Wolverhampton Rd (just next to where the Laura Ashley shop is now), pretty much every other offy/shop in the sweet Borough of Stafford. Now I can't think of anywhere at all to go and rent a DVD. You can get them from a library, but not in the evening. Fair enough there's Lovefilm and t'internet, but if you just decided off-the-cuff to watch a film that you don't have to download/stream/order in advance/borrow off a mate/watch whatever rubbish is on the telly, you're pretty much screwed. Shame.

Theres the SPAR shop at the bottom of queensville bridge!

 

[harryw]

Do any of you remember the old betting shop in Castle St and the old cobblers on the corner of Castle St and Railway St? Oh and Hall and Lloyds Auction house in South St, Think i managed to kit out most of my house with stuff bought from there.


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ME MY SELF AND I!!

that was run by my great grandad (now sadly passed away) he also owned the pub on the corner that is now a greek restaurant!

 

[Glam]

Do any of you remember the old betting shop in Castle St and the old cobblers on the corner of Castle St and Railway St? Oh and Hall and Lloyds Auction house in South St, Think i managed to kit out most of my house with stuff bought from there.


_________________________________

ME MY SELF AND I!!

that was run by my great grandad (now sadly passed away) he also owned the pub on the corner that is now a greek restaurant!

Greek Restaurant closed a bit ago duck.

 

[Floss]

What do you remember? I vaguely remember the Market square with flower beds and a bus stop and was there toilets underground?




Admin edit: Threads merged.

 

[Gramaisc]

The last time I was asked for directions to the nearest public lavatory, we were standing right above them. The chap was less amused than I was when I said they were about ten feet below us, but some knob had filled them with concrete..

 

[stoofer34]

old cobblers on the corner of Castle St and Railway St

Mr Burrows!

Take any bag in there and he could copy it.

Anyone remember the New Inn? Rowing boat hire?

S

 

[staffordjas]

What do you remember? I vaguely remember the Market square with flower beds and a bus stop and was there toilets underground?




Admin edit: Threads merged.

I always think of how market square used to be whenever I cross it. Much more convenient having the toilets and bus stops in the centre of town.

Then you also had the bustling St Johns Market just a few yards away from market square up the arcade .I remember inside that arcade,just before you got to the market doors, there was a jewellers shop on the left. They used to do ear-piercing inside the jewellers,infull of view of everyone and a group of us went from work one lunchtime. My memory of that jewellers was me being passed out on the floor awaiting my turn !

 

[age'd parent]

old cobblers on the corner of Castle St and Railway St

Mr Burrows!

Take any bag in there and he could copy it.

Anyone remember the New Inn? Rowing boat hire?

S

Great pub Frank Thorley and his wife , she made marvelous chicken rolls!

When I was too young to buy beer off him, he had my shilling for an hours rowing up river.

 

[Glam]

What do you remember? I vaguely remember the Market square with flower beds and a bus stop and was there toilets underground?




Admin edit: Threads merged.

I always think of how market square used to be whenever I cross it. Much more convenient having the toilets and bus stops in the centre of town.

Then you also had the bustling St Johns Market just a few yards away from market square up the arcade .I remember inside that arcade,just before you got to the market doors, there was a jewellers shop on the left. They used to do ear-piercing inside the jewellers,infull of view of everyone and a group of us went from work one lunchtime. My memory of that jewellers was me being passed out on the floor awaiting my turn !

That jewellers was called Manns. I had my ears pierced there too! New years Eve 1974. It was my 11th birthday,we'd been the SGI for my last eye test there and me n dad went into Stafford to get me a pair of trainers,I'd already asked if I could have me ears done,but didn't know when. We walked in Manns and dad asked if they did piercing,I think they heard my screams at bottom end of town. Didn't use a gun in them days,you got a needle pushed thru.

 

[Floss]

I remember the bakery in there and the rows of busy stalls that were all in business. Is this sadly the end of our town centres as we remember as kids? The worry is the next generation will remember cash converter, car phone warehouse and Macdonalds...and the generation after?

 

[Moby Dick]

My stongest memory of the market as a child was when you first went in and turned left then on the wall there was a booth stall selling china etc, however what attracted me was the amazing array of keyrings. Mum would leave me there for ages just looking through the vast range while she did her shopping. I was quite happy though rarely had any money to buy one.

It was a perfect saturday if I did get a new one!

 

[staffordjas]

As a kid I used to like going upstairs to the market cafe on a Saturday morning when we went to meet my gran off the Hanley Bus.

There was a china stall near the bottom of the stairs and ,as she used to work in a 'pot bank' making the china cups etc, she would pick up about 10 of the cups on the stall and shake them together to test if they were the the proper china & made perfectly. She never did break any of them much to my suprise,as she was giving them a right old clattering. The store holders must have been dreading her arrival each week !

 

[HelenP]

Hi,

This is just a message to let people know that sadly my uncle, Bob Picken, passed away on 2nd December. If anyone is interested in paying their respects, please let me know and I'll pass you the details of the funeral.

He will be greatly missed.

 

[Gramaisc]

The second post in this long thread lamented the end of Bob Picken's 'book cave'.

Greatly missed.

The little second-hand bookshop where the disco shop is now, opposite the prison. Every Saturday morning you would find a gem in there. After a while he would know what you liked and you would be pointed at some box on the floor as you came in - never failed. I saw Bob Picken, the proprietor, in the town only last year and he still looks exactly the same.

When I was at college I went here all the time, the guy was a legend. 4 square meter shop yet he knew where anything that would interest you would be, I got loads from him. Sadly missed

He really does look exactly the same, even though we only ever saw him from the neck up behind his barricade. I can still hear the rattle of his fan heater and remember his never-emptying vacuum flask. I bought a book on the principles of flight that turned out to be his from his days in the Fleet Air Arm - I promised him that he can have it back should he need it again. He finally packed it in, having survived the fire, when they insisted that he had a yearly lease instead of the rolling monthly one that he'd had for years, so he retracted to doing just the book fairs.

Tonight, we have had the sad news that he passed away.

Truly, he is sadly missed.

I have moved his Principles of Flight to the front of the shelf.

Hi,

This is just a message to let people know that sadly my uncle, Bob Picken, passed away on 2nd December. If anyone is interested in paying their respects, please let me know and I'll pass you the details of the funeral.


He will be greatly missed.

A good few people on here will be saddened by this news - and thank you for letting us know.

 

[Gramaisc]

When I bought this -

- from him, he told me "You wouldn't have that if I didn't have one of my own!"

 

[HelenP]

When I bought this -

- from him, he told me "You wouldn't have that if I didn't have one of my own!"

Yep, that sounds like the Bob we knew and loved!

 

[tek-monkey]

So sorry to hear that. Its no real help as such, but I'd like you to know he put me back onto reading books when these new fangled computers were gobbling up too much of my time. There is just something about paper that 1s and 0s can't reproduce.

 

[Gramaisc]

After he got to know you, a standard greeting as you entered the shop would be something like "The box at the bottom of the pile in the corner, somewhere in the middle of it, there's one for you" - and there would something there that you didn't even know you wanted - but, you did.

It was like this..

..but without so much visible floor..

 

[BigD]

Who remembers Charles Clarkes Garage on Gaol Square? Better still who can still remember any of the other shops located there?