I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Thinking of coming over this year, but by the sounds of it there knocking down everything, Odeon, Sacred heart, st Anns, Holy familys gone, Markets have gone, is there anything I will recognise ???.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Here's something you won't recognise that's changed for the better. Remember that funny little football pitch behind the Crown on Whalley Road with its wooden fence and ramshackle pavillion? Well, it's a modest, but well-appointed stadium now hosting full-time professional matches.

One thing you will miss, though, if you've been away for a few years is blue-and-red Accy buses. Very sad.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Alan, I went home at christmas and you will not belive how Accy has changed, depends how long you've been away but honestly wow!!!! no outside market, no Odeon cinema, park at your own risk in car parks designed by kids with lego sets, in fact I heard that the guy who designed the one by the arndale got savaged by his guide dog. One thing that hasnt changed ........ the pubs are still excellent and the company brilliant.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

If you can find one that hasn't closed down. Nag's Head, New Brewery, Blockade all gone. How could the "Block" have closed down? It was an Accy institution!

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

The Blocks gone? When did that happen? That's the first I know about that.....also gone are the Commercial, the Welly & the Queens at Church...the Antley...the Hyndburn (I think)...The Block, eh?...was'nt the competition from the Waccy Baccy shop, was it?

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Probably. You could get high just by breathing in the back room. Cracking pub, though - it'll never be replaced.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Oh Dear....it's all so sad....and how many more will go if/when we get one of those monsterous carbuncles in the town, a.k.a. a witherspoons pub?

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Do a tasty meal at wetherspoons.... Not that i would go out in accy for one when I live here... But very handy when out of town...

otherwise crap pubs.. too big to have a friendly atmosphere

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

You're spot on there Kip.....crap pubs that unfortunatly have a nasty habit of undercutting the older, traditional pubs & shutting them down.....actually, I would'nt call them pubs..I think the word "bar" is more appropriate.

Have some Karma!

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

The one in Stockport has zilch atmosphere. It's like sitting in the cafeteria of a minor government department somewhere in Russia. If they open one on Broadway, it'll probably get taken apart by hordes of rampaging barbarians from Carlisle.

Why is it that pubs are closing down left, right and centre in Accy and Church, yet they're thriving in Ossy? Is it something they put in the water up there?

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The one nearest to me (during the week) is The Liberty Bound at Tower Hill...it's like drinking in the basement bar of the Palestine Hotel, Baghdad.

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Lets be honest, if you lived in Ossy wouldnt you drink!!!!!:rofl38:

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Ther're Gobbinlander's up there......it's just that they can't think of 'owt else to do...

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Think pubs are closing down around us cos a lot of people just drink at home now rather than nipping to the local. This is another reason we all live next door to strangers rather than friends!

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Hi Wynonie, Im afraid its beem 35 years since I left Accy, but good to Know there are some people keeping me up to date with the demolition , whoops sorry, Progress of Accy, such as yourself & Atarah, Depresion has set in, Churches gone, cinemas gone, pubs gone, schools gone, friends & relations gone, the Observer is not the same my family over there tell me they have even put a motorway through our old house in Blackburn rd, Clayton. Bloody Hell who would have thought this would have happened 35 yrs ago. My brother Kevin said he was in Accy for a funeral a couple of weeks ago, and tried to buy some flowers, but could,nt find a florist. ( he lives in Ilkley ). My Mum & dad Are still around they live in Blackburn, but dont get to Accy much. When I come to see them this year, I will make the pilgrimage to Clayton & accy and I thank Atarah & other web members for preparing me for the shock.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Alan, if your kid had gone into Dutton Street he could have bought some flowers from Andy's florist. He would have also noted that the legendary Blue Dahlia is now an amusement arcade - sacrilege! Even the deck's been swept away and is a big, empty space now. Where do kids hang around these days?

However, there are a few bright spots amidst the gloom. The ex-Woolies/Co-op building opposite the market hall is now a really good Italian cafe. And the old AEU club at the bottom of Paxton Street is now an excellent restaurant called Accrington Pride. In fact, a few of the old clubs have been converted into pubs - the Miners on Blackburn Road near my old school (also gone!) is a great little pub and the old Marlboro WMC on Whalley Road has been transformed into a cracking pub called the Oaklea.

However, without wishing to go on too much about it, the one big improvement from 35 years ago is that in 1969 Accrington & district did not have a football club - now it does have one and a very good one at that. If you're the slightest bit interested in the game, time your visit to coincide with a Stanley home match and come along and stand on the Clayton End - you'll be very agreeably surprised!

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Thanks for the update Wynonie, I remember the Marlboro club, well at leased they didnt pull it down. There,s one thing to be said about Launceston here in tassie, is that they didnt do a 60s act and pull down all the old buildings from the 1800s they are still in tacked and new ones arent allowed to go more than four stories. By the way do they still have folk & jazz clubs in Accy, I used to be a member of the Accy jazz club up on the Stanley ground that is long gone now. Atarah & Owed Bert are walking historians, they put a lot of work into there websites.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

The Jazz Club(or Accrington Stanley Sportsmens' Club to give it its proper name)! What a great place that was! A great atmosphere and some great acts. I remember seeing a fantastic performance from an authentic American blues pianist (who for some strange reason lived in Halifax) called Champion Jack Dupree. And then of course there were the inimitable Riverside Jazz Men. Once seen never forgotten! After the club closed down in the early '70's it was used as a storage hut for the groundsman who looked after the playing field. Sadly, it's now been pulled down like so much else in Accy. Nothing ever replaced it.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Wynonie, I remember Champion Jack Dupree, saw him a couple of times, last time I think up Bold st W-m-C. A lot of the American blues & soul artists, moved to UK or Europe in the 60s, because they werent apreciated in the US. By the way the very last act I saw at the old club was Kenny Ball on a sunday night, I remember it well cause I crashed my dads car on the the way home, on some black ice, is Kenny still with us?. Dont get to hear much on UK celebs, unless there are really famous, see some comedians on Parky but never herd of them befor, he seems to have the same people on each series, Rod Stewert, Billy Conally, Tarbuk, Cilla Black,(cant stand her), never could. thanks again for info.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Florists!! try Gareths at the corner of Whalley Road and Queens Road West. ask for the lovely Tina. By the way, the`ve driven a bypass through half of the Coppice

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Alan, I can honestly say that places like the Jazz Club and Accy Disco shaped my musical tastes. And the great thing was that once you'd heard the music, you could buy the records in all the great record shops we had in town - Mary's, Bandbox, Tony's, the Golden Disc Bar, Marshall's etc. And, yes, you've guessed it, they're all gone. Just a secondhans stall in the market hall and an Our Price in the Arndale now.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Our Price is no longer here either. Went a couple of months back. It has been replaced by a shop called Replay. Still sells cds etc, but it is the only music shop we have now. Woolies and WHSmiths sell cds, but don't have the range of choice that Our Price had.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Wynonie??. Your profile says born and bred Accy lad, surley your not a cross dresser ?

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Alan, believe it or not, Wynonie's a bloke's name. That's him in my avatar - top notch rhythm & blues singer who had a load of big-selling records in the states in the late 40's/early 50's. When he appeared in Memphis, a young truck driver called Elvis Presley went to see him and nicked all his stage moves and the rest, as they say, is history. He died in obscurity in 1969. Sadly, he never came over to appear at the Jazz Club. He would have ripped the place up!

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Quote: "He would have ripped the place up!"

I hope not.....what an example to set! He would have been deported if he did.

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It was Lancashire County Council who ripped the place up and they definitely should have been deported for that...and all the other stuff they destroyed at Peel Park after they'd let it go to wraqck and ruin!

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

True....mind you, they proved good mentors to Hyndburn Council, the Dioceses of Salford & Blackburn, Lancashire Constabulary, Blackburn, Hyndburn & Ribble Valley Health Authority......

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

They certainly did. Talking of destroying things, has the Cross Guns at Church Kirk escaped the executioner's axe so far? I really hope so...cracking pub, that.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

See my private message.

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Wynonie, Sorry about the mix up with the name. Ive just sent an email to Ace Records to see if I can obtain any of there catalog here in Australia, they have some great albums out on there numerous labels, its a great website they have, I can sit here for hours reading there sleve notes. I would get the CDs by email but Im weary of giving my details over the internet. I supose you deal with them ?.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Alan, Ace Records - Ace company! See my private message.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Wynonie, did you get my private message?. Are you on line now?.

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Alan, got your message - did you get mine?

Re: I left, your right Accy,s gone
 

Ah such memories of the Jazz Club and Bold Street's "Lakeland Lounge" I saw Kenny Ball at the former too. I was only thinking about that the other day.

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Remember the Taveners 5 folk group, with the big guy singing out front, Wedensday nights, I think they were from Blackpool ?.

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Yes, I Knew 'Big' Pete Rodger, sadly passed away about 3 years ago, of the Taveners, Brian Osborne is also gone, the others are Ok and still performing.

The Blackpool folk club has now gone but the Fleetwood folk club is still very active and will have a new web site www.fleetwood-folk.com

Alan Bell has jsut got a new web site www.tamlynmusic.uk.com sould reach it, and he has also just released a new 'Definative Collecton' CD

Charles Webb