memories
 

Does anyone remember the old accy co-op? I was a tv engineer from 1967-1978.:jimbo:

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I remember the co-op. Did you work in Manor St?

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I used to work for the Blackburn Rd Co-Op in the early eighties, presume they didn't have telly engineers then

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Probably not by then Dave. I served my time with the co-op in the electricians shop, which was next door to the TV engineers place on Manor St. That's in the late 1960s

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I had a mate who worked for the coop in 60's for a while

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You might remember Jimmy Lomax who was a fellow radio ham as G3TU but much older than me.I lived at the other side of Burnley rd. from Manor st. and often popped in for the odd component if I was building something.

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I cant say I recall the name, but the memory's not brilliant.

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Yes ,I did work from Manor St, I covered all the Rossendale valley and Jimmy Lomax was my boss.

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Was the Co op near where the Calder is now

I went for my first ever job interview there I had to do a basic maths test and then the manager asked me 3 times if I'd ever been in trouble with the police - I felt that if I had he might have given me the job!!!

Not too disappointed I didn't get the job

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There was a co-op store, electrical and furniture facing the market hall.

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Yep, where Quattros is now.

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That's the one.

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I recall that being Woolworths :confused:
...there must be some 1940s and 50s photos somewhere to show that.

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PS a quick search found it - posted by Atarah 2 years ago
..post #13 in this thread
http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...tml#post756407

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I think that photo would have been taken from the Town Hall were the bus for Clayton would have gone from I remember woolworth as main by anything store, Accross from the Town Hall was Redmans on the corner of St James St under the Elite snooker but can anyone remember what was on the corner of Dutton St and the shops in between did the single decker leave from there for Fern Gore. I have just looked at Accrington center on Google looks good.

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The shops between Redmans and Dutton Street changed hands many times ... the only ones I can remember that was there for any length of time, during my early years, was the material shop .. can't remember the name though .. Lightfoots ?

Thanks for saying Accrington Centre looks good, Claytonx ... I don't think it looks too bad either. Just need to remove all those buses from Peel Street and replace with a lovely square and it will be euphoric. :D

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Going to have to park up and have a walk round

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Funny that,i can't either, yet the other block between Church St @ Dutton St, was Barnes, Branded Lines, Woolworths, which i remember.:confused:

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Groove thinks Cashman should start a page on Accyweb with his memories and tales of the pubs of Accy...Groove thinks Retlaw would have a great page called Retlaw remembers...Groove has read this forum for years now and never tires of listening to tales about Accy of the past.

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You could also have your own page, perhaps called: Groovy Grooving with the Grooveman.

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Was there a butchers on that block? Could it have been Burtons mens wear corner of Dutton st

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What was the gents outfitters that was on that block, latter moving to the Arndale

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Could it have been Weaver to Wearer or Alexandra tailors, I bought suits of both in the late 60's but can't remember just where they were.

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Alexandra was on the corner of Birch St I bought a blue gaberdean suit the in my teen years what they called a zoot suit because it was very loose fitting and had large shoulders fitted. Bryan Mercer later had the shop diy one of the first in Accy.
I think weaver to wearer was on the same block as HSBC and Yorkshire Bank the other end

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Yes I'm almost certain it was Burtons .

The single-decker buses outide that row of shops were the Willows Lane and Moscow Mill buses .

The Fern Gore bus was a double-decker which left from Peel St , next to the Baptist church .

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Corner of Dutton St.
Retlaw.

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Yeh could be correct, though i can only remember Burtons when it was just a few shops past the Yorkshire Bank, Think the butchers may have been Dewhursts?:confused:

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I think Dewhurst were there when I was at co-op

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The name was Alexanders, and dont forget John Colliers, ( the window to watch ) it was a few doors up from Alexanders. Burtons on the corner of Dutton st, I think the Wimpy was next door.

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Burtons, that's the name of the gents outfitters I was thinking of JCB, nearly sure they had a shop on the corner of Dutton St.

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I was measured for my first suit there , Jaysay , by a friend of the family who was the manager . Though it took me a while to recall that that corner shop used to be Burtons . Grey brain cells and all that ;)

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I got my first suit from there too JCB, 3 piece if I remember, which were all the rage in the 60s

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And I bet you were served by my late friend , Michael . He was brother-in-law to Mr Almond who taught at Holy Family . I think you mentioned him once on the forum .

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The guy didn't have a ginger beard did he?

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No , he never had a beard .

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Ya your right JCM Can't for the life in me think of his surname, in later years I used to drink with him in the Spot and I think he worked a Mullards at Simingston at the time, I know he sadly died quite young from a brain hemorrhage, was very sad at the time, his son came to see me from church on Sundays, until he went to college

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My goodness, I seem to have started something by talking about the old Accy TV dept. Now heres one...does anyone remember Sauls shop, an old grocers near the top of Grange St, they used to sell jam in 7lb stone jars.

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Sauls i'm sure has been mentioned before somewhere in nostalgis section fliss.:)

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Michael Conway , Jaysay . Yes he worked at Mullards , and his son is teaching in the Blackpool area now .

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Ya thanks JCB, at one time I think his son was going to be a priest, was he called Steven, its about 12 years since I saw him

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Yes , he's called Stephen and his older brother is John . I see their mother occasionally , and she always says that Stephen is fine .

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Course we remember Sauls, it used to be Bob Holts, it was on the top block of Black Abbey St, Grange St is off Cotton St a good 5min walk away from Sauls.
Often went in when I was young, just to watch the receipts and money zoom to the cashier, & the change come zooming back.

Retlaw.

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If I remember rightly Burton's was where Blockbuster Videos are now

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Just spotted this, behave yourself :p

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Just trying to picture BBC I know its in that vicinity, but its those little grey cells ya know:D

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Don't forget the Italian suits .... you know, the ones that called for winkle picker shoes ... I got one at that Burtons .... houndstooth check, orange lining in the jacket, three buttons on the cuff, and fifteen inch bottoms on the pants:D Back in the day, if you didn't dress well, you didn't get laid:eek:;):D

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Never stopped me eric,yeh musta bin n ugly git.:D:D:D

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Still am ... but I've learned how to fake sincerity;):D

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Women are good a faking somat too Eric:D

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Me too.
Used to hurry off upstairs to spend sixpence(when I had sixpence that is...not often) on cheap junky toys. Made in Hong Kong stamped on the bottom.

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Yes there was......Dewhursts...but my Ma always called it the Argenta.
Redmans had a milk bar next to its grocery store too.

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Yes...we used to go there every friday evening. They had a basket full of cheap tinned foods with no labels on......if it was chunky and had a key on it you were pretty sure you had corned beef......but as for the others they could be anything and usually were. Sometimes Ma would open a couple of label-less tins for our tea......it was a pot luck tea. Tinned Irish stew didn't go very well with tinned custard.

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T'was the top end of BLACK ABBEY STREET, a shop "before" its time. Think it could be classed as the first supermarket in Accy.
Have enclosed a photo, the building with white walls was the site of Saul's

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Did a super type store not open first at the old Palace picture house corner of Abbey st and Peel st i think the owner was Linden.

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Ya Ray Lyndon did open that store around 75/76, I worked there for him 81/82 when he sold it to a guy from Preston, but retained the food provision outlet

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Worth another star ? hey Jaysy

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If you say so:D

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Yes it was always the Argenta in our family too.

I would have said the first proper supermarket was the Maypole on Broadway, late 60s.

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The original ASDA on Blackburn road must have been around about then too -I remember getting lost there when I was little...!

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Don't remember Maypole on Broadway maybe at the bottom of Little Blackburn rd?

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Anybody remember a shop called Mac Fisheries on Broadway, well I think it was on Broadway

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And before that it was known as Bob Holts, seem to remember old Saul went to supermarket type selling in the late 1960.
Retlaw.

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More digging in my books of old Accy photos turns up a pic of Blackburn Road in 1927 with a shop called Argenta in the block opposite the market hall, about halfway between Woolies on on corner and Bridges china/hardware shop on the other. Presumably so called because it sold meat from Argentina.

Pretty certain the Maypole was next to the new Woolies on Broadway Claytonx. The same book mentioned above has a photo of Little Blackburn Road 1963 with a grocer on the first corner on the left, but it was Melias not Maypole. And Jaysay, I think Mac Fisheries was next door to Maypole on Broadway.

Mobertol, I dont think Asda was around when I left Accy in 1968, I certainly don't remember it.

Cheers all
Sue

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The Supermarket on Blackburn Road was there....but it wasn't called Asda....it was called Queens. My daughter was born in 1968 and I can remember taking her into Queens supermarket as a very small baby.
I think the branding of the supermarket as ASDA came later....but not quite sure when.

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Yea it was Melias

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Wasn't Asda formerly Associated Dairies.

Retlaw.

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It's the second shop down , Jaysay , next to Kyles .

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Asda Stores Limited was founded as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Limited in 1949 in Leeds. The adoption of the Asda name occurred in 1965 with the merger of the Asquith chain of three supermarkets and Associated Dairies; Asda is an abbreviation of Asquith and Dairies, often capitalised.

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Ha ha, Gremlin's also been looking on Wikipedia.

Another internet source says: In 1963 the Asquith brothers converted an ex-cinema, the Queens in Castleford into a self-service supermarket. Another swiftly followed in the old indoor market at Edlington near Doncaster. Both stores traded under the name of ‘Queens’. Instead of converting an existing building their next store was a purpose built supermarket in South Elmsall near Pontefract on the site of the old Palace cinema. It was in 1965 when the Asquith brothers joined together with Noel Stockdale, Arthur Stockdale’s son and Associated Dairies to form a new company.
ASquith + DAiries = ASDA

JCB, I stand corrected. Of course that's where Mac Fisheries was. I still think Maypole was at the other end of that block.

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Maypole was on little Blackburn Rd, Twas sold to Garth Dawson i believe.:)

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Where Garth Dawson's is now......well that used to be Curry's Electrical shop.
I worked there when I left school in 1962. In the accounts department.......me, in the accounts department....what a laugh. I was pants at arithmetic!

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My book of old photos also has Curry's there, in 1963.

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Near sure Atarah posted a pic on here somewhere awhile back of it?:confused:

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Didn't Melias used to have the shop that Ray Linden later occupied....the one that was a picture place in the dim and distant past?

The only reason I say that is.......I used to work for Slingers in Peel St.......and I was outside (scrubbing the duckboards on a cold and icy Monday morning) and a woman came round the top corner of Peel St. with two paper carrier bags full of groceries - slipped on the ice and all her groceries spilled into Peel St.......her jaffas were rolling past Prices(the cake shop) and I am ashamed to say I laughed!

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The picture place yon was the Palace remember it early 50s, closed i think early 60s,that was were Rays shop was. The other picture place across road were Lloyds bank used to be was the Kings Hall (Bug Hut) wi the Central Billard Hall Underneath,

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No Not the bug hut.......I am pretty sure that for a time(it might not have been that long a time)the place where Ray Lynden set up shop was Melias.

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Yeh may be right Margaret, but its really bugging me now.:confused: where the hell was Melias? someone must remember that photo?:confused:

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As a mathematician you'd have made a very good nurse Margaret:D

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The Palace which was opened by Ray as a supermarket type store, there were mainly concessionary outlets within that store, bet there's not many people remember the DIY store upstairs in that building, which I managed around 81/82, kalma to the first person who comes up with the name of that DIY store:D

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Thank the Lord for that John.
I was absolutely useless in the accounts office...I was only fit to brew tea and run to the post....as for those big ledgers...they made me shudder!

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Mind you the brewing tea would have come in handy in later years:D

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Aha! Just found a photo of Peel Street 1930s.and lo and behold there is a maypole, on the Market side, next to Fosters furs and robes (that's what it says on the shop). According the blurb they were demolished around 1960 when the market shops were built.

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Opposite Railway Hotel, but I am sure I can remember it being in the Palace building at one time, and there is something familiar about it being where Garth Dawsons is on Little Blackburn Road

Attachment 18655

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If you check post 63 I think you will find we think it was at the corner of Little Blackburn Rd where you would turn in to Peel st where the buses came in from Clayton also from Huncoat

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Sorry should heve mentioned this before - my book has a picture of Melias on the corner of Eagle Street opposite the Railway Hotel in the 1920s. Buildings then sold for road widening.

And Claytonx I actually said in post 63 that in 1963 it was on the first corner on the left going up Little Blackburn Road, with EJ Riley's on the corner above. Below it going down towards Peel Street was Curry's,now Garth Dawson, as Margaret says.

That shop obviously moved about a bit!

memories
 

This shows Melia's where probably most folk remember it, on the corner of Little Blackburn Road and Bridge Street.

Melia's Grocers/Melia's Ltd became popular as a grocers and tea dealers from the 1920s to the 1960s alongside Maypole and Home and Colonial Stores. These grocery stores were forced to amalgamate with the Home and Colonial Stores company due to competition from bigger National stores.

There were branches in Howden, Melton Mowbray, Chester, Leyland and many more towns (inc Accrington) and cities across the UK. The store sold general groceries but often specialised in tea. The company also packaged its own butter and sugar.

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Thats were i thought it was, was it ever were the Palace Cinema was Atarah?:confused:

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I'm nearly sure they had a stall in Blackburn Market hall, in the 60s, my mate Gordon Addison, who worked for the coop left to take over as manager.

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Maybe it was Maypole and not Melias who had the old picture place? I'm all confused now....but I do know it was a supermarket for a short while before Ray Lynden took it on.......and it began with an M.......no of course it wasn't Morrisons!

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Yeh aint as confused as me Margaret, i suspect it may have been Maypole, but i can't sodding remember, tis a beggar owd age.:confused::D

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My memory isn't bad(usually).....but, I'm now more convinced it was Maypole, rather than Melais...especially after seeing some of the old Pics of Melias at the foot of Eagle Street.

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Margaret, just to show that your not going daft, I've cropped this from a 1914 Observer, part of a page when I was looking for Accrington Pals, note the two adresses.
Retlaw.

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Don't remember Melias at all, remember Ray Lynden at the old Palace, and only remember Maypole when it was on Broadway in the 60s. Looking at Retlaw's ad, I reckon it was common for these national grocery chains to have more than one shop years ago.

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Thanks Retlaw...not that I was around in 1914 you understand:)

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Here's another when you weren't around.
Retlaw.

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The bottom photo showing a fabulous looking shop was FLACKS, along Blackburn Road. When they were after a name for the new pub which became THE CALDER, there was a competition to name it. I put forward the name FLACK's cos of that fab shop that had once been in the vacinity, but ............. of course, I never won! Still think it would have been an ace name for the pub!

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Ya memories from your childhood Walter:p:p:D

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No yours.:rofl38::rofl38::rofl38::rofl38:

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What beautiful shop front's they used to have -so much more elegant than todays and they were designed to draw you into the shop...

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Yep think it seemed to work well, also the fact there were very few or primitive alarms,made em much more attractive to burglars.:D