Abbey Grange?
 

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

this must be a new trick to get people into accy

simply make a place sound posher than it actualy is then hope they give up looking for wherever it is they want and spend cash in the town center :D

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

I think its just a marketing scam dreamt up by some clown in Lancashire County Council's tourism section; another bureaucrat with nothing to do but dream up crackpot ideas at great public expense.

http://www.lancashiretourism.com/dis...plore.asp?id=6

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

No it's not. It's been called that for about thirty years. It's the big shop at the top of Peel St that used to be a collective of smaller stalls and shops inside - it used to specialise in school uniforms and really cheap stuff. I haven't been in it for years.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

never heard of it,never noticed that sign, makes me wonder how those people heard about it? unless as willow they came across the sign! or have these dingbats @h.b.c. been advertising our NEW shopping center? the mind boggles, lol

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Well its one way to pee off potential customers & make us look stupid!!

Only thing abbey wise is the abbey st stores:confused:

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

OK Gayle....do you think you could possibly elucidate as to why a dump like that can justify an entry on a publicly-funded website and it's own signpost in Accy town centre?

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Nope, can't! Just because I know it exists doesn't mean that I think it's worth visiting.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Well, you don't think its worth visiting and I don't think its worth visiting and alot of people on here & in Accy don't think its worth visiting; so on what basis has this establishment been able to obtain its taxpayer-funded signpost and website entry?

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

i hope we find out how soon coz i would realy like sighn posts to my house so that royal mail can get my mail to me instead of the scroat at the bottom of my street :)

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

:rofl38: :rofl38: Sorry folks........ I can't help myself........... I've just read the link that Tealeaf posted and I'm wondering if there may be another Accrington out there. Maybe in some lovely shopper's paradise, well preserved parallel universe....

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

my favourite quote from that site tealeaf posted

if one only has £1.00 in their pocket then yes i would be inclined to agree :D

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Signposts aren't necessarily taxpayer funded. For example, I've been trying to get one in Burnley for Mid Pennine Gallery and it would cost £2,000 to do (before you start on one - we're not going to have it done). My point is that you have to apply to the Council for permission, if they grant it you have to pay them before they'll put it up.

Abbey Grange has been there a really long time, so I can only assume that the sign has been there a long time too! It used to be a fairly big shopping area before the Arndale was built so perhaps that was how it became eligible.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

I call that place Ray Lindens, which I think it was thirty odd years ago.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

That's right, I remember that now! It's been Abbey Grange for a long time though.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

It did horrible 100% nylon shirts for school.

No one ever tell me I was spoilt ever again.:(

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Everything was nylon in the 70's. It's no wonder we all had big hair in the 80's, it was the static build up from wearing all that polyester and nylon to school. It took me till 1995 to calm my hair down.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Ray Lindens was the Accy equivalent of Brentwood Nylons. That southern based mega store that used to advertise on TV in the 70's. Everything wasmade in pure nylon, bedding, sheets, even underwear.

It's a wonder they are still able to reproduce in the south-east, after years hanging about in those nylon Y-fronts.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Well, you live and learn.

I've lived in Accrington for over 40 years and I've never called it that nor known anyone else who did. I remember it being Ray Lindens and I remember when it had various assorted "stalls" inside but we never called it Abbey Grange.

It has been one shop for years now (Vij Brothers) and they still do specialise in school uniforms. The only one left in town as far as I'm aware.

Not really what you'd expect to find by following a street signpost to "Abbey Grange Shopping" is it? One shop full of mainly school uniforms? Anyway, the quickest route to it would be up Peel Street from Mannings, not up Infant Street because it's actually on the corner of Peel St/Abbey St.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

2000 quid does sound exorbitant. Could you not have got one of your local artists-in-residence to bung something togeather and stick it up in the right spot? If Burnley council are twice as efficient as HBC, then the sign would probably be up for 10 years before the council noticed it. Even better, given the exhibition thats just finished, you could have it done bilingual - urdu & pashto - that way it would never get pulled down.

Lovely exhibition, that......although I doubt if many regulars from the tap room in the Stag would have made the journey to see it, signposted or not.

http://www.midpenninearts.org.uk/Gallery.htm

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Before it was Ray Lindens, it was Melia's.....doesn anyone remember that......? and before it was Melia's it was a picture place.....the name of which escapes me now.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

I remember it as ray lyndons and still refer to it as that store that was ray lyndons.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

I was stood across the road today, having a good look up at the building.

It's actually quite interesting, in a 1920's Decoesque confectionary kind of way. Though in need of some urgent restortation.

Was it built as a cinema?

What's it's history?

(Nice to read Neil getting slapped for thread wandering in this thread.)

:D

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Doh, Marg you said it was a picture palace. Sorry.

That's what it looked like to me, or a schmaltzy synagogue.

What was it's name?

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

It was the Palace Cinema, back in the 50s anyway.:)

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Thanks Cashy.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

When it was first built it had a stage and a pit.
On the left side of the building when facing the Abbey St frontage there is a passage way between tht building and the Post office, one of the exits was at the bottom, we clubbed up enough to get one in, then he would nip down the bottom into the toilet block and open the door to let the rest of us in.
The other exit at the bottom, on the Peel St side is now a sandwich shop.
Never remember it being used by Melia's, Ray Linden yes.
Retlaw.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Fascinating.

Thank you.

:)

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

i can never remember it being Melias either, :confused: in fact willing to put a brew on it.:D

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Having a pit and a stage, would it have been a theatre or music hall, before it became a flicks?

Was it called the Palace when you used to sneak in Retlaw?

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Managed to link a photograph of the building from Google Streey View...hopefully.

avenue parade accrington - Google Maps

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

If you click your cursor on the image it focuses it.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Hey that looks like me walking past the middle window.:eek:

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

It does, and it looks like you've just been in for something.

You'd better have not bought Paris an apron for Christmas.

:D

If you double click the front of the shop, you disappear, and the shutters come down!

:D

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

she was after buying me a new un last week n i was wearing identical gear to that.:eek:

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Lol, I think it is you!

Could have been worse.

You could have been caught on Edgar Street, with a brown paper bag.

:p

No mention of Accrington's Palace, but some other interesting old cinema names mentioned on here, that are long gone.

The National Archives | Access to Archives

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership
heretofore subsisting between us, the under-
signed, Richard Stewart, Builder and Contractor,
William Ramsbottom, Builder and Contractor, Hannibal Ramsbottom, Builder and Contractor, all of
Accrington, in the county of Lancaster, and Joseph
Thomas Cockshutt, of Clayton-le-Moors, in the said
county, Cinema Theatre Manager, carrying on busi-
ness as Cinematograph Theatre Proprietors, at the
Palace Picture Theatre, Abbey-street, Accrington
aforesaid, under the style or firm of " THE
ACCRINGTON PICTURES COMPANY," has
been dissolved by mutual consent so far as regards
the said Joseph Thomas Cockshutt as and from the
twentieth day of April, 1916. All debts due to and
owing by the said late firm will be received and paid
by the said Richard Stewart, William Ramsbottom




http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

'Accrington's first purpose-built cinema was the Empire in Edgar Street, which opened its doors in April 1911.'

'Others included the Ritz on Church Street and the Palace on Whalley Road. The latter, which was open from 1915 to 1960, actually had its own orchestra at one time.'

Once upon a time in Accrington - Manchester Evening News

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

28/03/1916 Empire Picture Palace, Accrington, Out Of Darkness

29/01/1916 Empire Picture Palace accrington, Under The Red Rose, and Beulah

Untitled Document

I love the internet, we can even see what our forefathers and mothers would have seen at the Palace, the year after it opened.

Beulah 1915: Movie and film review from Answers.com

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004963/

I think the other film might be a typo, and should have been Under The Red Robe.

'The earliest version was in 1915, directed by Wilfred Noy. It apparently does not survive.'
Wild Realm Reviews: Under the Red Robe

BFI | Film & TV Database | OUT OF DARKNESS (1915)

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

I actually worked in that building when Ray Lyndon had it, the downstairs was like a min market, people took out concessions and sold there own stuff, plus the cafe in the bottom left had corner. Ray employed me to manage a new venture on the first floor a DIY firm cold Croftspell (which was an off the shelf company) it only lasted 18 months, there was too much competition and it was on the first floor with no visual outlets, we tried everything to make it work but those stairs were to much of an obstacle

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Well Paris has had a sneck, says it is me n Straighten Up cos i always walk like that.:D

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Nah, that is not you Cashy. You miss nowt and you certainly would have noticed the Google car and let us all know you had seen it.. :D

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Yes
Retlaw.

Re: Abbey Grange?
 

Do know Melias, but can't seem to slot it in anywhere in Accrington myself.

Seems Garth Dawson did move into what was their premises when he opened his retail business in Little Blackburn Road .. but did Melias move somewhere else ? Taken from his website:

'Moved from union Road Oswaldtwistle. After purchasing a studio In Church Street, Accrington - a wood hut built in 1898 And run by the two Moffitt brothers, moved from there after Purchasing a studio run by Rudeni (Blackburn photographer) In Infant Street, from there to Bridge street and the corner of Blackburn Road, (Formerly Melias-Grocers)'

Abbey Grange?
 

Can I just mention, seeing as I have been directed here by Garinda just to have a nosey re my Ray Lindon posting, that THE ABBEY GRANGE SHOPPING CENTRE does indeed exist, and is higher up Abbey Street, and is mainly for the few shops i.e. Victorian Tearooms, who wanted some "recognition" in the town. I do NOT agree with the name of the area, never known it to be this name and this I believe was just "made up" to try and bring some custome to that area of Accy, which, in my opinion, is unfortunately just ONE BLOCK too far out of the town centre. They did manage to get a Xmas tree as I believe all the Christmas lights etc STOPPED at the top of Oak Street, so the few shops felt "left out". The name Abbey Grange is still on sign posts around town.