A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Hi, this is for all you Accywebbers who live far away. This was taken today and shows what it looks like in front of Market Hall/Town Hall area.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

lovely photo atarah, but doesnt, show the true picture of shops shut litter & the rest sorry to disolussion all the people who live away.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Well, I have to say, that part of the town does look clear of litter and well cared for. In the rain, is probably how most of us exiles remember it Atarah, so, good thinking to take your photograph on a wet day. I used to love the market as a kid. It has a smell all of its own. If I was taken there blindfolded, being told I could be in any part of the world, I would know exactly where I was. It's amazing how our sense of smell can conjour up memories. My mother worked in there on the Lomax cooked meats stall and I used to go to see her before and after going to the Odeon for the Saturday morning kids' picture show. Greeting everybody with a smile! Happy, happy days.:)

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

o i for got to mention, ive found out that dougs stall is to be // ladies fashions, sorry wrong thread but cant find the other :wave:

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

What's that car doing there? It's supposed to be a buses only bit.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Sheer curiosity.... do they still have half day closing on wednesday?

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Not many do. It's nothing like it used to be when the whole town closed on Wednesday afternoons.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

JohnW,

You must have known Sandra Lomax then? I saw her about 3 years ago in ASDA, she still looks the same, but didn't recognise me.

I spoke to her son last time I was over, he still works for his Grandad in Lomax's Cafe opposite the stall.

Lomax's...best boiled ham money could buy!! The old man still works on the stall!!

A rainy day in the town centre.
 

This is for John W - a piccy of Lomax's stall (taken 2001)and a view of the Regal, which of course became the Odeon

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Aye ...that's 'im Mr. Lomax.....Once again Atarah...spot on!!

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Hi Atarah,

Thank you very much, actually you sent me the photograph of Jack about 18 months ago and I still have it on the hard drive.

Hi Darby,

Yes I know Sandra. As a matter of fact, her mother and my mother were best friends. I went to school with Sandra and have 'loosely' kept in touch over the years although I haven't seen her since I moved over to America seven years ago. Jack Lomax is quite amazing, he is in his eighties and doesn't look a day older than I do. In the days of Saturday morning pictures and when my mother worked on his stall, on a Saturday afternoon he would go out in his little green van (named the boneshaker) and deliver packed sandwiches to lots of the pubs in the area. Very often, he would take me with him and I always looked forward to that. He really is a great guy. Sandra must be one of the most attractive ladies ever to come out of Bash and the last time I saw her she was still a 'looker' even in her fifties.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Lovely picture - Accy in the rain still looks good, better than a lot of places in sunlight.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

I love the picture of Accrington in the rain. But it reminds me of why I left - loved the people, couldn't stand the weather! But having said that, it is very nostalgic. It doesn't look that different from the way I remembered it, except that the road was open to traffic in those days. You had to look both ways before crossing over to Woolworths or Redmans grocers on the opposite corner.

As for the parked car - when I was last up there (which was quite a while ago, I admit) I seem to remember there was a disabled parking space around that area?

I too remember Saturday morning cinema club - shades of Johnny Mac Brown (in a white hat, of course) being chased by a gang of villains on horseback (in black hats, of course). Captain Marvel? Laurel and Hardy... the list is endless. And, Oh-h-h! Flash Gordon? The more recent version is not a patch on Larry "Buster" Crabbe in his tights and boots. He was my pin-up. I wonder what he he thought of having hordes of schoolgirls going misty eyed over his (dyed) blond locks?

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Lovley, photo, I spent a lot of time at that end of town and to look at that photo it has'nt changed a bit. Do they still sell oatmeal rolls in the market hall, you know the flat ones, mum would bring them home on Sat afternoon, we would have them smuthered with best butter and jam. Also, what about Yorkshire duck, black peas, treacle tart, Cumberland sausage, pigs trotters, thick pea soup.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Oh Tricia you brought back memories there with Flash Gordon. He was one of my first heroes too.

No, there isn't a disabled parking space there now because only buses are meant to go along the bit from Broadway to Peel Street. The nearest is round the other side of the Town Hall at the end of Broadway and is approached via Union St due to Broadway being pedestrian. If you come into town along Blackburn Rd the only option open is to turn round at Broadway and head back out again! It isn't easy driving round/through/across town.

Do you mean oatcakes Alan? I haven't had one since the new outdoor market was finished. Pigs trotters are available to order, not on general sale, but savoury ducks are still to be had from the tripe stall. Cumberland sausages are generally available and black peas are sold from the little truck thing which the council wanted doing away with because in their opinion it lowered the tone of the area. This area? lol

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Thanks, WTW. Yes oatcakes, I used to love em, some say they tasted like cardboard, but with butter & jam, yum yum. The new broadway I quite like the new building, looks like an old wharehouse that has been transformed. Where did they get the stone from. Also the building on the left, is that the old Odeon renovated, or is it brand new. Are there any cinemas in the centre anymore ?.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Its brand new. It was JJB sports when it was first built, very similar in exterior shape to the old Odeon but now they've moved over the way into the new block. There's a Boots and a card shop down the side of the new building and it leads into the Arndale Centre

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

Can you really still get black peas? I haven't thought of them for years, but now my mouth is watering. Is that the van thing in front of the market hall, or somewhere else?

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

The last time I got some was back in January I think. It was on Broadway then.

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The whole thing is built with cleverly disguised concrete, not stone. Stone would be too expensive. Despite the fact that the town is ringed with quarries. So we have to make do with a pastiche instead of the real thing. I think this is what Britcliffe calls keeping it 'plain and simple' which is HBC-speak for 'cheap and nasty'.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

I always remember my uncle's description of Accrington Town Hall -

Queen Anne front, Mary Ann back.

Re: A rainy day in the town centre.
 

:D You're not related to me are you Pendy? My Dad used to say the very same thing!