The Deck

When was the clock erected on the corner of Peel St. and Blackburn Road? There seemed to be a shift from the deck to the clock. When I used to frequent the town centre in the mid 70s to mid 80s the saying, "Meet you under t'clock at half seven." was more commonly heard.
 
Wynonie, what were you doing in Blackburn, coffee bars at 13 yrs old. I used to go in the Derrby, but noy very often. Always remember a guy getting up to sing, Walk Tall, in an Irish accent, very funny and very p--st. By the way are there any old shops, still in Accy, like Redmans, ( cold meats, black puddings, etc ).Erni McNoes, John Colliers, ( the window to watch ) Alexnder's, all tailors. Marys records. Wardelworths, ( bookshop ) Note the word shop, not store. I used to fanncy a girl in a drycleaners in Peel st, Greenghalls, I think the name of it was. I used to model for a barber in Warner St, called Bazagaloopo ( dont know how to spell it ) , next to the Arcade entrance, anybody remember it . Now Im completly bald, had a great head of hair back then though. Has anybody any more memories of certain shops in Accy centre. Is clock garage still there.
 
Good heavens, Alan you have been away a long time. All of the businesses that you mention are gone now. Redmans is an antique shop now. I noticed in passing the other day, that it too is closing down. Mc Noe's is an asian take-away. Wardleworths moved across the road during the seventies and then moved again to the end of broadway, they closed a couple of years ago, unable to compete following the end of the net book agreement which allowed ASDA to massively discount bestsellers. Which is really annoying because if you look at ASDA's offerings now they have shrunk to a fraction of what they were when they decided that they were going to corner the market and drive other booksellers out. Accrington looses out again! Greenhalgh's is empty-I think. Not sure which barber shop you mean, there is still one across the road from the entrance to the arcade but it is run by different people. and Clock Garage is closed and moved to Hyndburn Road.

Stay tuned, I hear that there are plans to close Accrington too.
 
The first cafe to have a juke box was the Melbo which was situated on Melbourne St,
the other main cafe was Lens which was on Church Street,the Blue Dahlia followed
later.Another well known Cafe was the clock cafe at Clitheroe.
 
as a former resident of princess st I remember jimmy crawshaw living with his mother on blackburn road facing sacred heart church mick absolom on lonsdale st and had a beautiful sister who was a model jimmy also was at one time entertainment mananger at marthorme grange night club
 
Mik, Len's was on the corner of Eden Street and Ranger Street, just across the street from the side of St Peter's school (now Wolstenholmes' funeral parlour). Still reckon it was the best chippy in town.

Alan, what was I doing in coffee bars in Blackburn at 13? Well, you know how it is, you tell your folks you're going to your mate's house, he tells his folks he's going to yours and off you go. You must have done it!
 
Yes I did it mate. this will give you a laugh, me and my mate Paul Grant, used to wear bell bottom jeans, we frayed the bottoms, and stitched bells on. He was;nt allowed to wear jeans, so he got changed at a mates place. His dad thought he ws wearing a suit and tie. One night we went into the Off Licence, on the corner, accross from the Clock Garage to get some Cider and the Cops were waiting for us outside, ( Only 16 ) they took us home to our parents, my mum broke down and cried. Then it was his turn, he said to the cops, can you take me round to my mates place so I can get changed back into my suit, so they said OK, then took us to his house, his dad went bolistik, said his name would be in the paper, cops had to pull hime off him, god knows what he would have done if he had'nt got changed . We had to go down the station the next day for a telling off by the Sargent. Did anybody else go in to that Off Licence, near the Arcs Ballroom?.I Remember the the Cafe in Melbourne St and itsjuke box and the clock cafe in Clitheroe.
 
Al, I remember that off-licence! Once when we were in the Arcs, we nipped out to buy some booze from there. We were all aged 14-15, so it was a bit of a lark. As we came out of the shop, a squad car appeared, so the lad who was carrying it rushed up a back street and hid it in a bin 'ole. We crept back when the coast was clear, just in time to see a little old lady extracting something from the same bin 'ole and scurrying off round the corner. Needless to say, it was our booze! I bet she had a good night - we didn't because we'd spent all our money, so we didn't even have enough for a coke when we went back into the Arcs!
 
keith said:
as a former resident of princess st I remember jimmy crawshaw living with his mother on blackburn road facing sacred heart church mick absolom on lonsdale st and had a beautiful sister who was a model jimmy also was at one time entertainment mananger at marthorme grange night club
Click to expand...

Correct Keith...Mick Absoloms sister was a cracker, but wouldn't look at you unless you had wads of money. Didn't know that Jimmy Crow had been the entertainment manager at Martholme Grange.

Anybody seen him lately?
 
There were quite a few girls in Accy in the 60s, who would'nt look at you unless you had wads of money, I think they thought it was their ticket out of working class life.
 
Has anything really changed,there are always girls everywhere who won't look at you unless you have loads of money! ha ha that's the way of the world!
 
mick absoloms sister Jackie as been featured in the observer remember photos the last two weeks she was indeed a lovely girl but now another name for a regular on the deck big reg whose father was landlord of the Bay horse baxenden his haunts were the Bull on bullbridge up the con also the ritz a real round the town man
 
The heading over this weeks photo reads 1964 beauty contest and I would guess jackie looks round twenty so that makes coming up sixty wonder what she looks like now as regards posting the picture sorry only got a pc and printer and I
 
sorry about that I was going to say I have not mastered them yet as regards the observer picture they are taken from garth dawsons new book entitled garth dawsons accrington out in october with 90 pictures within it Last weeks picture was a printing mistake which they apologized for this week
 
I have to be honest never met the girl Mick her brother often talked about her winning beauty competitions and her picture was often in the papers but have no idea were her or mick are now I know they wont live in lonsdale street thats for sure
 
There must be a hell of a lot of other ex Accy people around the UK & the world. Who would love this great site. The next best thing to being there. Pity we cant reach them. What with all the regular contrbutors. To mention a few. ( Atarah, Wil A the Wisp, Wynonie, Darby, Mez and all the others I could mention It gives us a chance to meet on the Deck, any time we want, so thanks for all the memories ane photos to you all. Ps I make no apologies for being nostalgic and sentimental.
 
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