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Frank, I always remember Griffin & Spalding as a department store, not a furniture store. In the sixties my sister worked in the record department and the haberdashery. Her husband-to-be worked as a window dresser there too. Might you be thinking of Waring and Gillow by any chance? They had a store on King Street but previously I've an idea they were on Long Row. Stand to be corrected on that one though.

Blackclocks...bastards! When we moved into our first house down here in the Kingdom of Redhill there was an extensive kid's sandpit in the back garden (i.e. a tin bath sunk into the ground full of sand). Mum decided we needed rid of the sandpit as it 'attracted blacklocks'. Stymied

No..I wouldn't do that. :-) There are one or two claims, the French certainly make a strong one but the important word to remember is reputed

That's the White Hart, mate. It was called that for a while before reverting back to a sensible pub name.

Should be an easy one for some of the knowledgeable posters on here. It's a story that has always amused and interested me. Which Nottinghamshire village is reputed to have seen the invention of the pancake?

Nice pics, Beefy. Erm...I just wanted to say I'm glad you all had a good night(s). I'd love to have come along for a couple of (six) pints but it just wasn't possible this time. Ironically I did surface in the Poacher last night and was to be seen hanging around surreptitiously by the Stowford Press tap. Hope we can do it another time, folks.

The right-hand side of the old bus depot has been a pub for a few years now, beefy. Can't remember it's current name but in it's last vision before closing for some time it was called 'Katmandu' I went in there one night and Doctor and The Medics were playing!

Always bus's to Redhill I reckon, Eric. Probably in your time the old 57 corporation bus would terminate at the junction of Redhill Road and Mellors Road? Smack outside Redhill School, I seem to remember there was a large clock set up front of a tall hedge for the drivers to check by.

Sorry to hear about your aunt but certainly, would be very nice to meet you Eric.

MacFisheries/Halfords is now a Wetherspoons pub (I think it's the same building) You're on for the beers!

I'm certain you're right there about Hepworth's. I bought my first suit in that store! The Horne Brothers store had a history which included being Skinner and Rooke department(?) store. Before my time but my partner's mother worked their as a young woman. She left these shore some fifty years ago so it's a while back we're talking. A quality store apparently.

Was John Collier on Wheeler Gate somewhere? Seem to remember it wasn't far from Burtons at the bottom corner of Friar Lane. Another men's outfitters was Hornes (Hornes Brothers). It was in the building at the bottom right-hand corner of Clumber Street. I worked there for precisely three weeks as a sixteen-year old in the mid-seventies. Easily the worst job I ever had! What I particularly recall about it was that due to the proximity of the Council House one could hear the chimes of Little John every single quarter of an hour all day long. Boy those days did drag!

There still actually is a pub right next to The White Hart, it's called 'The New Foresters'. Map It's a pub mainly used by the gay community, specifically women. Although being next to The White Hart it's address is St. Anns Street. When you say the market, do you mean the original Victoria Market that faced the old Trent bus depot on Huntingdon St.? I don't actually remember another pub down Glasshouse Street but I may be wrong there. The Milton's Head is an interesting one. I used to drink in there. It had a downstairs bar and an upper one too that looked down onto Parliament Street. Ins

I walked past there last night and there are two businesses standing on where I think the Kardomah was. On the very corner of Greyhound Street is 'Pronuptia' bridal and menswear and to the left of it is 'Zizzi's', a chain Italian restaurant. Funnily enough I was in Zizzi last week and I reckon the downstairs part of the restaurant was the large room that was where I drank coffee in the Kardomah years ago. It all seemed to just click into place. Might be a long shot but maybe either of those two businesses might have some info about the building's former use?

Sorry, yes you're right Charlie, it was Hepworth's I was thinking of.

Spent a little time around Bottesford whilst walking on the Grantham Canal the past year or two. One day a few friends and I caught a train out to there and walked along the canal to Grantham, stopping off at the 'Dirty Duck' along the way. A great day out in the sunshine. I did something I'd always wanted to do as well - visit The Black Bull at Bottesford. Bottesford's Secret

Ah yes, the smells! I'm not sure what happened to Burtons but my memories of it cease at about the time the supermarkets came in. I wonder if that was a factor as shopping at the like of Burtons entailed lugging the stuff home on the bus. In our locality in nearby Arnold we had the likes of a small 'Fine Fare', the Co-op, and Sainsbury moving in and they quickly became favoured. None of them a patch on Burtons though.

Yes it was definitely Burtons, Mick. A very nice store that my mum used to shop in. For some reason when I was thinking about MacFisheries I was thinking about those premises. No notion of it though really.

Austin Reeds was on the opposite side of the street to the Odeon in the seventies. Not sure about MacFisheries.

That pub on Glasshouse Street was The White Hart, Charlie. It became known as 'Owd Boots' for a few years but now has it's former name again I think. There was also a pub inside the Vic Centre near that same side entrance. Can't remember the name but 'The Princess' seems to ring a bell for some reason. Other places in the centre were (and are) Jessops and Boots of course. At the Parliament Street entrance on the right as you walked in was The Milton's Head pub which has been discussed elsewhere on here.

Yes, I remember it being there too. It was definitely the Kardomah. I recall there being some stairs down into a large basement cafe area. It was certainly there in the era round about 1978-80

My friend was a bit worried that he would pester us when we were in the Bell there. He was fine. I just asked him where he was off to next and he took the hint straight away that we were having a private chat. Oh yes, I see that character practically every time I go in the Bell (which is quite a bit). My mates call him 'Shaft'! Never bothers anybody, just sits there on a stool near the bar/fruit machines. Thanks for the pic of the cowboy. I'm going to send that to my friend. She wants a pic of him to show her family back in South Africa the kind of character we get here in Nottingham?

The last one I went to was the Calverton one a year or so ago. Not the normal visit, I and a couple of teaching friends paid a surprise lunchtime visit to a youngster we had taught. The place was full of children, there was even a sweetie 'bar' in there! All the kids were gorging on their E-numbers and running around going mental!

I wondered if you might mean that one, Den. The name eludes me too, it might be the Ex-Servicemen's Club? Arnold was always a big club town. Some people think the pubs suffered because of that. Off the the top of my head, past and present: Ex-Servicemen's British Legion (Victory Club Labour Club Liberal Club Sportsman's Club (St. Albans Road) Working Men's Club (Shirking Men's we call it!) Balgour Club Conservative Club Another place at Redhill Road Arnold end - name also eludes

I used to go to Arnold Working Men's club years ago. It was a nightly haunt of my old man when he was still alive. It's actually on the main Front Street, a few doors up from ASDA supermarket, mate. You're not thinking of one of the other clubs in Arnold are you? There's quite a few of them.