Tim in the North East

When? 11.30 in the morning. (Sorry - could not resist that!)

I can recall my Dad saying that whenever he visited the Duke of Cambridge pub at the corner of Carlton Road and Clarence Street the pub's mynah bird would chirp up and say 'What will you have to drink me duck?'. This would be in the 1950s or 1960s and I think the licencee was called Mrs Plackett. Does anyone have any memory of this talking bird?

And if you went upstairs on the landing there were glass exhibition cases - which I recall were full of interesting stuff. One display was the history of Nottingham trolley buses - presumably those photos are in the archives now

It is 40 years since I was last down by the river and canals - brought back a lot of memories. Cheers Tim

Chap went into Halfords and asked "have you got a pair of windscreen wipers for a Lada?". The sales assistant thought about it and then replied "we normally ask for cash, but that would be s fair swap"!

The Hillman Avengers did not have remote central locking - and when you put the key in the drivers door lock you could see and feel the door panel move inwards. I had a Citroen Dyane (i.e. up market 2CV) - great fun wit its 602cc engine, umberlla handle gear change and bouncy suspension, but I was so glad I never had a prang, as the metal work would give no protection.

An article in the Irish Independent newspaper (which I found by Googling - http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/promenading-and-servants-how-the-rich-lived-in-1916-31118422.html)says of hotels in 1916: "They would bring their servants with them too when they went to visit the city. Hotels like The Shelbourne and The Metropole had a servants' wing so help was always on hand. The servants would eat in the separate quarters in the hotel." I guess the same woyld apply in England in 1912.

For ease of reference here is the key to the hotel information:

Beat me to it!

If you Google old photos of the Mikado cafe you will see it had a pitched roof gable procting onto Long Row. So I think the Mikado is the building to the right of the bulding site and that the building under construction is an extension to Griffin and Spalding

Not really a swimming bath - but here is an alternative from 1921:

I have posted these before - but here are some early 20th century postcards of the Market Square:

Here is a scan of Nottingham's entry in the 1912 Michelin Guide to the British Isles - and for ease of viewing I have blanked out the previous and next towns' entries. This includes a map of the City Centre - and the main exiit routes out of the city, in the days before one way streets, pedestrian zones, traffic lights etc. The scan also includes details of recommended hotels (see my other post 'Hotels for Motorists in 1912' in General Chat about Nottingham) and garages.

Hopefully these photobucket links will embed the photos in the thread:

I have recently acquired a copy of the 1912 Michelin Guide to the British Isles. This volumes just 4 hotels in Nottingham that are recommended by Michelin - the Victoria (now the Hilton but stll open), and three that have sadly closed - the Black Boy, the Flying Horse and the Albert http://s79.photobucket.com/user/TimintheNorthEast/media/Michelin%20Nottingham%20001_zpswszzuaxs.jpg.html and the key to all the abbreviations used is: http://s79.photobucket.com/user/TimintheNorthEast/media/Michelin%20Nottingham%20002_zps3i0v5jjm.jpg.html In 1912 I suspect motoring was the largely limited to t

The steep path that led up from the end of St Andrews Road and Thorncliffe Road up to the gates of the old Children's Hospital at the bottom of Chestnut Grove was always known as a twitchel

Do we have to guess where and when? Where I will have to keep thinking. It looks like a dock off a broad estuary - The Humber? Immingham? When I would say late 1960s or early 1970s given (a)?the Jaguar XJ6, (b) the Triump 1300 / Toledo / Dolomite and © the reflective number plates.

The broad junction of Villa Road with Mansfield Road had a superb set of cobbles arranged in a fan pattern - non of which had been dug up by the gas electric or water people. The Council covered it in Tarmac in the mid 1960s - but it is probably preserved under that layer

When our children were small, our response to any moan from them that whatever trip we planned would be 'boring' was to threaten to take them to the National Screwdriver Museum. Whilst this was, of course, fictitious, we did try to go to some eclectic museums. One favourites included: - the former National Lawnmower Museum at Trerice in Cornwall (now relocated). - the Corkscrew Museum in Provence, France - the Museum of Municipal Engineering in Kraków, Poland and 'the one that got away' (closed for renovation when we were there) was: - the Museum of Concrete in Turin, Italy Anyone else

My daughter rides a 1956 Triumph Palm Beach to and from work every day - she acquired it from her Grandma when she dtopped cycling. Absolutely bullet proof (the bike, not Grandma) if a bit heavy and the 3 speed Sturmey Archer gears have not got quite the range of modern bikes. However, how many Raleigh imported bikes made in 2016 will still be around in 2076?

The photo of Marks and Sparks on Albeet Street reminded me that at some stage in the1960s M&S got permission to extend their store northwards right over the bottom end of Pepper Street - so that the store went right up to St Peter's churchyard. Does anyone remember when that was - and how they managed to get permission?

Further to Trevor S's observation that 'The door handle is intriguing as it is to the rear of the door and has a recess under the handle' I don't think there is a recess under the handle - I think what we see under the handle is a shadow. Recessed door handles did not really appear until the 1970s. Of all the suggestions Tatra, Allard and Cleveau look the most promising!

In Northumberland you have to know when the letter L is silent. Ulgham is pronounced 'Uffam' and Alnwick rhymes with 'Panic' - but 5 miles down the river from Alnwick is Alnmouth - and there you do pronounce the L. My son lived for a while in Huddersfield - near there is Slatterthwaite - pronounced 'Slow (to rhyme with cow) - it'

To move the discussion away from fishy matters - there was also a stall in Central Market that had a number of cacti - my Dad bought me one when I was about 7 and by the time I was 14 I had had to re-pot it several times as it had grown to many times its original size. Don't know why I liked it as its spikes were ferocious

People who stoop and stand in doorways or other narrow places when there are non-obstructive alternatives nearby - eg chatting, putting credit cards away, checking shopping lists, looking at phones