ChrisB

Oh dear! Summer has well and truly ended today!

And what did Wilfred Pickles used to ask any single young ladies who were contestants? "Are yer courtin?"

I remember as a kid being fascinated by the things in the Petrifying Well.

I've heard it said that before smokeless zones were introduced and smokeless fuels really took off, most towns had their own gas works and coal was used to produce it (before natural gas too) Coke was a by-product of this process and the gas works apparently used to almost give it away.

The Avenue Plant at Clay Cross which produced Sunbrite closed a long time ago but there is still some kind of work going on there. Every time I pass by on the train I have a look, I think it must be de-contamination of the land which the plant occupied. When coke ovens were discharged, it was a most spectacular sight, particularly so at night. Big lumps of white hot coke tumbling down from a massive tower, probably about a hundred feet high. The railway line from Sheffield to Leeds used to go right past Manvers coke ovens. I went past on a train once as it was being discharged, you could ac

When I was a lad and my mum used to get everything from the Co-op, I remember they had two main types of loose tea. It was in small packets and there was Ceylon and Indian Prince, the latter was in a blue and silver pack.

I've found during the nice weather that the best cup of tea if you're in town is at Greggs. A good sized cup for £1 and put fresh milk in yourself from a jug. They seem to have a shop in every street now too!

The most depressing day of all, the day you finally have to give in and turn the heating on!

The later parallel platform version must have had a short life. Presumably it was altered so that work could commence on the Broad Marsh Centre. Does anyone know any dates when the old bus station was closed and the new one opened? Also, was the new bus station open before the shopping centre, or did the whole lot open together? I've seen countless views of the old bus station but never any looking across at it from Canal Street, does anyone know of any?

It certainly is depressing. Why is it, our summers always seen to just stop, suddenly?

Ah, thanks, that explains it. Presumably the 'PH' for Public House was the old Hearty Goodfellow and the Emprex Works was next to it.

The map confuses me a little. Presumably it must have been sometime after that date, 1901, that Granby Street was extended upwards and crossed Mount Street towards Park Row? Didn't Granby Street and Mount Street form a crossroads with Churchills Cafeteria, Barton's Bus Park and Emprex Works on three of the corners?

There is a picture in 'The Prestige Series' book about Midland General buses which confirms that part of Henry Barker, S & B's premises were on Mount Street. Unfortunately it cannot be reproduced due to copyright but it's dated 1949.. It would suggest that the shop was probably reverse 'L' shaped with the Mount Street part being of low build although the windows were not particularly unusual, just multi-paned and slightly bowed. I believe that this part was re-built in the 1960's when it became much higher and when Henry Barker closed, it became Beatties Model Shop. This location must h

Forgive me if I'm wrong but aren't those pictures taken from Chapel Bar, looking down Angel Row with Mount Street on the right? That would make Henry Barker, Smart & Brown just past the back end of the Barton bus in the top pic, or did their premises front onto Angel Row as well?

It most definitely was Churchills, I have a book with a picture which confirms it. It seems that Barton's had a plot of land on the opposite corner where they parked spare buses. Are there any pictures taken in the opposite direction? i.e. from Henry Barker. S & B looking up Mount Street?

Edinburgh being the most expensive doesn't surprise me. It has a castle and it's full of American and Japanese tourists. They're mad about castles! Cardiff surprises me about being cheap. I havn't found it so, it gets incredibly busy on Saturday nights and that's when hotels charge top rates. Swansea is expensive too. There's a shortage of good hotels in the centre and nothing less than £80 on a Saturday night.

Yes, I think I have!

But what exactly was it? It may have been hydrochloric acid but it must have had some commercial use because it was widely advertised on enamel signs all over the place. Was it some sort of cleaning product? I believe the Vitriol works were somewhere north of Manchester.

I walked past it about half an hour ago as I popped round to Sainsburys for a bottle of milk! Well the site of it anyway! It was just round the corner from where I live, it was on Mill Street which is a back street just off the top end of Friargate. It was originally a cinema, converted into a nightclub in 1971. For the opening night they had Frankie Vaughan, then other stars of the time, Matt Monroe, Vince Hill etc. It closed in 1976, a victim of the recession (does that sounds familiar?) but it was resurrected two or three times in the 1980's becoming Gossips, then Berties but no one seem

Not in the city. Personally, I prefer B&M Bargains. There is one of those but it's right down the bottom end of Manvers Street, in the Meadow Lane retail park.

I'm intending to pay a visit on Saturday afternoon but the weather's not looking good!

Am I correct in thinking that in those days pubs used to close at 10.30/11.00 pm and nightclubs used to close at 2.00 am? When we lived up near Alfreton, my brother used to go with his mates to the Aquarius in Chesterfield and the Fiesta in Sheffield. They didn't used to set off till after the pubs closed and I used to think: What a long way to go for just a couple of hours! But given that those places had some of the biggest names in the business on, I suppose that made it worthwhile.

If you go to the Victoria Centre toilets, the underground ones near the water clock, the toilets are on the right and on the left is a long corridor which appears to go under Parliament Street. Presumably it is a remnant (the last?) of Parliament Street bridge. Is it some kind of emergency exit?

Did they operate a service? If so, how did they get a licence for it in those days?

Sad to see these familiar signal boxes gone forever. Always a shame when something passes into history!