Recommended Posts

Our family moved from Beechdale to Russell Road Forest Fields in 1961 and I clearly remember how excited I was by the huge variety of shops on Berridge Rd and the surrounding streets. I was even more taken when I discovered that some of the sweetshops were open on Sundays.

I particularly remember a grocers shop on the corner of Burford Rd and Beaconsfield St. I think it was called Richardsons and it was very run down. The poor old grey haired lady who ran it (presumably Mrs Richardson) was really struggling and most of her stock was in a very sorry state. Of course there were no best before dates then but I imagine much of the stuff she sold was well past its best.

My friend Peter Tulley used to tell me how he and his mates gazed in the window to watch the insects crawling over the old faded products on display. It certainly wouldn’t be allowed to go on in a food shop these days.

I see on Streetview the building is still there but the display window has been bricked up during its conversion to a dwelling.

I’ve also been racking my brains (not much left to rack these days) trying to remember the name of the Fish & Chip shop on the corner of Ewart Rd and Berridge in the 60s

I think it was Carsons or something similar. The couple that owned it were also in The Salvation Army and I often used to see them in their uniforms on a Sunday.

It was great Fish & Chip shop and in 1961 you could get a 4d mix which was chips with mushy peas on top with a bonus of batter bits for free. I think that was the start of my love affair with mushy peas. It wasn’t long before the price went up to 6d. 50% inflation in the early 60s what a cheek!

There’s a scene in The Ragman’s Daughter which features it. Someone related that it was called George’s but I think that was later on.

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

You have a very good memory ducky! I do remember this now you've mentioned it.  I also recognise the name Peter Tulley.  Did you go to Forest Fields Grammar School?  The shop on the corner of Berridge Road and Stanley Road belonged to the family of someone in my year.

Link to post
Share on other sites

You may have already found these, but Picture the Past have quite a few photos of Berridge Road showing corner shops (but unfortunately not the two which you mentioned).

http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/frontend.php?&user_keywords=berridge&operator=AND&town_village=&date_period=&database=&action=search&keywords=Ref_No_increment%2CDisk_No%2CLocal_Accession_No%2CMap_Reference%2CTown_Village%2CLocation%2CTitle%2CDate_of_Image%2CDate_Period%2COther%2CForm_completed_by%2CKey_Terms%2CThemes%2CKeywords%2CPhotographer%2CArtist%2CEngraver%2CPublisher%2CForm_of_Acknowledgment%3BCONTAINS%3B%berridge%%3B&page=1&pages=32#rowNumber1

 

(Apologies for the massive link - another improvement in the new system).

 

 

On 10/4/2016 at 2:33 PM, Mess said:

There’s a scene in The Ragman’s Daughter which features it. Someone related that it was called George’s but I think that was later on.

 

A few months ago someone put together all the recognisable clips from Ragman's Daughter on to Youtube.  

https://nottstalgia.com/forums/topic/15756-ragmans-daughter-bulwell-film-clips/#comment-490018

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Carol Dickens said:

You have a very good memory ducky! I do remember this now you've mentioned it.  I also recognise the name Peter Tulley.  Did you go to Forest Fields Grammar School?  The shop on the corner of Berridge Road and Stanley Road belonged to the family of someone in my year.

Yes ducky I was at FFGS two years above you. Peter Tulley was in your year along with Haggis, Lesley Harrison and Jeanette Casterton. The shop you referred to was Gilberts.

BTW I also played guitar (badly) in a folk group with a lad and his sister that used to practise in High Church St church hall. Ring any bells? 

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

The chippy on the corner Stanley road and Berridge road was owned by the auntie of my then girlfriend Christine Alcock, she lived on Leslie road. After Friday night bucket bashers band practice at the school opposite it was our regular haunt. Jimmy King who lived on Harcourt road also played in the band.

 

Then of course once a month on a Sunday morning we would parade the area making a awful noise.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info NewBasfordlad. I think that chippie was called Harper's in the early 60s. I seem to recall it lost out a bit to the Ewart Rd/Berridge Rd chippie so started to sell fruit and veg instead.

A friend of mine has reminded me that the Ewart Rd chippie was called Paxton's

Another shop I loved was the stationers on Windermere/Berridge corner. It was called Forest Fields Library and used to loan books out to locals. I think there was also a cobblers opposite called Goodwins where I used to buy segs. Segs if you don't know were little steel things you'd hammer into your shoe heels to make the heel last longer. I see you can still buy them  http://www.blakeys-segs.co.uk 

I loved them because your heels made a lovely clicking noise on the pavement. I think I was a bit of a show off in those days. I even used to put a wooden sucker stick in my bicycle spokes to make a rattling noise.

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

One of the shops was Mr Bush's the newsagents. I delivered papers before leaving Claremont school in 1959. Does anyone remember the one that sold broken biscuits? I lived on Leslie Rd, and also remember Jimmy King. I wasn't in the "bucket bashers", but went to Hyson Green Boy's Club. The big treat at the chippie for me was when the sign went up---New Potatoes fro today!. I believe that Jimmy's mum worked at what was then F.L.Bastows on Radford Boulevard. Later Marathon Knitwear. Was one of the shops run by the Chambers?.Ah well, happy memories of fish bits for bringing newspapers at the chippie on the corner of Stanley Rd. Happy Days.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...

Just  thought. As I lived on Leslie Rd, (on the corner with Berridge Rd) Anyone remember the garage opposite the Appollo cinema? Run by a bloke called Jeff I think. Circa 1955-1966 The house I lived in was originally a confectionery, but in 1955, when we moved in, the shop front was a Co-Op laundry and dry cleaning collection and pick-up point. Run by Mrs Tipple who lived just up the road, the rest of the property we rented from the Co-Op, as my dad worked for Co-Op laundries.Straight opposite there were a row of Co-Op's, groceries, fruit and veg, and a butcher's. The manager was Mr Healey. The only foundation I have for the shop's previous history, is the amount of cake stands we found in one of the cellars. If anyone knows, would be glad to hear

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 9 months later...

I remember being sent down to the Beeroff on the corner of Bradgate Road and Berridge Road. The bloke that ran it was a really cheerful guy who called everyone 'squire'. On Saturday nights I was sent down for two bottles of Luncheon Ale (we took our own bottles) and he filled them with a copper funnel from a jug. I also had to bring home some packets of crisps with the salt in the blue paper.

 

I can also remember the newsagents across the road from the Beeroff called Beanlands I think, and the hardware store next door called Oranges that sold (and smelled of) loose paraffin. Next door to the newsagents I think was a Barber shop I used to go to. I also remember the library at the top of Bradgate Road (opposite the Beeroff) and I remember me and my mates staring in through the yellow protective film at the matchbox cars on the yellow cardboard window display unit. We used to decide which one we would next buy when we had the money.

 

I also remember taking pop bottles back for the deposit and using the money to buy Dandy and Beano from the newsagent on the corner of Russel Road and Berridge Road. Once I started with Dandy and Beano I kept having them every week for years. At the other end I remember frequently going to Chambers the Butchers on errands for my mum and our neighbour. I also remember that garage on Berridge Road near Leslie Road - I think they were called Eastern Engineers and I remember at the time petrol was about 4'6d a gallon and they actually sold 5* petrol.

 

I do remember the Co-op and was brainwashed/threatened to always quote our divvy number when I went shopping there. At the other end of Berridge Road I used to go to Gidney's the chemist to buy chemicals for my chemistry set. I often used to think what he made of someone coming to ask for an ounce of Copper Sulphate or Potassium Ferricyanide!

 

Someone somewhere was asking the name of the chip shop on the corner of Birrell Road and Berridge Road - they were called Priestly. I also remember the Chippy just down from Stanley junior - I can't remember the details of the people who owned it in the early 60s but later it was owned by a Greek Cypriot called George  I believe.

 

I used to go to Claremont (having previously attended Stanley Junior) and we moved to the old Forest Fields Grammar school. At the end of term, one of the teachers (Eric Dibb) used to put on films and we'd all go to Gilberts for our sweets. I think I used to get a 1/4 of Pineapple Chunks.  Happy days!

 

 

   

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites
On 10/18/2016 at 3:22 PM, NewBasfordlad said:

I was a partner in the Nottingham Shooting Centre late 80s early 90s and who should walk in but Jimmy and his family, a very pleasant evening was spent in the club bar that night.

Do you mean the one on the Brookfield Industrial Estate? My wife and I were members in the 90's up to when it closed because of Dunblane. It was run by Bruce and his business partner (whose name escapes me at present) and his wife.

 

We had many a good night there and I took a number of friends there to try a range of weapons. It was always fun seeing how they reacted when we let them have 6 rounds from the .44 Magnum. I used to put my hand behind them to steady them if the recoil of the gun caught them off balance.

 

I had two Browning 9mm Hi-Power semi autos and a Ruger .22 and my wife had a .38 Magnum! 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Welcome fewkeste, my aunt Edie Whitlam had a chippy on Berridge Rd, on a corner, but don't know what the name of the other road was. She and uncle Les had 2 boys, Jim and Billy. Used to visit the chippy after going to Goose Fair, this would be in the 50's. 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

That's a great post fewkeste. What's surprising about the area around Berridge Road is that almost nothing has been demolished; most of the shops you mentioned are still shops - although perhaps of a different nature.

 

2 hours ago, fewkeste said:

I remember being sent down to the Beeroff on the corner of Bradgate Road and Berridge Road.

 

Still something there - https://goo.gl/maps/dngsmaAWrUB2

 

2 hours ago, fewkeste said:

I also remember taking pop bottles back for the deposit and using the money to buy Dandy and Beano from the newsagent on the corner of Russel Road and Berridge Road.

 

Still something there - https://goo.gl/maps/31VKWHyyBq32

 

2 hours ago, fewkeste said:

Someone somewhere was asking the name of the chip shop on the corner of Birrell Road and Berridge Road - 

 

Still something there - https://goo.gl/maps/WmcBCW877cC2

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Cliff Ton said:

That's a great post fewkeste. What's surprising about the area around Berridge Road is that almost nothing has been demolished; most of the shops you mentioned are still shops - although perhaps of a different nature.

 

Still something there - https://goo.gl/maps/dngsmaAWrUB2

Still something there - https://goo.gl/maps/31VKWHyyBq32

Still something there - https://goo.gl/maps/WmcBCW877cC2

 

Hi, thanks for posting these links. Oh dear! It's changed a great deal since my childhood here in the 60's. I now understand the comment about the Pork Butchers made earlier  by someone. I'll have to take a drive over sometime and have a look.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Fewkeste, and welcome, I wouldn't go down forest field these days you might just ruin all your wonderful memories.

 

Chippie on the corner of Berridge Rd and Stanley Rd was owned by my then girlfriend's (Christine Alcock) auntie Renee in the mid 60s.

 

Yes I mean NISC on Brookfield road, I helped build the place along with my partners, the early 90s recession hit and we had to sell, Bruce bought it along with Brian Phillips and his wife. Bruce was an OK guy but the Phillips were undiluted poison, Brian is dead now and I know I should not speak ill of the dead but in his case I make an exception..

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Fewkeste

I enjoyed reading your recollections of the shops in Forest Fields.

A lot of what you wrote along with your user name makes me think I worked with you and your good wife at Pedigree Petfoods in Melton in the 1980s. I guess you've retired now.

Is your first name Steve? I'm Ian so you may remember me.

You may recall my sisters ex husband was Mr Cedric Lincoln who was deputy head at Stanley Rd around 1970. He was involved with the production of Yelnats a play you took part in.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
47 minutes ago, NewBasfordlad said:

Hi Fewkeste, and welcome, I wouldn't go down forest field these days you might just ruin all your wonderful memories.

 

Chippie on the corner of Berridge Rd and Stanley Rd was owned by my then girlfriend's (Christine Alcock) auntie Renee in the mid 60s.

 

Yes I mean NISC on Brookfield road, I helped build the place along with my partners, the early 90s recession hit and we had to sell, Bruce bought it along with Brian Phillips and his wife. Bruce was an OK guy but the Phillips were undiluted poison, Brian is dead now and I know I should not speak ill of the dead but in his case I make an exception..

I'd completely forgotten about that chippy. It was opposite Gilbert's and diagonally opposite the electricians (Clarkes?) if I recall - is that correct?

Regarding Brian and Bruce - I chatted mostly with Bruce. I know Brian's wife looked after the refreshments area and she had a sharp tongue but she never managed to intimidate me. If I remember correctly didn't Brian end up working for the firearms supply guy that had a place in Hucknall who then moved to the NSC premises when their business folded. I think he employed Brian to deactivate weapons for people who decided to keep them. The firearms guy deactivated my two Brownings and they were sold for film work and we kept the Ruger 22 and the 38 Magnum after they were deactivated. It may have even been Brian who did the work for the firearms guy! I think someone said Brian and his wife went on to open a sandwich shop in Arnold or somewhere near there.  

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Mess said:

Hi Fewkeste

I enjoyed reading your recollections of the shops in Forest Fields. A lot of what you wrote along with your user name makes me think I worked with you and your good wife at Pedigree Petfoods in Melton in the 1980s. I guess you've retired now.

Is your first name Steve? I'm Ian so you may remember me. You may recall my sisters ex husband was Mr Cedric Lincoln who was deputy head at Stanley Rd around 1970. He was involved with the production of Yelnats a play you took part in.

 

Ian C? R&D? Rupert Books? My nickname does indeed come from those days - first five of the surname, first three of the Christian name. I use it a lot on different forums. Yes I'm retired now.  I left in 1997. I retired in 2006 at the ripe old age of 48! No Kids, no mortgage, two Mars salaries.

Link to post
Share on other sites
14 hours ago, Mess said:

You may recall my sisters ex husband was Mr Cedric Lincoln who was deputy head at Stanley Rd around 1970. He was involved with the production of Yelnats a play you took part in.

I don't remember taking part in it but Toni does - she says she was Godess Diana.

 

Ian, I've just read some of your other posts where you mention your sister Marion so I know exactly who you are. Toni used to buy me a Rupert annual every year for Christmas but I've stopped adding to the collection - space. I didn't realise you lived on Russell Road. I was on Berridge Road - between Sturton Street and Harcourt Road. Did you live on the upper part of Russell Road near the Catholic School or the lower part that goes down to Gregory Boulevard? I had one mate who lived on Harcourt Road (near the coal merchant) and another who lived at the top of Leslie Road. The Harcourt Road friend then moved to Burford Road (the below Berridge Road part.)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Carole Phillips Brian's wife wouldn't let her pour me a glass of water, never mind serve me food. Their two oldest sons were OK good lads but the youngest was a pretentious little boy influenced by his father, but he would be a man now and might be a completely different person. Yes they had a sandwich shop for a short while but he fell ill and that was the end off it I believe.

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, NewBasfordlad said:

Chippie on the corner of Berridge Rd and Stanley Rd was owned by my then girlfriend's (Christine Alcock) auntie Renee in the mid 60s.

 

I had completely forgotten there was a chip shop there. However, now you've mentioned it I do remember going there and queuing for chips. If I remember correctly didn't it become a carpet shop after being a chippy? I had completely forgotten about it and Clarkes the electricians diagonally opposite the chippy until you nudged my memory.

Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, fewkeste said:

Ian, I've just read some of your other posts where you mention your sister Marion so I know exactly who you are. Toni used to buy me a Rupert annual every year for Christmas but I've stopped adding to the collection - space. I didn't realise you lived on Russell Road. I was on Berridge Road - between Sturton Street and Harcourt Road. Did you live on the upper part of Russell Road near the Catholic School or the lower part that goes down to Gregory Boulevard? I had one mate who lived on Harcourt Road (near the coal merchant) and another who lived at the top of Leslie Road. The Harcourt Road friend then moved to Burford Road (the below Berridge Road part.)

Steve, I'm pleased you've worked out who I am. I used to live in the middle section of Russell Rd close to Laurie Avenue. St Simons Hall was across the road on the corner. 

You're well ahead of me in the retirement stakes. I've been doing consultancy/interim roles until recently. My wife is seven years younger than me and a teacher. She plans to retire next year.

We had our papers from Beanlands newsagents. Trevor or Sylvia Beanland used to deliver it when they were short of paper boys. The newsagents on Russell Rd where you bought your Dandy and Beano comics was called Crawley's. The chip shop on Ewart Rd was run by a couple who were in the Salvation Army. I'm still not sure of the name. Carston, Paxton and Caxton are all spinning around in my head. George came later. Mr Lincoln from Stanley Rd used to send kids down there to get his lunch. IIRC Cedric Lincoln achieved great things with Stanley Boys football team although it was rugby he excelled in himself. He took up a headship in Tamworth but retired several years back and now deals in Antique jewellery. He's got a shop in Litchfield and regularly has a stand at fairs. You can find a reference to him if you google "Lord Lucan's watch" They've got his age wrong though he's well into his seventies now.

I still have a large collection of Beanos, Dandys and Rupert's. I met my wife through Rupert although she's not so keen these days with all the space the collections take up.

Nearly forgot about Alf's barbers. I had my hair cut there regularly in the 60s. He always had a fag hanging out his mouth whilst he cut your hair. His shop was quite an education for a young teenage lad. Like most barbers he sold Durex (for the weekend sir) and usually had copies of Parade to read while you waited for your turn.

I'd forgotten the Dinky cars in the window of Forest Fields Library. I bought a bottle of red and a bottle of green Stephens ink from there and used it at school till I was told I must revert to blue or black.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

St Simons Hall - that brings back some memories! At Stanley for lunch we were marched down 2 by 2 to St Simons hall for lunch. I can still recall the awful smell of pre-cooked mashed potato served from those bulk aluminium cans. I can also remember for some bizarre reason the bright colours of the aluminium anodised water jugs on the tables and the chunky glasses we were given to drink from.

 

I've just remembered another shop - the one on the corner of Burford Road and Berridge Road - the upper part of Burford Road. I think it was a general grocery store. I think it was owned/run by my classmate's family (Simon Hinton). I think next door there may have been a sweet shop and next door to that a decorating shop.

 

Ian, I saw in a previous post of yours that you say you came to Russell Road in 1961 -  was that year 1 in FFGS for you? I was in Stanley Junior '66 to '69, Claremont '69 to '74 and FFGS @Carlton Road for my 'A' Levels '74 to '76 then Nottingham Trent studying Chemistry from '76 to '79. If '61 was year 1 in FFGS for you then we were 8 years apart in school years I guess. By the way, out of interest did you ever come across Mad Freddy in Forest Fields? 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...