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I would like to share some of my memories of shops in Netherfield as I grew up during the late 60's and 1970's.

I was born on Midland Grove at the bottom of Chandos Street just before you go over the rise that runs over the dyke.

last week I took the time to visit the whole area for a day as I enjoy distance walking. I now live in Leicester, so took a day out to come over. I covered 16 miles around Bakersfield,Netherfield, Gedling, Carlton, Burton Joyce and Stoke Bardolph.

One of the things that stuck out was the demise of all the shops I remembered.

Growing up on Chandos Street, the nearest two shops to us were Appletons off licence,. just past the school. It had a red telephone box outside and one of my earliest memories in being sent up there by my mum with a new (Old) penny in my hand so must have been pre 1971 so I'd be about 5. Unsure when, but that shop changed hands and became Mr and Mrs Norths.

The shop I remember most in the early days though was the bright red one owned by Mr and Mrs Malt on the corner of Chandos and Belvoir Road which ran down to the Annexe field as we knew it.

Mr Malt was a lovely man. He taught me how to wrap a present when I was about 8 as it was my Mums birthday,. every present time when I have to fold down the corners of paper on something I am wrapping I remember Mr Malt with his grey shopcoat and pocketful of Pens.

Mr Malt also used to buy runner beans off me,. there was a scrap of spare land alongside our house,. Only about a foot wide that my Grandad showed me how to grow runner beans in when I was about 10 or so.Mr Malt said he'd buy all I could give him,. I was a bean baron aged 10 !!

Come report time, I was always promised a qtr of Midget gems from Mester malts if I got a good write up,. I'm sure I always got a few over the 4 oz though if my mum told him it was particularly good.

When I was 11, we moved , very adventurously up Chandos street to the white house,. No.53, which has now been demolished in some land grab to build more properties. I am still devastated about this. Luckily, I think it was a railway house and there is a carbon copy next to Burton Joyce station. If I win the lottery, its mine !!

Anyway,.across the road on the corner of Festus street was a delightful corner shop run by Bill Ashurst. he was a great fruit and veg man and did a delivery route round Stoke Bardolph in his little van too. He always told me that his Dad played for Notts and England !!

We were latch key kids back in the day and we were allowed to go and get something from Bills for tea,.. my Mum paying on tick. Those were the days.

The state of that premises now is awful,. and Bill must be spinning in his grave. It seems that it is up for auction so maybe some hope for it in the future.

My old school mates Mum and dad ran a shop round the corner on York Street. Barhams offy. It was open late as they most were and you could always hear the TV in the back. Mr Barham used to pick out Green sports mixtures and wine gums for me as he knew they were my favourite,.. sometimes leaving the shop with a full bag of greens. Again,. this shop has met its demise also.

The chippy was run by the Theakers on the corner of Bailey street and was a regular stop of for me for a pot of peas (7p and 14p) on the way back from scouts up at the methodist hall near Jackie Bells. Proper newspaper and a huge queue on a Saturday. Again,. It is no more.

I meant this thread to concentrate on the shops near my house, the ones I was familair with as a kid, but no write up of a 70's childhood in Netherfield would be complete without a mention of Linda's babyland in the row of shops past the Coop. There was a little backroom that you took a step down into,. On the left at full stretch hieght for a 10 year old was a big stack of subbuteo teams. the hours I must of spent pulling those down and looking at the world of strips available. If I had known then what I know now as they command a HUGE price in good nick on ebay !!

On closing (for now) I would like to pay homage to my two nemisis's. Namely Ron Porter and (Norman?) Cliff. The Barbers. As a small boy I was taken to Ron Porters next to the Post office,. I hated having my haircut,. always have and he put up with some full on small boy tantrums, especially when that plank seat came out that the small boys had to sit on over the chair arms to be elevated to operating height.

Mr Cliff had the little shed of a barbers near the Fox and Hounds and I had to go there for his 1940's short back and side special during my early teens at my Dads command which was doubly horrid as I was really tring to grow it long at the time but never got a look in.

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Thanks for that Willy

I worked on the building of the Chandos St Coop, that would be early 70's

I have always wondered what was there before the Coop.

chandosstcoop.jpg

Just up Chandos Street on the first corner on the left was the below building.

When the Co-op was built it was a Cafe, as a young apprentice I never went in.

Always gave me the impression that if I went near it, Rockers would jump out on me!

It was the days before this site, and I found out what nice people they are :rolleyes:

chandosst.jpg

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Thanks for that Willy, I have just bought it all up on Google Earth Street view and went for a walk up Chandos Street bringing back many memories here too. The first beer I bought was from the 'Offy' by the school annex, I had an 'aunt' (Well someone my mum and dad worked / lodged with after they got married ) who lived on Green Avenue and we went there regularly in the 60s.

Lindas Babyland , that was a memory blast from the past, and as I recall it was N, Cliff Mens Hairdressers so yes it could have been Norman, funny thing is we were at the opposite ends of the spectrum , I used to love (Still do actually) having my hair cut, although SWMBO does it now with the clippers (Saves me tenner 3 times a year) I always found it theraputic and relaxing for some silly reason.

As I've mentioned elsewhere on here we used to go to the Doctors up Chandos Street (Chisholm and Alexander) even though we lived up Cavendish Road in Carlton, I still recall one early morning in 1979 having to hobble all the way down there with a broken ankle as the buses were on strike (IMMSC) my dad had gone to work and I didn't have any money for a taxi.

Ahh Happy days!!

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Remember those two doctors well, Beefy.

They had fairly modern office just on a corner of Chandos and another small street. (Forgot name)

Prior to that the doctors had a house on the corner where that co-op now stands. Rambling old place if I remember rightly. I remember my grandparents talking about a doctor there before Chisholm. Dr. Gaylard (I think) they talked about paying him for treatment before the days of the NHS.

Co-op was built after I had emigrated.

If I remember rightly the prices were quite reasonable.

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The name of the road that forms the corner with Chandos where the current Doctors surgery is (Vets now actually I think)is Morris Street.

The third doctor at that surgery when I was growing up was a female doctor called Dr Buck. I used to prefer Chisholm though. I remember him as a real mumbler though with terrible hand writing,. but I suppose that could be all doctors really.

I was quite ill with asthma as a kid and used to have my fair share of home visits. My Mum used to wince if it was Dr Buck making the call as she was quite a dominant lady,.. She used to to march into our house,.."Radio off Mother !!" Ha Ha,......

Another couple of shops have come swimming into the memory. The cheese and Bacon shop was the first in the run after the Coop on Victoria street, a strange wood fronted little shop painted white as I remember it with a long glass counter to your left as you went in stocked with bacons and hams,.and a smaller glass counter forming an L shape at the top with a cheese display,..Gorgonzola, Stiltons, Edam. All very sophisticated for the 70's.

A little further on was Armstrongs the grocer who always put out a really good front. he was sited next to Linda's babyland. My most striking memory of that grocers was a plaque he had on the wall in the shop of his family crest. It was a muscular coming out of a wreath holding a sword with ARMSTRONG underneath it.

There was another shop across the road on Victoria Road, sort of opposite the top of Forester street. It was general store, but i always remember it for being one of the few open on a Sunday daytime. The thing that was a little different about this shop though was that the man who owned it was a

herbalist and would make up remedies for you. I cannot for the life of me remember what his name was though.

The shop was adjacent to an ironmongers. I remember going to that shop carrying a blue can for paraffin for the heater for my bedroom.

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The doctors is indeed on the corner of Chandos St and Morris St, back of the Coop.

Chandos St / Morris St

morrisst.jpg

Looking back towards Victoria Rd Coop on left

morrisst2.jpg

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The name of the road that forms the corner with Chandos where the current Doctors surgery is (Vets now actually I think)is Morris Street.

The third doctor at that surgery when I was growing up was a female doctor called Dr Buck. I used to prefer Chisholm though. I remember him as a real mumbler though with terrible hand writing,. but I suppose that could be all doctors really.

I was quite ill with asthma as a kid and used to have my fair share of home visits. My Mum used to wince if it was Dr Buck making the call as she was quite a dominant lady,.. She used to to march into our house,.."Radio off Mother !!" Ha Ha,......

Another couple of shops have come swimming into the memory. The cheese and Bacon shop was the first in the run after the Coop on Victoria street, a strange wood fronted little shop painted white as I remember it with a long glass counter to your left as you went in stocked with bacons and hams,.and a smaller glass counter forming an L shape at the top with a cheese display,..Gorgonzola, Stiltons, Edam. All very sophisticated for the 70's.

A little further on was Armstrongs the grocer who always put out a really good front. he was sited next to Linda's babyland. My most striking memory of that grocers was a plaque he had on the wall in the shop of his family crest. It was a muscular coming out of a wreath holding a sword with ARMSTRONG underneath it.

There was another shop across the road on Victoria Road, sort of opposite the top of Forester street. It was general store, but i always remember it for being one of the few open on a Sunday daytime. The thing that was a little different about this shop though was that the man who owned it was a

herbalist and would make up remedies for you. I cannot for the life of me remember what his name was though.

The shop was adjacent to an ironmongers. I remember going to that shop carrying a blue can for paraffin for the heater for my bedroom.

Think it was Mr Walker we used to go there for him to make us his Cough Medicine..

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If you look to the right of that first picture in post 7 at the end of the road (Morris Street) is a building with 3 visible pointed roofs, that is the 'new' doctors surgery.

I enphasized 'new' as it opened cirrca 1990 !!

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  • 4 months later...

this is my first post i was bought up in netherfield on harrogate street i left there in 1969/70 the shop i most remember is henri lloyds cycle shop top of harrogate street and the corner shop top of street before harrogate street remember a family called glover lived at 6 brian who had a stutter we and steve we all went to ashwell street school does anybody remember the chapmans who lived in kozi kots

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Think it was Mr Walker we used to go there for him to make us his Cough Medicine..

It was Walkers..he had a daughter called Linda.She was a mate of my girlfriend Anne...As a foursome we snook away for a weekend at Skegness... ;) Mr and Mrs Smith of course.. :rolleyes: Her bloke had a beat up Austin Atlantic...how it made it to Skeggy and back,God only knows.

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  • 4 weeks later...

the shop opposit forester st was walkers next to that was marsdens dairy and general stores my sister kath worked there brian glovers mum coleen was one of her friends andmy nephew stphen parnham went to school with him they lived at the very bottom of netherfield before morrisons was built. on the other side of lindas baby land it was possibly closed at the time you are thinking about was bamfords dairy , they used to make there own ice cream and on the other corner of bourn st was corner house cafe. the cafe you put the photof mick was well used by the rocker and schooll boys from chandos st school and carlton girls school as we got let out of school .it was once the india tea company shop when it moved in the 50s from the shop that became reads cycles

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ment to say i used to baby sit for colleen and look after brian and his brother and sister.saw coleen in ntherfied a couple of years ago and she still lived locally, seem to think that her husbands name was brian too.

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i used to go round with the glovers coleen and my mum used to go out together can u remember the hoppers who lived at the bottom of harrogate street there mum died very young used to go round with neville her son also can u remember the chapmans lived in kozi kots alan and colin

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i carnt bring these people to mind at the moment but my neices dawn tracy and kerry willson al went to aswell st school around the same time as you ad well as my nephew stephen and his sister samantha parnham , they may remember them. other families you may have known from that area of netherfield. the lazzletts the shevells the browns who lived elm avenue chillden around you age shaun jane and carl dad george used to be a milk man

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  • 9 years later...
  • 2 years later...

It is funny how things come about. I found this forum much by accident because I was looking for information about Fords shop. Just to see if my memory was still working. This has brought a lot of memories back. My own memories are from the 1980 to 1987 when we moved from Netherfield. For such a small area it had a wealth of shops which many towns would be proud of these days.

 

Unlike the opening post my memories of Netherfield come from the Meadow road end of Netherfield not really venturing passed the CO-OP a lot. only for the Chinese which was near the church and the toy shop which was on the same road just before where I got my Subbuteo teams and A team/He man action figures. 

 

We lived two down from Netherfield coaches which then became Dunn Line, I know me mam didn't get on with the neighbours as she ran her catering business from home which they didn't like as they said it was a residential area. Obviously our neighbours were 30 years to early, as at the time you had Gibson and Lee factory at the back of us, they had units at the back of them, the bus company on the corner and train station at the end of the road, yep very residential.

 

As you went up Meadow road there was an old style Arkwright type of corner shop, I used to buy plastic soldiers with my pocket money and get what ever my mam had forgotten for tea. It was opposite the Bus stop for town where my dad would sit on the low wall waiting to catch the bus around 5.30pm

 

As you carried on further there was an electrical shop where I can remember buying coloured bulbs as my used to like decorating the fir tree outside for Christmas and the neighbour's kids liked nicking the bulbs. Just down from that was a chippie, with its penny bandit, no age concerns about gambling as I can remember playing it a lot from the age of 7 onwards. You then had Lloyds Bank on the corner as a kid I remember it being a very dark building on the inside, lots of wood, but even now as an adult I want one of the big calendar and time clocks they had up inside.

 

My life was shopping at the co-op for my mam, so regularly picking up orders from the deli at the back of the store and butchers adjacent, Sat on the doors at 8am on a Saturday morning. Other early morning trips was to Russels bakery, ( I used to love the milkshakes from there as a treat)

 

I remember the post office then barber combo. in the 80s a veg shop opened on the corner and on the other side a new more modern barber opened where i tried a flat op out. should have stayed with basin cut...

 

On the lloyds side there was a decorating shop where they would be swamped with requests for off cuts of wall paper so we as kids at Carlton le Willows we could cover our school books.

 

On the other corner you had the Natwest Bank where I saved for my Natwest pigs, Only to move to the Midland bank for my live account, across the way was a pet shop, then Nottingham building society and a shoe shop. Then onto fords and just before the crossing a futuristic TSB was opened. Well it was futuristic in the 80s. 

 

Opposite was another chippy which was next to the railway crossing and as a kid it was always run down from the fox and hounds side and beat the crossing bars coming down. That chippy would have most of my 10ps and meant suppers were always half an hour late as I played rambo on the arcade game.

 

Coming back down you had the midland bank on the corner. Bookies, well I knew it was a bookies but  very strange place from the outside non of the adverts you get these days. Russels, an off license that would sell me wine or brandy to me at age 10 for my mam. An Olympic pizza place opened up here my first taste of Pizza, there was a jeans place where most of the key rings got nicked from the jeans as key rings were a craze at the time. a haberdashery store where I would buy me mam porcelain thimbles with pictures on for her birthdays and Christmas, laugh was i used to sow the holes in my trouser knees as she didn't like sowing. You then had a Pork Farms shop, Newtons newsagents where a pound would buy you six bars of sweets and change. then a butcher on the corner.

 

This is as far as my memory goes.

 

There was a BMX track built at the bottom end of Netherfield, which didnt get used for riding bikes but for army games of throwing the loose stones at each other.

 

That and going to Carlton Le Willows down the speedo road but cutting through and across the train tracks to the cricket field. Remember putting veg on the train tracks to watch the trains go over them. I am sure that would break all sorts of rules these days, then again not only is the railway line fenced off these days so is the school.

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