If there was not a
shop on a corner in Castle Hall, there would be a pub. Or so it seemed.
Childhood memories come flooding back of Mary Bentley's, Clayton's,
Edge's and Hall's.
Penny lollies, knickerbocker glories, coltsfoot rock
and flying saucers. The sheer delight of deciding what to
spend your
penny on. The shops in Castle Hall sold everything, from best back bacon
to firelighters
and all the smells would mingle together
One shop that is
often recalled fondly is Stubb's, selling delicious pies and buns.
Vanilla slices, cream crisps and boats were in great demand as were
their red hot meat and potato pies.
In those days you did not need
a magnifyer to find the meat either. Bessie was Jack's mother and
Mary
was Bessie's sister, together they made a formidable team.
Their back
yard was just outside my back door and I spent many happy hours in their
bake house,
watching them hard at work.
Bessie, Mary and
Annie Sidebottom
outside Stubbs', Walmsley Street |
Harry Kennerley's
Butchers Shop on
Walmsley Street |
Castle Hall Co-operative
Society
on the corner of
Brierley Street and Kay Street |
Shops at the bottom of
Vaudrey Street
pre-demolition |
If you got fed up of
meat and potato pies, fish and chips made a good alternative. Jack
Kerridge's chippy at the
bottom of Vaudrey Street was said to be the
best around.
Much to the dismay of many people, he left this business in
the early 1960's but re-opened some years later
on Brierley Street.
Shop-keeping must
have run in the Kerridge family as Jack's younger sister Marjorie kept a
hairdressers on
the corner of Kay Street and Brierley Street. This was
certainly the place to go if you wanted a new hairstyle.
Inside the shop
were individual dark wood cubicles, so no fear of anyone seeing you with
your perm rollers in.
Clothing cheques
could be used at McCallum's at the bottom end of Kenworthy Street.
This
was quite a posh shop, the interior seemed quite luxurious and it was a
joy to shop there.
The main provisions
store in Castle Hall was Brierley Street Co-operative Store. I suppose this was
today's equivalent of a supermarket and was an excellent place to shop
if only for the " divi ". There were many other shops of all
descriptions - butchers, greengrocers, barbers, cobblers,newsagents and
bookmakers. In fact we had all that we needed right on our doorstep.
Pubs were a plenty.
The Moulders Arms and British Protection on Grasscroft Street, the
Commercial on Kay Street which boasted a revolving bar, the Old
Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn named in the
Guiness Book of records as the pub with the longest name and the Brown
Cow on Walmsley Street - the gateway to Castle Hall. Incidentally
Stalybridge also has the pub with the shortest name, the Q on Market
Street. That is just to mention a few. It was common practice in those
days to take a jug to the pub to buy your beer to drink at home - and of
course a packet of " Smiths' " crisps with the blue paper.
The British Protection
|
The Moulders Arms
|
The Commercial
|
The Brown Cow |
The Rifleman |
The Ice Cream Shed
owned by the Fairclough family
stood on Cross Leech Street. You would take your own dish and,
while you
waited to be served, stand shivering whilst the cold water ran
over your feet. At one time the Salvation Army had
rooms above the shed. Fairclough's also had a shop on the corner of Vaudrey Street and
Grosvenor Street
where you could sit and savour your delights.
