Bradford memories
Here are memories of Bradford and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bradford or a Bradford photo.
Carter''s Cafe
I am glad Mr Johnson has happy memories of Carter's Cafe. My father and mother, ran this for many years and I remember Mrs Johnson well. My father, and three more Carter generations were all Bradford market people. The other three generations being in the wholesale at St James's market. Somewhere, I have one old photo of some of the St James's tenants of around 1914, if anybody is interested. It was a shame that Kirkgate market was pulled down, as the iron frame was magnificent. I met my wife there in 1956, she worked in a flower stall, in the market. Many of the teenage market workers and shop workers, who in turn were based on the outside wall of the market, would go out together on Saturday night to Ashworth's Dance Hall in Manchester Road. Orange juice only allowed there, how things have changed. My father sold the cafe and moved into a jewellery stall, and from there was moved by the council into the current market. He... Read more
Regal Feeling in The Early Sixties
There was an almost Regal feeling as we walked past the Alhambra, up the steps past the memorial, by the Queen Victoria statue and into the fabulous little Chester Street bus station. The buses in there were uniquely designed with attention to detail and with quality features.
Living in Fitzgerald Street 1938 - 1956
Were they happy years? I suppose they were, although we were very poor as kids we made the best of it, my memories were of the trams clattering up manchester road, which we used to take to go to the swimming baths from school. Wandering around Kirkgate Markets. Anyone remember the Giant Pie with steam coming out in the Bakers window opposite Kirkgate Market. I can remember going to the Alhambra for the Pantos. And the Western Cinema in Park road, I became a junior projectionist there after I left School (All Saints Cof E) Little Horton Lane).The Winter of 1947 is one I will never forget I have never seen so much snow. The Odeon Cinema where we saw Stars like Frankie Laine, Albiet from the lane around the back where the dressing rooms were. Oh Happy Days... ... Read more
1947 Child Patient
The memories of this then hospital has remained with me 64 years. I survived a very serious kidney operation. At the time I dont' think a young child had ever survived. The surgery had been tried before me. The kidney doctor was called Mr. Hamilton Stewart. The ward paediatrician was called Dr. Rosenbloom and a ward sister was called nurse Grice. I was a patient there from Easter Friday until August and was still attending outpatients the day the Queen got married. My scars are obviously still with me. If only I could find the records, to maybe help kidney sufferers today when transplant kidneys are not available for everyone. I live in New Zealand and many people have to live on dialysis all over the world. The family of my consultant I believe still live in Bradford. I was told the hospital had been pulled down but that is not so. I loved the round ward. Byeee, hope you will read this. Barbara White (nee Copper).
Rocking Horse
In the 1960s and early 1970s I remember visiting the outpatient dept with the beautiful rocking horse and dolls house, I always looked forward to my appointments.
Santa Busby Claus
My dad, Teddy Burke, was Santa Claus at Busby's on Manningham Lane. He was certainly popular, since in the 1950s and 1960s the crowds lined the streets when he was due to arrive on his float. When he did appear, he played Christmas carols on his trumpet before making his entrance into the grotto. What few people knew was that Ted was largely responsible for the construction of the grotto before he arrived! Sometimes, in busy periods, he had colleagues timetabled to do a Santa rota with him, and naturally Mother Christmas and Fairy Starlight had their roles to play as well. I was astonished that Santa knew all about me when I went to see him, so I believed in him for a little longer than most kids!
Working in Piccadilly
In 1944 I worked at 36 Piccadilly, an electrical wholesalers (next door to the invisible menders). My duties were to deliver accessories to the electrical shops round town. Each evening there were parcels to post, the nearest post office was in Darley Street. The shortest way was by way of through the back door of Woolworths or Marks and Spencer through the stores and out of the front into Darley Street (handy if it was raining). I lived in Lidget Green, I would go through Kirkgate Market and then Rawson Market, past the pie shop (made famous by J. B. Preistley) and into the Co-op Emporium, out at the bottom of Godwin Street to the Victoria cinema for the 37 trolley bus. I was in Bradford the night the bombs fell during the Second World War. My father was a firewatcher at Kay, Rhodes and Nixons on Sunbridge Road. As children my sister and I would stay with him and climb the five storeys of greasy wooden stairs to... Read more
Kirkgate Market
When I was very young my dad used to drop me off at Carters cafe in Kirkgate market where my grandma use to work, her name was Ethel Johnson (nee Deacon), happy days. It's tragic seeing Bradford today, what a lovely compact shopping centre it had, my dad was a wool merchant and it was a close knit community of wool men.
Happy Days!
Ohh...if there was ever a place to find peace ...it was/is Chellow Dene. I was born at St. Lukes hospital in 1967. We lived on Manningham Drive until I was about five ...then moved to the new Dale Croft Estate on Sandy Lane and our house backed on to the quarry view. I had a west Highland Terrier called Tina and we spent so many happy times at Chellow. I remember the lovely fountain...it must have been copper ..as it was always streaked withe green. The bottom reservoir had a small round pumping 'house' . My mum told me a story about a pair of lovers who went there for a liason and got drowned in it...don't know if it is true or a legend. I have happy memories of walking the 'secret pathways' through the bluebells and ferns and watching the pike fish surface..what monsters they were. I remember the drinking fountain inside the main entrance by the cafe and the 'Walls' ice scream flags. When I was older,... Read more
Kirkgate
Gosh, I can remember so well going to work with Mum on a Saturday and having pie & peas with Tizer (PIE TOMS). I would be sat on the floor behind the stall, counting buttons while Mum was serving on / or having a natter. Lovely days.
Comment
The Regent cinema is showing 'Boom Town' which came out in late 1940 (IMDb).
Manchester Road
I remember walking all the way down Manchester Road to St Joseph's Infant School, which at that time was on Grafton Street and part of the Girls School, it seemed to take ages, we walked past all the pubs and shops a real hive of activity. There were 40 pubs on Manchester Road and a brewery!
I then moved to St Joseph's on Clayton Lane and the church on Pakington Street. The new infant huts there and the Boys' School at the side with the playground on the roof! They knocked the Girls' School down and we all had to mix!
I can remember the great windy night in the late 1950s when the roof of the factory on the corner of Manchester Road and Stirton Street blew off, we had to walk past it to school, Dad had to walk us to school that day because of the winds.
I remember the Towers Picture House, Ryan Street Swimming Baths, and Carlton Picture House where we used to go on... Read more
Bradford
Mum worked for GEC on Manningham Lane and was informed of her brother's death on HMS Indomitable as he was in the navy in the war. Mum worked with Christiana Swift in the canteen at GEC.
Visit of Wilfred Pickles
I have recently been making an album for my father of his life story and he was saddened that we had nothing we could put in it of my brother who was taken to Bradford childrens hospital in November 1947 and died in January 1948. There were no pictures taken in these circumstances in those days and although Wilfred Pickles visited the hospital and gave my little brother a blue and white knitted rabbit that I kept until it fell to pieces we have nothing to remind us at all. When I saw the picture on this site of the hospital where he died I felt at least we now had something to remember him by. We lived in Yorkshire for some years but now live down south but we love our holidays in Yorkshire and I am enjoying doing our family history that has taken me to many parts of Yorshire and uncovered many interesting things. This hospital looks like a castle and is an amazing building, I think... Read more
Growing up in Fitzgerald St
Oh the good old days !!!
From 1938 to 1976, when we emigrated to Canada, I remember the places talked about in the other peoples memories having lived in Fitzgerald St until they tore it all down. I remember Paisley St, Grafton St, Earl St, Stirling St etc. When I was old enough to drink we used to go to the Princess Alice pub in Grafton St.
Other memories were the Western cinema in Park Rd, trying to sneak in after the first house emptied, and also playing "tin can squat" when we didn't have a ball.
Riding up and down Manchester Rd on the front upstairs of the tram, we used to pay a halfpenny to Smiddles Lane rec.
How times have changed, and I'm not sure for the better.
Harry Blott (Canada)
blott@rogers.com
Happy Memories of my Grandparents
My first memory of Chellow Dene reservoir dates back to the mid-sixties. My grandparents Jack and Betty Parkinson lived at Chellow Grange Lodge, just down the road from the reservoir, and when I visited them - my parents and I lived about 20 minutes walk away - they would often take me there. A few weeks ago I visited the area for the first time in 30 years and was pleased to find it almost unchanged, although the fountain has now disappeared!
Mumming
I used to live in College Road off Manchester Road, but I now live in Australia. I can remember going Mumming on New Years Eve, we used to dress up and go round all the Pubs in Town and also the Alhambra at the end of each show of the Pantomine and folk would give us Money and ask us to do a turn for them, good old days when kids could stay out till all hours of the night without any fears.
Notes From The Frith Files.
The policeman is PC Roy Brookman.
Great Horton
Our family lived in Lidget Green, near the Great Horton railway station. I was born in 1949 near Bradford (Wakefield), and lived in Lidget Green from toddlerhood until we emigrated in 1960. The neighborhood provided many memories which were everyday and mundane at the time but now are more quaint and nostalgic. Milk deliveries by horse-drawn cart. The lighting of the coal gas street lamps each evening by a worker with a ladder. Fogs so thick you could not see further than a few feet in front of you, and even less at night. The deliveries of coal in large, heavy, burlap sacks. The "rag and bone" man who passed through on the service alley every so often, calling for contributions and who was said to catch naughty and disobedient children and carry them off in the sack on his shoulders. The local railway had a coal train which labored, huffing and chuffing, up the incline from further south as the line branched off from the main lines leading into... Read more
The Roxy
Saturday mornings at The Roxy, Barkerend Road, Bradford were a magical event in the lives of 8 year olds plus in the 1950's.
The film breaking down which it did every week to the sounds of a hundred kids stamping and yelling and booing. It's a wonder the cameran didn't go to an early grave through sheer "stress".....which was never heard of those days. Then you had nervous breakdowns.
Handsome Roy Rogers with his equally handsome horse Trigger made young hearts flutter. Hopalong Cassidy who made us all practice his hopalong walk for the rest of the weekend. I was never a fan of The Three Stooges though. I thought they were too silly to laugh at. Usherettes with their torches if we were noisy who threatened to chuck us out if we didn't shut up.
Childhood Memories
Born in Bradford in 1956, emigrated to Australia in 1969 (40 years this year). Memories of my grandma's house in Arum Street, Canturbury where I was born in her lounge room and going to church every Sunday morning in the snow. My mum and dad were both born in Bradford and still have family living there. Remember going to the Alhambra for Christmas pantomines and seeing Freddy Frinton (think that it how it is spelt) and seeing the Beatles at either the Alhambra or the Gaumount Theatre. Remember being first in the door when the ice skating rink opened. Remember catching the trolley bus up to my other grandma's in Thornton. Memories of 'chumping' the 2 to 3 weeks before Guy Fawkes night then having huge bonfire with potatoes in their jackets. Both my parents worked at the AIS, so did my grandma, and aunties. Mum then went on to work at Empire Stores for many years and Dad continued to drive 'lorries'. Spent plenty of time hanging around Acre... Read more
Bradford That I Remember
I lived in Bradford from birth 1944 until 1965 when we moved to Canada. So I have lots of memories.
One of them was on Saturday mornings in the 50's walking to town down Manchester Road. There were so many shops to look in and then when my friends and I got to town we would go to the markets and spend part of our spending money. We used to try to save some so we could buy chips from the fish shop at the bottom of Manchester Road, and if we still had money left over we would catch the bus instead of walking. Thinking back we did a lot of walking.
We lived on Paisley Street and used to walk to school in Grafton Street. On the way I would sometimes buy a McGowans toffee bar, they cost 3pence, and see if I could make it last all day by sucking a piece in my mouth rather than chewing it.
I remember always feeling safe in... Read more
Memories of West Yorkshire
Allens Temperance Bar
Hello everyone. I have fond memories of visiting Allens in White Abbey Road, Manningham, Bradford. It would be usually while walking home from school, St Patricks on Rebecca St, or after mass at St Patrick's Church on Sedgefield Terrace. I distinctly remember it was unlike any other place I had ever been in. The large shop window would be glowing in the dark drawing you in where it was warm & quiet. It was tiny with a couple of table and chairs set on a bare floor. The walls were lined with numerous little barrels with wonderful names such as dandelion & burdock, sarsparilla etc. Behind the actual bar were beautiful hand pumps. It was run by an elderly couple who I thought were the Allens, not knowing anything about the temperance movement. I understand that there was a second Allens on Manningham Lane but I never had the chance to visit there. I would love to know if anyone had a picture of the white abbey Allens or could... Read more
Saddle Bar
Hello me again. As I have so many lovely memories of Manningham, which I could reminisce about all day, I've decided to start by concentrating on what I think were local land marks. The Saddle Bar stands out vividly in my mind. Situated on Carlisle Road opposite the Malborough Picture house, the shop incorporated a wagon into its counter complete with wheel and all the associated horse tack etc. The smells were wonderful and would drift down the street to greet you. Ham shanks, meat & potatoe pies, cheese & onion pasties, pie & peas with lashings of mint sauce. My sister and I would always visit after swimming at the Drummond Road swimming baths on a saturday morning for a glass of Tizer and just to take in what to my young eyes was the sheer fantasy setting of it all. Has anyone got a photograph they would be willing to share? It would be most appreciated.
Great Horton Industrial Society Ltd
We have just acquired a silver teapot with the following inscription:-
Presented to Mr L A Drake by the EMPLOYEES of the Great Horton Industrial Society Ltd February 7th 1899.
It is a beautiful antique teapot with a highly decorative surround to the central inscription. Have you any other information on this event or person ?
We are Roy & Jeanette Walker 19, Glenstrae Road Christchurch 8081 New Zealand
Email royal@xtra.co.nz
Eccleshill Fruit Stores
My parents had Eccleshill Fruit Stores around 1951 to 1957 and Hutton school was my very first school up until we moved around 1957. I remember the trolley bus terminus used to be opposite the shop. In those days that was a lovely little village and everyone knew everyone else. Happy memories of a young boy, I also had an older brother and sister. I'd love to hear from anyone who has similar memories or remembers my family
My Memories of Windhill
I was born on Woodville Street in 1945 and can remember all the back to back houses and all the shops below the parish church down to the bottom of Carr Lane, Annie Dawson's, the Co-op, Traveller's Rest etc. I bought most of the books on Windhill which were published by the Windhill Memories Group but unfortunately they were miss-placed when we moved out to Australia in February 2008. I would be interested in swapping stories of the Windhill I knew.
Memorybank total
We're very pleased and excited by your response so far to our "Share your Memories" community.
You've shared 28,834 memories of 5,945 towns & villages across the UK - keep them coming!
Find Memories
Simply search for your favourite places to read others' memories and share your own.
Tips & Ideas
Not sure what to write?
It's easy - just think of an important place in your life and ask yourself:
How does it feature in your personal history?
What are your best memories of this place?
How has it changed over the years?
How does it feel, seeing these old photos of your favourite place?
Do you remember stories about the local community, its history and people?
Start now!
It's easy to add your own memories and reconnect with your shared local history. Search for your favourite places and look for the orange "Add your Memory" icon to begin.
Places this week
Here are some of the places you've shared memories of this week:
- Thornton Heath, Surrey
- Oadby, Leicestershire
- Wrexham, Clwyd
- Blaenllechau, Mid Glamorgan
- Rhydyfelin, Mid Glamorgan
- Beverley, North Humberside
- Langley Park, County Durham
- Boxley, Kent
- Barnston, Merseyside
- High Halden, Kent
- Hawley, Hampshire
- Oban, Argyll
- Blaenavon, Gwent
- Raby, Merseyside
- Braunston, Northamptonshire
- Stadhampton, Oxfordshire
- Greasbrough, South Yorkshire
- Salford, Lancashire
- Kirkandrews-On-Eden, Cumbria
- Dagenham, Essex
- ... and lots more - Browse this week's memories now.
Your memories
To jump straight to the memories you have added already to the Community, click here
I Remember When...
This stunning compilation highlights some of the best stories selected from the thousands contributed here on the
Frith website. The result is an absorbing chronicle of British life from the Second World War to the mid 1960s.
A colourful treasure trove of memories, "I Remember When" is an
irresistible mix of personal stories and recollections that affectionately reveal the detail of everyday life in Britain.
