Saturday Afternoon Shopping

A Memory of Dewsbury.

I remember Dewsbury on Saturday afternoons when everyone was shopping for bargains in the market and shops. You couldn't move for people and trying to go round Woolworths was a nightmare! Everywhere was heaving with people and yet there were very few disruptions of fights - they were reserved for Saturday night after dancing in the Town Hall.

I was born in 1948 in Dewsbury - Savile Town - and apart from living in Leeds for 2 years have been a resident of Dewsbury all my life, I now live in Staincliffe. There have been many, many changes and not all for the better. At the time of the photos, in the 1960s, Dewsbury was a County Borough and when it changed to Kirklees the town started to change. There have been new buildings and improvements in some areas but it doesn't have the 'vibe' it had all those years ago. Even the market doesn't have the variety of goods it used to sell.....remember 'Aka Bilk' who had a huge crockery stall in the market and always wore a striped waistcoat and bowler hat?

As someone mentioned, there were 5 cinemas - Essoldo, ABC, Tudor, Rex and Pioneer. There were also dances at the Rex (Galleon) and Ben Rily Hall (Bin Lid) and of course on Saturdays at the Town Hall. Some of the pubs I can remember are The Little Saddle, which was by Freeman, Hardy & Willis shoe shop and the back entrance was opposite Caddy's Ice Cream Parlour. The Scarborough Hotel opposite the Town Hall and was behind Hilton's shoe shop, The Granby which was on Broadway and the Great Northern in the curving building from Crackenedge Lane onto Corporation Street. There was the Market Tavern on Church Street near the bottom of Daisy Hill and another one on the corner of Church Street and South Street, which I think was called the White Rose but as I wasn't old enough to drink before it was demolished, I never went in it - not that I went in the others either. In all my 60+ years I have been in 3 Town Centre pubs!

Does anyone remember the tiny La Ronde cafe down the side of Caddy's and just before the little fish and chip shop? Our 'gang' from school went in the cafe after school and previous to this, when I was in the Girl Guides we used to go for a bag of chips at the 'chippy' when we had been to Guides, which was held in the Church Hall (no longer there) on South Street.

I could go on for ever recalling places - Sylvio's, Dempster Listers, Thorne's, Auty's Music, the list is endless - such a shame it all had to change.