Allens Temperance Bar

Hi Mary, My name is Nancy. In my early years I was brought up in that little terraced house by my Dad and Grandparents. They were Mary and Newbury Carlton. My grandma had remarried and as I recall Newbury was called 'New' by everyone. He would go most days to his job and come back looking like one of the black and white minstrels; he was a chimney sweep and all you could see was the pink of his lips and the whites of his eyes when he came home. Grandma would be the one tending to the shop. The counter had two large barrels, one at each end, filled with sarsaparilla. I seem to remember green tins lining the shelves at the back of the counter, filled with all manner of herbal remedies. On Saturdays the shop would be filled with the local football team when they would come in for a well earned refresher after a match. There was one room that we lived in at the back of the shop. It was very cramped and grandma would stand me on a chair and scrub me down; the only person to use a bath was graddad; which was not plumbed in. His chimney brushes sat in a cart in the yard right next to the outside loo. Thankfully we didn't all have to sleep in the same room, there was one for me and dad, and one for my grandparents. I would play along the cobbled back alley and the open field aside the mill. My dad and I would take one of those wind up aeroplanes and he would let it go, needless to say I was the one to retrieve the plane when it crash landed. Years later I was so upset that riots took place outside my grandma's shop; I'm glad she wasn't here to see it for surely it would have distressed her to the core.I am in the process of trying to obtain a picture so I will post as soon as I get one. Sorry I don't have many memories but it's lovely to find someone that remembers the temperance bar. It has long disappeared and been taken over by a fabric shop i believe.

Hello Nancy,

Very interesting - I lived in Springfield Street (Off White Abbey Road) adjacent to the row of shops that existed then.
I remember Allens Drink Shop, which was as you remember it - The elderly lady ran the shop and it was a rarity to see her husband in the 'Bar' There was only one table and three chairs.
I do remember buying sasparilla and Hot Lemon - which in those days cost 8d. (This would be about 1956) The field at the back of the shop commonly known as the 'Old Inni' is still there.
There were every type of shop in that row - Nutters Fish shop/ Greengrocers/ Haberdashery /Tinners Hardware/ Washingtons Newsagents/ Whittakers Chemist/ Wolstenholme mens barbers/ And of course Maud Gobbi's pie shop/ Co op grocers/ Charlie the Butchers/ Silvios - and so many more.
All of that line are now gone, and I share your distress at the riots that took place - I was a Police Officer in attendance at those disgraceful displays, the perpetrators should hang their heads in shame. Bradford is forever scarred and to understand the comparisons, you had to live there at a time when society was so very different.

If you want to check on facebook - an old school friend of mine called Reg. Nelson has a recent picture of Allens drink shop, there was also a second similar shop on Manningham Lane at the end of Bowland Street.
I have so many happy memories of those days, and Bradford as it once was, please feel free to contact me if I can assist your enquiries (aahindle@hotmail.com)

The first contributor above (Mary) may be interested in these comments - St Patricks School and Church in particular may produce some interesting stories for her! although her entry is 16 years ago.

Kind regards - Anthony.