Birkenhead In The Old Days

A Memory of Birkenhead.

I lived in Whitfield Place one street down from The Queens Hall picture house later called The Queens Dance Hall; also danced in The Kingsland, The Legion beside the Park Mikes, Byrne Ave and many others. I remember the club over Burton's - it was called The Craftsmans. Those days in Birkenhead were such happy days, I knew almost everyone in that area and most of the people in St Andrews Square mostly the boys. The many pubs in that area; The Manchester Arms, The Brown Jug, The Cobermere. Saw many a good stage show on the Ritz and many movie stars.
We would walk up Grange Road on a Saturday looking in all the shops Woolies, Marks, and British Home Store and then up to The Market to see if we could get a bargain from Eli. I remember he used to sell off the back of a lorry and would bring out a closed box, and before he even opened, all the people would shout, "ere are Eli" he would then open the box and sell the article. Also another vendor I remember was the man who sold dishes; he would offer them for sale and every now and again if nobody bought he would smash some of them to draw the crowd. Oh what memories, I could go on forever... Maybe I will write some more memories again soon.

Ken McGuire