An Exciting Place For A 5 Year Old

A Memory of Eccles.

I used to love Gilda Brook Road when I was little! I lived in Snowdon Road and we would walk in to The Village ( Eccles) via Clarendon Crescent and Clarendon Road. The corner where Clarendon Road met Gilda Brook Road was the most exciting place for my young self; first the Pet Shop with all the animals to be admired, then the huge-seeming Toy Shop, with one half dedicated to bicycles , the other to every toy you could possibly imagine , then a magical Sweet Shop ( the name Crossley's seems to come to mind?)
There was another sweet shop further along on the other side too, I think . One sold Wall's ice cream, the other Lyon's and I could never decide which I preferred.
Along Gilda Brook Road, towards the Polygon, was Carr's Off Licence, where my friend Lleryn lived. I really envied her, a) because she lived in a shop and b) because she was named after the place where her parents spent their honeymoon! ( Mind you, if I'd been named according to that rule, I'd be called Blackpool...)