THINGS YOU DON'T SEE ANYMORE (Part 2)

[tilly]

Bilberry Pies Yum.Yum.I have not seen them for years i think they were a northern treat i dont think you could buy them down south.

[jdbythesea]

During the summer hols my two girls loved to be at their grandma's at Brierfield near Burnley. One of the treats they loved was to spend a day at Hardcastle Crags above Hebden Bridge picking bilberries by the basketful. Grandma would make umpteen pies and when they came back home to Leeds it seemed that we ate them for weeks. Haven't tasted any as good in 30 years or more.

[j.c.d.]

Those Square gaming machines that hung on the wall, you put a halfpenny in and out came a silver ball, you propelled it with a spring lever up tp a row of cups 5 Win and 1 Lose, (it invariably went in Lose) but if you did win you got your coin back and a free go. the last time I remember seeing them, apart from in Blackpool Arcades, was in the Horror Museum under Burtons Tailor's shop in that side street across Vicar Lane from the Corn Exchange.

[jim]

Horror Museum? Don't remember that one Tell us more!

[j.c.d.]

Horror Museum? Don't remember that one Tell us more!

This was downstairs under Montague Burtons Shop which was on the corner of Vicar Lane and down this street (runs parallel with Duncan street.) There was a Pub nearby where my Father used to go for an hour or so, he would give my brother and I a couple of coppers and off we would go. it was downstairs and always smelt damp and musty. it was one old penny entrance and you were given a coin which fitted any machine, as did your pennies. apart from a few slot machines all the other ones were of a macabre nature i.e. Charles Peace being hung and various grisly murders were re enacted . around the walls on shelves where wax heads of famous murderers with all the details of their crimes and their subsequent fate. One of the other heads on show was "The man who had an iron bar through his head and lived" I think this fascinated my brother and I the most. he was a coal miner who had supposedly survived a pit fall and his waxen stare with the bar protruding from his face and the blood, quite scary for us kids.
Think it became a Club in later years and also think the Pub I referred to has been demolished.

P.S. Don't Recall it was actually called "The Horror Museum" but that' what we kids knew it as.

[jim]

Thanks j.c.d. About what date/period was the place operating?

[j.c.d.]

Thanks j.c.d. About what date/period was the place operating?

About 1947. That short street went from Vicar Lane to what was then the back of the Woolworths store on Briggate.

[jim]

Thanks again j.c.d.

[dogduke]

Have not seen fire buckets anywhere for ages,its all modern
extinguishers and hose reels

[j.c.d.]

Have not seen fire buckets anywhere for ages,its all modern
extinguishers and hose reels

The ones filled with sand in public buildings always seemed to have fag ends / packets thrown in them.