Hillsborough Shops Of The Past

[beechnut 10]

... Old Sydney Hemmines was a real gentleman grocer, in his white apron and horn-rimmed spectacles. In the pre-supermarket days my mum would send me there every Saturday with the weekly order. ... Sydney Hemmines died in 1974, aged 80, and the business (with shops in Holme Lane and Wadsley Lane) was inherited by his son Gerald, who was a very likeable chap but he didn't have quite the same flair for business.

 

You certainly know your stuff, hillsbro! I also remember Mr Hemmines, a kindly old gentleman. Gerald used to drive the van for Saturday deliveries. Didn't he marry one of the assistants? It's a pity that these family grocer's businesses have all but died out, as they gave very good service.

 

Hopkinsons was another good grocer's shop, on the corner of Taplin Road. They survived longer than most independent grocers, but eventually bowed the inevitable when supermarkets took over.

[hillsbro 32]

.. Gerald used to drive the van for Saturday deliveries. Didn't he marry one of the assistants?

 

Yes - Gerald married Dorothy, who started as a teenage assistant in the 1940s. They managed to celebrate their Silver Wedding but Dorothy died suddenly a year or so later; she was only 53. That would have been around 1977.

 

My mother also used to send me to Hopkinsons for some things that she particularly wanted. I remember the smart manager there with his wavy hair and friendly smile. Althams next door was also good for housewares/hardware. Their shop included a travel agency which still survives in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

[MJM1962 10]

Living near the bottom of Dykes Hall Road I don't remember these shops so well, but I do remember that Pinders was a very good newsagent. There was also Oates' radio/TV shop on the corner of Willis Road - the two brothers really knew their stuff and could be relied upon for advice on repairs, what to buy etc. Dora Webster was probably the best bakers in the area. Badgers on the corner of Carlton Road also had the sub-post office until fairly recently. Nearby on Catch Bar Lane was Bert Beach's cycle shop which was taken over by Tony Butterworth in 1964 and is still going strong. Here is a scan of the Middlewood Road shops from the 1973 directory: http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/MiddlewoodRoad.jpg

 

The Middlewood Rd shop list brings back a lot of memories, thanks. My grandparents owned Massey's and I spent a lot of time growing up around that area. My great grand parents also had a boot repairers shop on Leppings Lane, JW Reeve, at number 78. I went to school with Kathryn Pinder from the newsagents, it all seems a long time ago now, but lovely memories.

[hillsbro 32]

MJM1962 - I looked in 1925 directory for Leppings Lane and, sure enough, your great-grandparents' shop is given there at No 78 "James William Reeve, boot repairer". Next door, on the corner of Eskdale Road, was "Charles Smith, grocer".

[deelightful3 10]

Thats right I had forgotten about photoco,and there was a jewellers on there.

Was there once a snooker hall where the Silver Dragon was?

 

yes that shop is where i had my ears peirced

[MJM1962 10]

MJM1962 - I looked in 1925 directory for Leppings Lane and, sure enough, your great-grandparents' shop is given there at No 78 "James William Reeve, boot repairer". Next door, on the corner of Eskdale Road, was "Charles Smith, grocer".

 

Thats fantastic, thanks for looking, I would love to find some photo's of that sort of area, but have never been able to.

[hillsbro 32]

I only have one old photo of Leppings Lane, dating from around 1908 - here it is:

 

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/LeppingsLane.jpg

 

This is looking towards Penistone Road; your great-grandparents' shop would have been just off the photo at the left side.

 

And here are two old photos of Hillsborough Corner:

 

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Hillsborough.jpg

 

The upper photo (looking towards Bradfield Road) dates from the early 1930s and shows Miss Wood's toy shop at the far left, then "G. Strutt & Co" wholesale grocers, and then Hemmines. A few years later, Joseph Hemmines purchase Strutt's property and expanded his business next door.

 

The lower photo, dating from shortly before the First World War, was taken looking towards Middlewood Road. William Bush's grocer's shop is the single-storey building at the right (later rebuilt as two storeys and housing Burtons, Greenwoods etc.) Bill Bush's grandson, Reginald P. Bush, later had a high-class grocer's shop further on Middlewood Road, on the corner of Keyworth Road - this business survived well into the 1970s. On the left of the photo is the "Hillsbro Inn" with Richard Snook given as the licensee. He must have recently taken over; in the early 1900s the licensee was Isaac Shires. In the middle of the photo you can just see part of the National School, which was demolished in the 1930s and was where Woolworths/Superdrug is now.

Edited June 30, 2018 by hillsbro

[sweetdexter 10]

Thanks for the photo's Hillsbro.

The Hillsborough Inn was my first regular pub about 1957.

I can only remember the landlords name was Wilf.

[MJM1962 10]

Thanks for the photo's Hillsboro. I live at the other end of Sheffield now, but went to school at Marlcliffe and Wisewood, I spent a lot of time just hanging around, as you do at that age, so I never tire of looking at Hillsborough images, it takes me back to my youth.

[hillsbro 32]

It's nice to know that the photos are appreciated! I have dozens of old photos and postcards of Hillsborough but many of them are quite "ordinary". But here is another old photo showing the Hillsbro Inn, this time with Isaac Shires as licensee. It’s a postcard produced by the local firm of Furness & Co, and has a 1906 postmark. I like the "human activity" in this photo - the groups of people at the left, eyeing the cameraman, one man with a clay pipe; more people at the right (plus a horse) and of course the tram in the middle with its smart, erect driver. A moment in time captured.

 

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Hillsborough2.jpg

 

And here is another photo of Middlewood Road, looking north-westerly. It isn’t dated but must also be early 1900s. Pearson’s shop is on the corner of Taplin Road, offering "Gilmour’s wines and spirits". Duncan Gilmour & Co was a local firm – at one time they had a brewery in Dixon Lane. One of their pubs in the Hillsborough area was the Hillsborough Hotel on Langsett Road. They also had the Beehive on West Street (later the Foundry & Firkin).

 

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Hillsborough3.jpg

[nosy nellie 10]

Fantastic photographs.Thank you Hillsbro.

I remember Woolworths being built on Hillsborough but I can,t remember what was there before,can you jog my memory?

Also can anyone remember The Tarzan field behind the shops at the top of Bradfield Road?

[hillsbro 32]

The Tarzan field is unknown to me, but I was never a Tarzan fan...

 

After the National School was demolished in the 1930s, the site of Woolworths was just waste land. Nowadays it would be a car park, but it was just a muddy square of land (after rainy weather the puddles were excellent for making mud pies) with a low wall at the front. The alleyway at the right-hand side, which I think was called Bradfield Place, led past the back of the Don Bakery (with its smelly milk churns) to a door in a wall, through which was the Blue Ball Inn. The first part of the alleyway is still there with its cobblestones.

 

Woolworths must have been built in c. 1959. The "grand opening" was announced with much publicity, and the first 100 customers (my mum was one) received a carrier bag full of tinned food etc. - it all had the "Kingsmere" trade-name which was Woolworth's "own brand" at the time.