Old Shops and Businesses

It is nothing unusual for shops to change hands or be put to a different use or even to cease trading altogether but Mirfield had a plethora of small shops that we thought would always be there but sadly are now gone altogether. We had a Tobacconist and Marsden's Jewellers in the main run of shops from King Street and Mr. Mountain the hairdresser on the corner of King Street itself. The hairdresser's later became Bruce's Pet Shop when he moved from Nettleton Road where he had traded next to Binney's Fish Restaurant. Also on Eastthorpe was a little sweet shop next to Ramsden's Butchers that was run by two little ladies.

At the top side of the entrance to the Horseshoe yard in Leeds Road was a little wooden lockup shop that sold sweets and pop etc. and another was on Huddersfield Road close to the bottom of Coppin Hall Lane. Situated on Crossley Lane just above Wellhouse Avenue was a tiny shop where we would call and buy a bottle of pop when we had been roaming around Crossley Bottoms on a hot summer's day. It had a raised flagged area in front of it and the door was to the right of its window. This gable end, clearly depicted in the photo, is the only evidence left today that it ever existed.

Further up Crossley Lane on the outside of the sharp bend where the footpath to Norristhorpe starts was Wood's bacon factory (now a farm). There were pig pens on the left hand end of the factory where the pigs were kept before slaughtering. I'll skip the details here to spare the squeamish but from there they were hoisted into the factory where machines hot-washed the carcasses and stripped off the body hair. The process continued until the meat products were ready to be shipped from the other end of the factory. I was inside the factory on a few occasions as I knew someone who worked there and I can assure you that the smell took some getting used to. You can read a description of a visit to the bacon factory in the 1957 issue of the  Modern School magazine.  I hear children today going along Crossley Lane saying that they are going to Piggy Woods and I wonder if they know that Piggy Wood was the nickname of the owner of the factory or if they are referring to the trees in Crossley Bottoms.

In Lee Green, just downhill from the Shoulder of Mutton and on the opposite side of the road was Mr. Pattinson's green grocery business. He conducted his business from a wooden shop and also from a cart drawn by a white horse with which he would tour all over Mirfield to serve his customers. Just below Mr. Pattinson's was the Spice Boiler's shop run by Mr. Brearley. He had a counter just inside the door where he would sell his boiled spice and a large table in the centre of the room where he would roll out and cut the mixture. We loved the sugary smell inside his shop. Across the road was a coop store and there was also Mirfield Industrial Cooperative Society on Town Hall Street in Mirfield who had a clothing department where my mother would spend her war time clothing coupons.

For Sunday opening we had Mrs. Wood whose shop was in a mid terrace house in the row of houses just after the Methodist Chapel on Old Bank Road. This very old photograph shows the row of houses where the shop was. You were only allowed by law to purchase hardware items on a Sunday but Mrs. Wood was flexible so long as you were discreet. While we are on Old Bank Road I should perhaps mention the Lion Stores who sold general groceries and was a little further along on the same side where there is now a hairdresser's shop.

On the corner of Lee Green and Water Royd Lane, opposite the Saville Arms public house was Miss Jessie's shop (now William Hill's) selling general provisions. Her shop door was on what is now the back of the shop accessible from Lee Green and not on Waterroyd Lane as in now the case. Just along Water Royd Lane itself was Stout's Store (now a sandwich shop) which was another general grocer and very popular due to its proximity to Kitson Hill estate.

At Towngate, just at the bottom of Sous Lane, was the store and headquarters of Mirfield Perseverance Cooperative Society, the forerunner of the Food Fair. The loading bay was up the left side of the store giving access to the upstairs storage area and the manager, Mr. Alan Middleton in the 1950s and beyond, had his office at the right side of the building. The Secretary was Mr. Fred Pinder and his office was among the houses up the lane at the right where we would go to collect our dividend (divy) at the appropriate time of year. My mother was an early member of the coop as borne out by her coop number of 102.

On the front view, the main store filled the central and left parts of the building while the window and door at the right was for the hardware department. The photo shows an extra door to the left of the original one which was created when the building was converted to houses.

At the bottom of Camm Lane was the corner shop known as the tuck shop where the Grammar School kids used to buy crisps and drinks. We also used to get a ha'penny spanish and ka-li which was a sherbert type powder served in a small paper bag. You sucked the stick of spanish then dipped it in the ka-li which then stuck to it so that you would get the tingling sensation of the ka-li when you sucked again. This is now a house having closed several years ago. Also converted to a house is the corner shop at the bottom of Nab Lane.

The other notable corner shop at the bottom of Lee Green has finally sucumbed and was converted to housing during 2004.

Today we seem to have more than our fair share of Indian and Chinese takeaways along with a couple of Pizza Houses. Those among you who enjoy such exotic fair may rejoice in this fact but when I was growing up we were served by the good old fish and chip shop and old habits die hard. For all of my life there had been a fish and chip shop on Greenside Road (pictured left) but the owners retired and the shop was closed at the end of 2003 and then was demolished during 2005. When I was living on Kitson Hill Estate we were also visited by a mobile fish shop and also the pie and pea wagon. At the same time the ice cream man pulled his handcart single handed up to the estate from Crossley's ice cream factory at Ravensthorpe. He laboured between the shafts on the uphill stretches and fought the momentum of the cart on the downhill run. The hand cart gave way to the motor van a few years later but he still announce his arrival with a handbell.

Any journey into the centre of Mirfield wasn't complete without us spending ages with our noses pressed up against the window of Laurie Armitage's cycle shop. This seemed the centre of the universe to us lads and had the very latest speed machines with their light-weight frames, drop handlebars and saddles narrow enough to cut you in half. This was the time when the Sturmy Archer 3 gear hubs were giving way to Derailleurs and double chainwheels were new technology. With the old Sturmy Archer you had to back pedal to change gear whereas the derailleur worked its magic while still pedaling for your life. A top of the range bike would have a 6 gear derailleur and a double chainwheel giving 12 gears in all, and then came the treble chainwheels... Laurie Armitage also had a shop in Ravensthorpe which was the headquarters for the cycle club. The photo is by the late Ian E. Gawthorpe and is reproduced with the kind permission of Christine Gawthorpe.

Local Pubs and Clubs that have disappeared

The Robin Hood Inn


The Horseshoe Inn

The King's Head


The Bridge Hotel

The Wheatsheaf Inn


The Yewtree Inn