Old Birkenhead Market. I thought this so much better than the new one. Can't replace those smells and characters. No date on this

The nut corner. Was this the guy who had loads of different nuts stacked up

The new one, which I visited yesterday, is a dismal place and almost deserted.
The old one was always busy, and fun, especially outside on a Saturday night.

Ely looks busy !

Wasn't that Donnelly?

Mmmm. Oops, I think you are right. I'm sure there was an Ely in the market - or was it Eli ?? Memory - wot memory ??? Help !

Eli was in the corner in the inside bit of the outside market, anyway the bit that wasn't the main hall.

Do you have Irish ancestry, Bert?

my gran used to work on a greengrocers stall in there and as a little girl i used to sit behind the very high counter on all the sacks and colour in my colouring book i must have been about 3yr

wow thats an old pic thanks for sharing Pablo

People used to queue up just to listen to Eli's patter. He'd have all the women buying off him. I can still hear me mam shouting,'E R Eli.'

my first ever job at 15 was working on an outside stall selling royal albert bone china sets to the public the stall was run buy a guy called roy who was similar to eli and used to bid the prices down banging the counter with some trunchen type thing , tha stall was round the back buy the tunnel entrance, he used to pay for our dinner and used to go to a cafe called betty's for our break... ahh the memories of the old market

I have Chris and what bloody trouble they've caused.
Eli's stall was under cover in an area known as the outside market, this area could have been an after thought and added on to the main hall after it was built. It was known as I remember it as "The inside bit of the outside market"

Confession time. I went with my mother and wife shopping in there. My wife threw a cigarette butt on the cobbled floor and I laughingly said you will set fire to the place. It burnt down that night.

I liked the best place in the old market it was Amies Cafe just before the steps as you descend into the fruit market it had a little covered part where you could sit and watch the people shopping, pie WHITE potatoes and peas, my Gran and I spent some time there when I took her shopping my Gran was blind and I took her to the Market every Saturday.

I remember that cafe, brilliant, but what I can't remember if that was the same cafe that sold Horlicks in proper Horlicks mugs, the type that had no hole in the handle and the steam machine that fluffed the Horlicks up. I seem to remember all the tables and chairs were yellow with a touch of red here and there.

Yes, I know exactly where you mean, Bert. It always felt "outside" even though it had a roof.

Yes it was, remember the potatoes being pure white, the pie was perfect, and the conversations with my nan filled me with joy as she spoke of her childhood, then we would meander home to our house number nine Conway Place just opposite the old stables.

any one remember the threepenny bit stalls in the middle hence the shape

Remember them well, one sold pieces of leather so you could re-sole your shoes and boots, also sold all the different size sprigs for nailing the leather on. Long before the days of stick on soles. Went to that stall in late 40s very early 50s with my dad to get the pieces of leather.

There was a guy who stood by the toilets at the Market St & Hamilton St junction. He sold cheap toys, but the main attraction was those warbling bird noise devices that you put in your mouth. The sound of canaries singing all over the street!

i can recall a chap called leon who had a toy stall oposite amies cafe. it was the best toy stall ever.

i remember a toy stall on the inside market,they had dinkys and matchbox models in glass cases.wish id kept the boxes!!!!!! used to stand there looking at them,great,the whole market inside and out was totally atmospheric,running up the steps and into the main market priceless .

That toy stall on the inside market was called Cook's and was run by a tubby bloke who always wore a grey overall. His wife worked there with him.

It was a bit posher than the usual toy stall - such as the cheap and cheerful Leon's - and specialised in Dinkys and Corgis, as well as model soldiers and animals. I think it may also have sold Meccano kits and Mamod model steam engines.

My mate and I spent most of our childhood drooling at the wonderful stuff in those glass cases, which was totally unattainable to paupers like us. My life's ambition was to own a Dinky tank transporter (complete with tank), which lay there in all its glory at some ungodly price - possibly 12/6d or more. A sum we could only dream about.

you should see the price of dinkys now!!!i collect them you pay £10 or more for battered ones.worth it though to own them,they are iconic.

the nice thing about leons toy stall was his presentation wich was superb. maybe it was cheap and cheerful but that was all we had in the early fifties.

These are great pics.... I was nine or ten when the old market burned down, I think it stemmed from a fire in a club below it. My dad and I went to the scene when it happened. I won't forget it.

I have many a fond memory of it, even being separated from my parents aged about 4yrs old and being lost and crying and some kind man picking me up and carried me round to find them which he did and it was normal because kids do get lost when you are a scamp like I was.... its so different today. It was an imposing building to a child and very loud but it was normal and as I got older, I got to know all the different parts.... the smell of the fish stalls etc. the outside part.... memories are vague to some degree but seeing the pictures of the old market bring them back to life for me.

I will show the mum thingy these pics and see what else she can jog of my memory.

Thank you for sharing.