Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Building firm from Wallasey Village

Hello, has anyone got any info on the old building firm of Tate, Pumford and Doherty (spelling) ? Trying to find more info on this firm and the last address is "Cosmo Garage, Wallasey"
Any help appreciated
Cheers Chris.

Don't recognise the name, but the Cosmo Garage is now the car sales place next to the Farmers Arms. Eric Gringrod used to run it when it was an Esso garage & when I was a kid Ronnie Ward had it as a wooden shed with motor bikes in which he used to race on the beach.

I have a picture of the old Cosmo Cinema which later became the Cosmo Garges.

Hi, my Mum was good friends with Nora and Irene Pumford, (Father was Harold the builder), she thinks some of them moved to Chester. We think that they built along Grove Road and the cul-de-sacs, but not sure. If my Mum finds anything will let you know.

Paul

Your picture (1916 I think) clearly shows the sweet shop on the right (still there but closed now) and you can see the sweep of the tram tracks off into Sandy Lane on the left.

However, my record says the Cosmo opened in 1913, reopened as the Coliseum in 1924 and became the Phoenix in 1951 (and that closed in 1983). The buildings after that were apartments. I am not aware of any garage on that site.

Question - where is the Farmer's Arms? maybe I just can't make it out in the picture. It should be the building immediately south of the Cosmo in your picture ie the one with the advertising boards on the wall - but the building shape is all wrong. My pic shows the Farmers and the bike shop beyond. I suppose that when the bike shop went it could have been replaced by a Cosmo Grarge. For sure the present car sales place is on the site of that bike shop. My mum (92 next week!) remembers buying a bike at that bike shop. She will also remember who ran it, who they married, what they had for dinner etc etc. Mum is like that. Tomorrow I will ask her about Tate, Pumford and Doherty. I certainly know the name Tate from the village. Mrs Tate ran a greengrocers just by the top of Stonehouse Road (now the hairdressers). May not be any link of course. I have heard the name Pumford (or was it Pulford?) mentioned but cannot recall in what context. I'm getting old as well.

Snod

Thanks for the info so far,
Chris

Telephone directories between 1940 and 1970 show no entry for a "Tate, Pumford and Doherty", there is however, a listing for "Joseph Tate and Sons, builder".

Joseph Tate and Sons was located in Breck Road in 1940 but had moved to 241 Wallasey Village by 1950. 241 is, as far as I can make out, just about where the Cosmo/Phoenix was.

The 1955 directory gives their address as 150 Wallasey Village (probably within the St Mary's College site) and they remained here until the 1963 directory, in which they do not appear.

This looks like where Toronto garages were and then parkmere auto centre, i used to work here and was told there used to be a cinema here.

Toronto/parkmere has now been knocked down and the land has been sold.
If i`m right the building on the right of the picture is now a hairdressers.

No, Toronto and the car sales were the OTHER (northern) side of the sweet shop with the barbers on the other side.

Snod

The pic below (1907) gives the view north and the area to the left is about where Toronto used to be. The stone walls on the left were removed when the road was widened to make way for the tram lines. The building 'end on' at the left is still there (the barbers - Andrea's)

Snod

Ahh, i see now, thanks snod.
My how the village has lost a lot of its character over the years
Life as we know it now is always rushed and its places like this once wonderful little village what take the backlash from modern day society
Sad really.

Been having a look through a "Kellys" directory from 1937 and Tate Pumford and Doughty are listed as being at 223a Wallasey Village, Wallasey. This address is also listed in the same directory as a "Garage Propriotors" (spelling). I wonder was the firm also selling motor cars ?
Cheers Chris.

The Farmers is 225 Wallasey Village so the address you give is right for the site now occupied by Classic Cars.

I spoke with mum yesterday and she agrees that the present Classic Cars site is where the bike shop used to be - then she went on with names of the bike shop owners etc as she knew them in the 1920s/30s ie Gringod etc.

On seeing the pic I posted of the Farmers and the bike shop my dad commented that the wall advert for a Raleigh bike at £14-19-6 is VERY expensive for the era.

This still does not answer my query - where is the Framers Arms in the pic originally posted by Liberator? The Phoenix was BEFORE the pub and on the other side of the pub was the bike shop. Similarly, the Cosmo should have been before the pub with the bike shop on the other side. However, despite using a magnifier I cannot see any sign of the pub and maybe there is a "space" between the Cosmo and the bike shop?? When did they build the Farmers Arms?

I suppose it is JUST possible that the Farmers was built between the time someone too the pick Liberator posted and someone took the pic that I posted and which definitely shows the Farmers.

Looking past the bike shop to the house further down ie towards Spark's market garden area, close by that is a sign/ placard leaning against the wall. That sign will have been advertising the drinks sold by Mrs Povall. Mrs Povall had a small shop (very small, almost a big shed) that you accessed down some steps. As I remember it (early 50s) she had an all-glass "hubble bubble" machine that generated carbon dioxide from baking soda and that was used to make fizzy drinks. I think she used to make her own drink fruit concentrates from fruit grown on the market gardens of just collected from the hedgerows.

Anyone else remember Mrs Povall?

Snod

Took me a minute to realise you were referring to me when you said "Liberator"!! Been a long day!

Here's a small pic of a map of Wallasey Village 1898.





This is before the changes were made (nearest I can get to the date). Maybe where I have put the black cross on the map is where the Cosmo Cinema would be built. That means the building next to the Farmers is the first building in the picture. Looking at the map there is then 4 buildings (after the black cross I added and where the Cosmo would be built) and if you look at my picture there is 4 chimneys. The last of the 4 building along slightly juts out on the map - and if you look in the picture you can just see the 4th building along, after the Cosmo, just jutting out.

Any clearer mate?

The present Farmer's Arms has a date on it of 1924, which is after that picture was taken (c1916)



But

The Farmer's Arms wasn't next to the Cosmo cinema, or at least not next to the Coliseum cinema according to the 1938 Kelly Directory the road is as follows:

215 & 217 Povall, Mrs Harrison tobccnst.
219 Little, Mrs Elsie
221 Webster, Miss Margaret
223 Concannon, Jsph corporation employee
223a Cosmo Garage Co, garage proprtrs
223a Tate, Pumford & Doughty, builders
225 "Farmer's Arms" Mrs Alice Mand Parkes
229 Burton, Miss Nancy confectnr
231 Coliseum Picture House, Henry Manchester mngr
233 Brown Jn, hairdrssr.