I lived in the Wirral from 1967-83 ....can anyone help me make a list and detail the names of the old shops that graced the Borough Road area a short distance from Tranmere Rovers and as far as the old Plaza cinema? I would really appreciate it if people had PHOTOS, and any memories of the shop keepers/shopper (including, for 30 years, my mum) I remember a specialist paint shop (now take-away) , TV repair shop, Mr Mann's newsagents, a Chemist /photographs, very posh ladies dress shop next to Sayers, and who could forget the sweets/greetings card shop GAY CARDS : ) ' Them were the the days
bloody hell,lived in singleton ave till 1985 and my mind has gone blank.there was a halifax building society on the bottom and a hoover shop on the opposite side alongside the funeral parlour.post office, clothes shop where you could get your uniform from(cannot think of the name),small goth type shop that used to sell posters tee shirts and stuff,small tea shop cafe, diy store further down that used to be opposite the petrol station thats now a dry cleaners.will come back later if i can remeber any more
There was an estate agent on the corner of Singleton Ave. and a gents' tailor a few doors up from it. There was a car radio shop on the other corner. I think that there was an Army recruitment place between the Kingsland and the Plaza.
Used to be a branch of Martins Bank on the corner of Singleton Ave/Borough Road. Opposite the car audio shop mentioned earlier. My Dad used to take me in to the bank there to have my moneybox emptied and put into a savings account. Remember the days when you got decent interest ?? ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.
Think there used to be a stamp dealers somewhere along there .
post office ? ...only joking,do vaguely remember somethink along those lines,think that may of been further down nearer the library,but my memory of my younger days aint that great.
Stamp/coin dealer was furher down Borough Road on the other side - might have been in the group of shops just past the library where Grange Electric used to be on the corner.
Soundwaves used to be a car showroom and might have been a vacuum cleaner bits shop in between iirc.
Last edited by diggingdeeper; 6th Oct 20112:37pm.
There's a real danger that the left will drag Britain back to the 1970s, with secure well-paid jobs, ample housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions, affordable rail fares and fabulous films and music. David Osland 2025
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
The estate agents were Band and Spencer. There used to be a great little shop near Birkenhead Tech end called 'Wotnots' which sold alternative hippy-type clothes and stuff (late 70s-early 80s).The woman who ran it had the longest hair ever!
The post office that was in Singleton Avenue by the car showrooms, moved onto Borough Road and was in the block of shops between the corner of Singleton Avenue and Parkend Road. The gents tailors is stil there in that same block but the post office has gone the same way as most post office in the town {closed down} Apart from the gents tailors the one other shop between Singleton Avenue and the Prenton hotel that has remained open without changing it use in the last 50 years is Sayers cake shop on the corner of Parkhill Road. That is apart from the 2 chip shops which have closed then got new owners who have refurbished and opend again.
Ships that pass in the night, seldom seen and soon forgoten
as long as i can remember, the shop next door to sayers has been a small hardware store.thanks to poppet, i posted a thread about the name of this shop about two years ago and it been bugging me ever since. "wotnots", i was a bit of a headbanger in my youth and was always in there.pretty sure there has always been a laundrette there somewhere. chris, when did the bank dissappear, my nan lived at number 3 park end road and i seem to remember something to do with dental work but not a dentist, maybe they made falsies or something,then maybe it turned to a sandwich bar.
well I must confess, as thread-starter here, I think I can go further back and come up with more, but please correct me if I get any of this wrong - seeing as I started this link. Walking from Prenton Park there was the Renault car sales place, which had a ramp and had cars on its roof....cross Temple Road way back (early 1970s), on the corner was a sweet shop which sold delicious green ice lollies which, sadly turned into the posh hairdressers Alan Paul, all dark brown decor. Further along there was a chippy, and then a butchers which had straw on the floor and just about kept the blood and guts out of sight! Next door sold freshly cut ham, biscuits and stuff, and further along, for many years, later, there was a pet shop (still there?) on the corner. The following block started with Mr Mann's newsagents, then dry cleaners, and a knitwear shop. A couple of shops later was the posh woman's wear shop - I think it was called Robb's – which took up two shops and had a curved glass frontage which, when the area started to go downhill a little, got smashed repeatedly : ( ....cross over Parkhill Road to my favour, most familiar block (directly facing Clarence Road) which contained Sayers first, then the mentioned hardwear-type shop (later, well into the 1980s), then a tv repair shop (very dusty, full of big 1960s style tellies all over sales the floor leaving just a small path to the counter) , then, my favourite, Gay Cards, where my mum worked for a while in the early 1980s. After there was, many years ago, a tiny Tescos - I kid you not! - before it became other things, then a very good greengrocers owned by a chap who looked like a huge capt mainwaring, and finally, well back into the late 1960s, a paint shop , which turned into a take away. The next block started with a photography business, then a (linked?) chemist, and further on in far off distant times a off-licence run by the Bailey family (who's son, Stephen, was in my class)....further down, the post office where, I admit, picking up a Giro or two, and then another food shop run by a chinese family, and right at the end there was a newsagents which tried to be posh, venetian blinds etc, before Martins Bank (late 1960s) ended the shops ... I hope this provokes a few memories of those approaching , ahem, 50 : ) ............................ the stamp shop was much further down, past the Carlton, and indeed on the other side of the road. I did visit it for my stamp collection, and it was ran by a small dark haired man who cycled everywhere who ran it as a stamp shop well into the 1980s. It was gracefully called The Prenton Philatelist. Nice
Garage was RE Wrights at one time Chippy was known as the "english chippy" locally Missed out another Veg shop You missed out Maypole's (Maypolls?) TV shop was Collins??? Post office moved to Borough Road from Singleton Avenue after most of the other stuff you mentioned.
There's a real danger that the left will drag Britain back to the 1970s, with secure well-paid jobs, ample housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions, affordable rail fares and fabulous films and music. David Osland 2025
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Think there used to be a stamp dealers somewhere along there .
I remember them. They also dealt with coins.
One time - it must have been in the very early 60s - somemone gave me a William IV penny in my change. I thought it must be really valuable so I took it into this dealer. I still remember the way he gently let me down and said, "Son, this coin is still legal tender."
I own the shop next to sayers, It began life as a bakery owned by mr sheppard then it was allans hardware and electrics till about 35 years ago, then borough hardware/ houseware which phil and margaret owned then 8 yrs ago started selling fruit and veg as coop bought milnes grocery store and simons fruit shop. the posh clothes shop was jenelles, there was a shoe shop were pet shop is now. the florist was between temple rd and parkstone and was called michelles for a while, gemini blinds was sweet shop, then solitaire clothes. the sign place now was a fish monger, there were 3 butchers,travel agents, 2 banks, 2 chemists, threshers, manns newsagents, halifax, post office, cutting crew hairdressers used to be next to post office now further down in what was jennelles. rubys chippy was bugsys belly bar, the wool shop was called margarites but betty humpreys owned it. supersavers was movietime ......
I thought the posh dress shop with the curved window was called Bakers? I remember a Cousins cake shop too and the Tiffin cafe which was near the Post Office ( when it had moved to Borough Rd) The chemists was Armstrong's I think? The butcher's just down from Temple Rd was Mr Scraggs (or at least that's what my mum used to call him) Then there was another chemist owned by a Mr Brown who used to make up his own cough mixture which thinking back, was a delicious dark brown sweet concoction that tasted like cough candy. The sweet shop up that end was called The Robot but I preferred Gay Cards with their 'penny box' and bubbly machines outside. Moving away slightly from Borough Rd turning right onto Prenton Rd West next to the car park entrance to the Prenton Hotel was Carefull's sweet shop which sold ice cream that had to be scooped out of the containers and wow you could get a mix of flavours if you wanted two scoops, then a pet shop, and Foo's Chippy. Crossing over the road next was a camping shop I believe? Don't get me started going up Woodchurch Lane, or I'll never end.....
Oh and the posh hairdressers was Christopher Boyton's not Alan Paul. My friend Rachel was an apprentice there and also I forgot the greengrocers on the corner was Moore's Fruit
The photography shop and the chemists on the block nearest the junction with Singleton Avenue were both once owned by a company called Montague Fisher in the 1980s. My mate's mum worked in the chemist and moved with the business when it relocated to the health centre by the Sportsman pub in Tranmere. The photography shop became a solicitors(?) firm Gordon Lindsay and Partners, owned by a former Mayor of Wirral.
Think there was once a Mace grocery shop also on the same block. Vaguely remember there being a small Tescos too, which became J&J Milnes (sp), and eventually the Co-op.
Remember these shops well from spending ages having to look at them whilst waiting for the 603 school bus to Rock Ferry High!
these posts are brilliant - ty all for bringing the memories flooding back ....and making mine more accurate! How I wish I - or someone else - had taken some photographs : (
the florist next to gemini blinds used to be a shoe repair shop I got my first cookery basket from there!. There used to be an open fronted fruit shop on that block I think where the blind shop is now. The pet shop on the corner of parkbridge used to be moores fruit shop I went in there once with my mum and threw up all over the floor. The butchers next to what was Threshers (bottom of Parkstone) was Evans's. This thread has been a real trip down memory lane for me. We moved to Singleton Ave in 1964,before it was widened, and my Mum and Dad still lived there till they passed away earlier this year. The newsagent next to what is now age concern at the bottom of the avenue was Jones'and yes it was supposed to be "posh"!. There was also a shoe shop on that block which is now or was recently a uniform shop. I can clearly remember the post office at the bottom of Singleton Avenue.
yes I remember Tesco's being there, I fainted in there when I was little and had to be taken home in the doll's pram my sister had with her that day. I also remember going in there once and asking where the 'little packets' were. I didn't realise that we called Kellog's Variety pack little packets just in our house, I'd thought that's what they were really called. The shoe repair place was called Combes I think and had that delicious glue & leather smell that all cobblers have
Can you read the name of the shop on the original? I think it's taken closer to town than by Rovers ground, where the buildings are newer. This place is older, and given the direction of the sun and the width and slope of the sideroad, it could well be on the corner of a street leading up to Derby Road, but could be anywhere between Argyle St and North Road, I think.
Can you read the name of the shop on the original? I think it's taken closer to town than by Rovers ground, where the buildings are newer. This place is older, and given the direction of the sun and the width and slope of the sideroad, it could well be on the corner of a street leading up to Derby Road, but could be anywhere between Argyle St and North Road, I think.
Lewis, possibly 177, possibly bottom of Whetstone lane.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
This is Lewis's Sweet Shop, 177 which would probably place it somewhere in the woodlands area
There's a real danger that the left will drag Britain back to the 1970s, with secure well-paid jobs, ample housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions, affordable rail fares and fabulous films and music. David Osland 2025
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
There's a real danger that the left will drag Britain back to the 1970s, with secure well-paid jobs, ample housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions, affordable rail fares and fabulous films and music. David Osland 2025
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Also interesting; looking at Gore's directory for 1900, that property doesn't exist, nor does the road between Borough Rd. and The Woodlands. Also, that length of road, on the attached map, has pavements,(dotted lines) like Borough Rd., but none of the other roads in the area do. The map is from 1912, so that road was built, together with 177 Borough Rd., between 1900 & 1912. Road now has an 'm' at each end on the map. I can't find a name for that road on any of the maps I have. Maybe it was just assumed to be a continuation of Fearnley Rd., but that is numbered from The Woodlands to Lowwood Rd. in Gore's directory.
On a large scale map from the 50's, the house standing behind Lewis's, at the end of the entry, is No.3, but no road name is given. The houses on the east side of Fearnley Road (as shown on the map)towards Lowwood Road are odd numbered in their 20's. The spacing between the two groups of houses could leave room for concurrent numbering up Fearnley Road, from Borough Road, should houses ever be built there. As you say, it is a logical assumption to regard this as Fearnley Road.
There must have been some re-numbering at some time. Here's the extract from Gore's 1900 directory, which corresponds perfectly with the 1912 map. Incidentally, the large building between The Woodlands and No.1 Fearnley is the Y.W.C.A. and its address is 42 The Woodlands.
Borough Road appears to have its odd/even numbers on the wrong sides, the general rule was that no 1 (odds) should be nearest the town hall.
There's a real danger that the left will drag Britain back to the 1970s, with secure well-paid jobs, ample housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions, affordable rail fares and fabulous films and music. David Osland 2025
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
Perhaps Fearnley Road was numbered in relation to the centre of Tranmere, and renumbered sometime after 1912 in relation to Birkenhead Town Hall. Chriskay - can you confirm this with other streets that lie in the same direction on your 1912 map, within the Tranmere boundary? It would be interesting to find out. On my 1954 map, the terrace of houses on the south west side number 18 to 36 (18 being nearest Woodlands) with the terrace of five houses on the south east side being 23 to 29. 42A The Woodlands is on the corner of Fearnley, the big house to the east of the YWCA is numbered 44, so as you say, this makes the YWCA to be number 42. As to the numbering of Borough Road - well, we already know that 177 was at the bottom of Fearnley Road, the Library lies between 329 and 367. No. 250 lay on the corner of (little) Wheatstone Lane, near Tempus Fugit, the watch shop, while 382 was next to the school at the bottom of Mount Grove. This is exactly the way you and I expect it to be - low numbers nearest the Town Hall, odds on the left, evens on the right when the TH is behind you, and that is the way it is numbered.
Fearnley Rd.was numbered from The Woodlands to Lowwood Rd., see map. This from Gore's 1900. The numbering was obviously changed at some time before your 1954 map. The short section of road from Borough Rd. to The Woodlands doesn't appear in Gore's 1900, so I guess didn't exist then. The Woodlands was numbered from Whetstone Lane (although I'm surprised it wasn't numbered from Clifton Rd). Hollybank Rd. & Lowwood Rd. numbered from Clifton Rd. Cedar St. & Maple St. numbered from Hollybank Rd. This from Gore's 1900. I only have one map with numbering on & I can't find it!! I agree with you, Norton, as to the numbering method; low numbers nearest Town Hall & odd numbers on the left, evens on the right. Smaller roads numbering from the nearest major road, and so on. Don't agree with your interpretation, DD.
Thanks for that. The only other reason that I can think of for it to be un-named and un-numbered is that at sometime it was a private lane or unadopted passage. Possibly it began as a shortcut from the school or Fearnley Hall and into the Happy Valley or Borough Road. As to 40A v 42A, I think it tends to be a case of who got to use the whole number first. A lot of the numbering must have been a guestimate as to the number of houses that could be built between two roads where no continious stretch of buildings exsisted - hence the gaps in numbering and the occasional suffix lettters.
wow! hi! presume you went to the infants an midle school then? do you have any pics? one of my favourite teachers there was mrs garret, she was lovely! -scared stiff of mr wilson!
I think the bank may have been the TSB. I always thought the building to be out of place there, as it is single story, newer than the rest and rather grey. The small windows that once had bars on them were a giveaway. I remember Montague Fisher Ltd., the photography people, opening there after the bank closed, about 1968 I guess. It didn't seem to do much buisness. It was nearly always empty when I went in there. I don't think they stayed there for too long. Their main shop was at 186 Grange Road. The address here is 724 Borough Road and the front of the building has changed a lot over the years.
You wanted some old pictures, then look at these from 1969. Just out of site on the left is Raffles Road. The cobblers is just off to the left, but there is still one there. The Good Year sign hangs outside the car dealers (Simisters). The launderette is on the corner. On the opposite corner is 'North West Finance', but the premises had previously been a grocers shop. The big building in the middle of the block is Hodgesons bakery, more lately known as Borough Road car spares. Next was E.B. Parker, the grocer, Pearsons milliners, the Fish & Chip shop, and the vegetable shop. Then Larch Road, with the fishmongers on the corner. Further along that block was Mrs. Gooch, the sweetshop. The modern building past that block was Wrights 'Wirral Way' filling station - selling Shell petrol and BMC cars and vans. On the corner of Ball Rd East is an chandlers shop, with a 'Pink Paraffin' sign on it. Out of site is the newsagents and Post Office. Also of interest are the vehicles - A VW Carmen Giah turning right while a ford Anglia, Triumph Herald and Rover 2000 wait at the lights while the Bedford TK wagon crosses. Waiting at the opposite side are an Bedford CF van, the Leyland PD2 bus on the 64 route, with a Morris Minor Van alongside, waiting to turn right, with a Mini car behind the bus. Photo's taken by the bus stop outside the Happy Valley pub, almost opposite the Library, January 1969.
Balls Rd East could be pretty treacherous in those conditions as was quite steep you could easily come unstuck in very cold weather despite being well gritted. I wouldn't like to have been a bus driver on the "Oxton Circle" (Nos 2 & 6) at times like these. I can reacll the No 6 (clockwise, up Balls Rd) not making it more than once.
Balls Rd East could be pretty treacherous in those conditions as was quite steep you could easily come unstuck in very cold weather despite being well gritted. I wouldn't like to have been a bus driver on the "Oxton Circle" (Nos 2 & 6) at times like these. I can reacll the No 6 (clockwise, up Balls Rd) not making it more than once.
I,too, remember the bus going up Balls Road East having problems on occasion. I used to catch that bus every day for many years to take me to school.
presume you went to the infants an midle school then? do you have any pics? one of my favourite teachers there was mrs garret, she was lovely! -scared stiff of mr wilson! 
