Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History The Old Market

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.