This photo shows the Pacitto cafe on Dovecot Street in June 2009. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
This photo shows the Pacitto cafe on Dovecot Street in June 2009.
I am looking for any information on the Diduca Family who lived in Stockton in the 1930s who had an ice cream shop.
The Diduca family ice cream shop was at the corner of Lindsay Street and Pearson Street in Parkfield, Stockton. I believe one of the Diduca daughter’s married name was Greco; I sat next to her son Michael Greco in one of my classes at St. Cuthbert’s School. I lived very close, in the next street to Pearson Street. Their ice cream was delish!
Hi June, just seen a post about the Diduca family. My Mam was Alvira Diduca
the daughter of Julie Diduca. Unfortunately my Mam just passed away on Boxing Day age 95 and Tess passed away last year age 102 .
Hi Mark
My Mum Verona Anne Morris Lived at 5 Moses Street. Her Mum Eliza Jane died when Mum was only 7, leaving her older sister Olive to bring up a 2 year old, my mum and a blind father. She always said that the Diduca Family who owned the Ice cream Parlour on the corner practically brought her up. And I can always remember on the strike of 12 New Years eve she phoned The Diduca family and wished them A Happy New Year they must of a made a big impression on mum because she never rang anyone else. Mum died 20 years ago she was 78 years old.
I have just found out that Pacitto’s has closed….I am visiting relatives and asked them to buy some ice cream for me to take home now that I have left the area. My children would always be bought ice cream on visits to my parents; and they loved it too..I loved going to the cafe and the ice cream was the best I have ever tasted. I remember being taken for a knickerbocker glory and eating ice cream in lemonade on lots of occasions. I loved going there and yes I remember the lady that worked there: I think she was the daughter of the owner and always looked very smart. And yes the cafe the other side of the town was really interesting inside.
Such a shame it has gone.
Best ice cream, also memories of how Stockton was always sunny and people gave people a smile. We no longer live there but often think of returning! Would love it to be what once was. Home 🙂
Hannah, Stockton people were not always so sunny. When Italy came into the war in 1940 on the side of the Germans both Rossi and Pacitto’s shops were wrecked by a crowd of angry people. It was something my parents and many other people were not proud of though you could understand it happening in those frightening times.
Yvonne and her Sister both went to Richard Hind Girls School one of them married the son of Marshals biscuit’s. I saw Yvonne in the shop one day after I retired she recognised my wife and I we had a long talk about the old days.
On leave from the Army after coming back from abroad I met Joan in the Maison and it was instant, so she took me to her Saturday hide out which was Pacitto’s back room with her pals and had my first ice cream in a very long time, delicious, a Knicker Bocker Glory, well I had to treat the girl, two spoons (I was not that rich) and a lot of laughs. Both Pacitto girls worked in the shop at that time and the coffee was better then the stuff we pay pounds for today.
A sad day that another institution has gone, you can still get ice cream and coffee in the new business arcade though, we move on and as us old birds fall off the perch so memory dims.
I’ve just seen this about Pacittos and I’ve got to say that the first shop in Yarm Lane was not where people are say it was. The first one was just as you turn in to Yarm Lane from the High Street on the left, it consisted of 2 rooms – the back one had a big roaring fire in there meaning that you could not stay there very long because you became so hot and you had go out to the front shop. The staff were brilliant especially one called Winnie who could wield a tea towel like a good sword player – she never missed. The good old days.
Does anyone know the secret recipe to the ‘yellow top’ ? I remember it as a kid and still enjoy as a 31 year old.
Ken Sawyer – The old Pacittos at the bottom of Yarm Lane was a classic ice cream parlour as was Rossis near the Empire. Like you I favoured Pacittos but there wasn’t much in it. Long gone – very sad. The replacement Pacittos in Dovecote Street and at the bottom of Yarm Lane on the opposite side didn’t have that atmosphere.
I’d also forgotten about Pacitto’s until a recent visit to Stockton – the first in 20 years. Used to visit it in the 60’s – also Rossi’s, but preferred Pacitto’s.
The attractive girl in question must surely have been Yvonne Pacitto who I think was the daughter of the owner. As teenagers my friends and I spent a lot of time in the coffee bar there.
In the 1950s the Yarm Lane Pacitto’s employed the most ‘attractive woman in Stockton behind the counter’. She was English-Italian and either the owners daughter, or she part-owned it, maybe with her father. If I describe her as ‘the very tall girl’ most of us will know who I mean. Being Italian in those days seemed rather exotic and she stood out-a-mile. The shop was directly opposite the Maison-de-Dance dance hall. If only I had a penny for every cornet Pacitto’s sold.
The two immortal words missing so far from the comments above are…. ‘Lemon Top’ – Ice Cream cornet with a Lemon Sorbet top – this was the crowning glory of Pacitto’s. I remember Tony Pacitto -he was the foreman at Stockton Council Electricians in the old gas works. He used to spend his Saturdays with his Pacitto’s ice cream van in Thornaby town centre…
Norman Kidd’s comment, ‘When Pacitto’s occupied the old site in Yarm Lane just up from Barry’s Corner, I used to prefer a wafer sandwich’. The shop had its’ own special aroma. Not just the coffee. Something to do with the crowd of young, well behaved people who would gather socially.
Just occasionally we might go to Rossi’s near the end of the High Street, at the Empire end. They were pretty good too.
Lots of memories of going here over the years – best ice cream I ever tasted.
Oh my I had forgot about Pacitto’s cafe, used to go there over 40 years ago – best ice cream ever. I used to work in Asda round the corner. I live in manchester now and its great to see these pics. Thanks for the memories.
Pacitto’s cafe was on the corner of West Row, the Hippodrome was on the junction of Nelson Terrace & Dovcote Street, the old Bell’s sport shop was opposite West Row.
This was Josephs grocery shop in Dovcote Street in the 1930’s. It was on the opposite corner to the Hippodrome Theatre where I was taken to see Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs when it was first shown on the screen. We sat in the God’s and it felt as if you would fall until you got used to it.
When Pacitto’s occupied the old site in Yarm Lane just up from Barry’s Corner, I used to prefer a wafer sandwich. I can still remember the aroma from the metal sandwich maker being placed back into its metal holder until the next customer came. Usally not long! Thanks for the photograph, keep it up Pacitto’s. The next best ice cream is “Morrelli’s” of Broadstairs Kent.