A view of shops such as Sparks and Woolworths on Stockton High Street c1937.
Photo courtesy of Bob Harbron.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
A view of shops such as Sparks and Woolworths on Stockton High Street c1937.
Photo courtesy of Bob Harbron.
Look how grand and beautiful it is here! I love the old pictures showing the buildings in their glory days. Shame a lot arent there anymore! luckily i have very few memories from being very very small of what was there before welly square monstrosity was put in its place!
And nothing had changed from 1937 until when we had our wedding breakfast in R Sparks Café with the big bow window. I remember looking out at the milling Saturday market day crowds doing the weekly shop knowing it was buckle down to the commitment, richer poorer or in our case reasonable and a very happy life until 2011 or death did us part.
The Woolworth Store next door was always a source of wonder to us kids, an Aladdin’s cave of things you could buy for a couple of coppers, my mother got all her sewing cottons and buttons for her dress making from there, for the dresses she made for the Redwing Lane ICI Managers wives she probably charged Harrods prices for the buttons.
The Town shops were the only place for the big shopping, clothes shopping, furniture, wireless and bikes and the crowds poured in from out of town areas for that reason.
Things change and our Town has seen many changes in the last three hundred years, nothing is for ever so I do applaud the Town Council looking to the future and changing with the times.
Stockton High Street was a proper high street then , I worked at Sparks bakery in the 1960s and we used to have our Christmas party in the upstairs café with the bay window and spent our weekends mooching round the shops, Woollies was always a favourite, happy days – lovely town.