A view of the Shambles and the Town Hall, Stockton High Street c1983.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
A view of the Shambles and the Town Hall, Stockton High Street c1983.
Hi, I enjoy all the pics from my home town, thank you for sending them, I wish you all a very happy new year, tell me, do you have a picture of the underground toilets somewhere near the Blue post hotel, I remember them as a child, you could get a wash and brush up for three pence and there was an attendant present, your faithfully Bob Gibson.
I also remember the town as it once was and loved it for what it was we knew no different although think back. Travelling through to school every week day during the war years it became a smoky dirty drab town with no new paint or buildings, water tanks sand bags shelters, busses coming from all directions and in the winter blackout far more dangerous than the Hun.
A smelly tidal river that flushed the sewage and dross one way then back until a good rain fall in the Tees Dales washed it down to Middlesbrough. The factory buildings on both sides falling into disrepair in fact the whole High Street and it did not get better, after I left school at sixteen I worked in the centre of town seeing it for what it really was, the drab streets, outside toilets one cold water tap and people wanting the new dawn the end of the war should have brought but no, more of the same often worse until the 1950’s, by then we all wanted change, any change, get rid of the old in with the new, housing estates, furniture (G-plan) and at last an end of rationing, when they came up with plans to renew sections of town we said yes go to it or most of us did. Those of us who knew the buildings that vanished said good riddance they needed to go, old decrepit and years of not being maintained, one even fell down, I saw it happen luckily no one was hurt.
Things move on Tramways work in Birmingham and other Cities more so on the Continent, if a regular swift service to a town centre is there it will be used. The cost of running a car in the present economic situation is getting a bit much we will come full circle.
I love my Town and its many face changes, when it is all done and dusted later this year like the now clean riverside it will be a place to go to and shops will creep back to fill the need.
Onward and upward is not such a bad slogan after all.
I suppose you choose to remember what suits you best and if thats what you remember then good for you, but what I remember is a thriving town and thats what I will retain in my mind, as for the river I couldn’t agree more, but it was the High Street itself that I was thinking of, so as I say you won’t change my mind on that
I do enjoy your articles Frank, you should write a book.
Mixed comments on this one… Just look how grubby and run down this area of the High Street was before the 1990’s redevelopment. This area looks much better today, no subterranean toilets, no split level road scheme which aids access, as too did the removal of the steps in front of the Castle Centre and less traffic (I can’t see how the High Street would of safely coped with current traffic volumes). Funny to see the car park to the south of the shambles has come full circle and returned in the latest scheme. But having said all that, there was probably a better variety of shops available back then. I don’t think you can deny that progress has improved the look of this area considerably.
Certainly spoilt, progression, more like regression, compared to the thriving market with the great atmosphere it generated and all the wonderful shops that were in the High Street and along Norton Road and Bishopton Lane. Stockton as it is today is a poor relation to what has gone before. I am old enough and wise enough to realise that change must be but I also know that not all change is for the better and judging by the amount of people who remember Stockton as the wonderful place it was and miss it, I am not alone, I don’t think that a tramway would make any difference at all, people are car obsessed these days and will get into the car to go to the local shop so I can’t see them walking far to get a bus or a tram, I realise you cant go back, much as I would like to sometimes but that doesn’t stop me remembering the good things in my past and the old Stockton is one of them I consider myself quite open to change after all I did work 50 years on the railways and if I had not embraced change I would not have lasted as long, so yes I accept change but as I have stated I do not agree it is always for the better.
Stockton High Street lives in the memories of many people that it was a very nice place to live in and visit. I for one lived in Thornaby but worked in Stockton and I loved it for what is was a vibrant and wonderful for shopping.
I do not honestly think that people should be reminded of how run down it had become , some people (including me) did not see it in this way. I know that change is needed but not to be replaced with out of place buildings that do not belong. What a wonderful dream it would if they came true and returned to normal.
We all have selective memories Keith although mine too are of a thriving Town, the markets flourished mainly because they were cheap mainly local grown food so fresh, clothes stalls where you could get anything, meat and fish stalls again local with the fish usually caught that morning at Hartlepool or Redcar, where does it come from now?
We had wonderful entertainment venues Cinemas Dance Halls the Hippodrome had live acts in my time, lively pubs by the dozens. They progressed to Tito’s and the Fiesta two of the best clubs in the North, we were drawn into the Town and the pubs and cafe’s thrived.
Ten years of work shortages and hardship for many, six years of war, seven years of austerity that added up to more than two decades of neglect and it showed. I would not like to go back to the town smog’s from thousands of coal fires, the stink from the river, the smell smoke and dust from the works along the river and even in the centre of town.
The town emptied to the new estates, clean area’s inside plumbing big gardens new schools and room for the children to play, new pubs and clubs for the grown ups, why go into town it was all around us and easy to use.
Stockton is finding its place with the big clean ups the College bring life back to the centre and when the work is finished it will be a place to visit but very different, a place for the young with new idea’s on entertainment and nights out not as with us, six pints domino’s and darts the women pushed into the back room and who would want that?
My Mee Ramblings do annoy some though they are as I saw and see things and luckily at my age I still have memory probably best to leave these pages to others then but I will answer any specific questions asked. Happy New Year to all.
Stockton Town Centre has been spoiled. I remember how good the market used to be, people would come from all over the place to visit it, they would come from Leeds and further away.
Spoiled Sue or progressed? We older ones all remember the bustling Town and Markets although there was not much choice as the out of town markets and shops were still someones dream. As the housing estates went up in the 1950’s so parades of shops went up also providing easy shopping for people, and you could buy most things from food to shoes from those shops.
People from afar came to Stockton because it was the only large market in the area and we had some wonderful shops or Emporiums as we knew them which did attract people in.
Then came the out of town outlets and I well remember the buses to the Metro Centre being full, even trains from Stockton to Eldon Square. Gradually the area around Stockton became inundated with easy shopping areas, free parking, cheap goods, mass selling of popular items, Stockton Market did not stand a chance. The few people left who did not have cars found the town decaying, the market being reduced in size and content and they could even get buses direct from the estates to the out of town stores.
When you are on a hiding to nothing then change, a tram way running from all the estates to Stockton would bring people back. Start building residential area’s back within the town limits as they are doing alongside the river. Encourage niche shops to open up in disused buildings and people using them will once more use the Town Shops of which there are still plenty and well used as I see in my trips to town, Free parking could be the biggest boost to the town though I fear the Market as we knew it has gone forever.