This is the Billingham I remember from my teenage years, it was a great place to grow up in, the council was very forward looking and live music in the Town Centre was one of many things they did to enliven the town.
The five piece band, the drummer is hidden in the middle, could be The Johnny Taylor Five, they were often to be seen performing in the Town Centre. I don’t know if the crowd were there to see the band or were already there and taking advantage of the live entertainment.
One of the things that sticks in my mind about Billingham Town Centre was the fact that you would always meet somebody you knew or somebody you didn’t know who would speak to you, always friendly, Billingham people.
Brown Brothers & Taylor was one of the first shops to open in the Town Centre, this was in the mid 1950s, Finlays was a favourite place for youngsters as they had a record department where the young ladies behind the counter would play records of your choice, as in Leslie Browns in Stockton there were a couple of listening booths where we would get crammed in and listen to records by the likes of Guy Mitchell, Lonnie Donegan, Adam Faith and many others, the staff were very good as they knew full well that we had no money with which to buy records and most of us didn’t even have a gramaphone, this is what we called them before record player became the usual name, on which to play them.
At this time Billingham had fish ponds and aviaries in the Town Centre, not acceptable nowadays but an interesting feature at the time. A very lively place.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
Picture Stockton Archive 
Was there a dolphin show at Billingham baths? Nobody believes me but I can remember it.
LikeLike
Yes there was. I worked at the baths so I should know. 2 dolphins called Flipper (had to be that name of course) and a very young one called Poco which wasn’t yet trained. They were at the baths during the 6 weeks summer holidays and were accompanied by 2 trainers, they were brought up from Brighton.
LikeLike
I remember the town centre before it was pedestrianised. Every Saturday I would help my Nana with her shopping and she would treat me to a visit to Rea’s café and then up the ramp to the DIY shop for an Airfix kit. Now when I go back to visit I realise how much better Billingham was back then.
LikeLike
Alan Lund It sounds amazing there were dolphins in the baths! My first experience of the Town Square was when I was a Billy Tech in 1960 when it was still open to traffic. Being a teenager, I thought it was great and loved the Wimpey Bar. I have lived in Billingham since I was 20 and have seen it go from good to bad then to worse – and worse. I mentioned it to a friend from Hartlepool saying that Boyes had a good shop. She wanted craft stuff. I told her how it’s gone down and now she knows what I mean! There’s nothing for young people such as youth clubs.
LikeLike
We lived in Hartlepool in the early 70s and my dad liked to go to Billingham shopping centre and I recall that they had a cage with little monkeys in it in the toilets!
LikeLike
Excellent image of my younger days. This is where I first heard live music. Also shown are people dancing and smiling. Shops busy. So vibrant.
When I return to Billingham, as often as I can, these are the things that I look for.
But it’s not the same. Yes, anyone will talk to you. And I love the contact, freely given by the current Billingham folk. But the buildings have been destroyed by a town planning decree which was not necessary and can’t be reversed.
Greetings from Nova.
LikeLike
The “Jonny Taylor five”…….. until very recently a friend of ours John Taylor used to perform in the George & Dragon in Yarm….. could it be the same?
LikeLike
If you have an interest in local bands from the 1960s then visit http://www.stanlaundon.com many bands from that era a featured, there are photos and lots of information, some of the bands covered are Johnny Taylor 5, Crawdaddies, Falcons and Zephyrs.
LikeLike
The group on stage was Del and the Falcons not as Bruce says Johnny Taylor Five. I was there that day, as in the photo the place was heaving and at the end the boys were mobbed, quite a scary experience.
Members of the group were
Merv Jones on drums
Peter Embleton vocalist
Paul Butler lead guitarist
Malcolm Willis bass guitarist
Paul Clasper rhythm guitarist
LikeLike
My Brother-in-Law was curator in the museum which overlooked this scene.
LikeLike
And they had two monkeys in Boyes.
LikeLike
Billingham started to lose its identity when it amalgamated with other authorities.
LikeLike
Billingham is thought to have been founded by a group of Anglo-Saxon Germanic tribes people known as Billa’s people, which is where the name Billingham may have originated from. During the 1914 First World War, Billingham was chosen to be the site of new chemical works for the manufacture of explosives, the new plant was completed after the war had ended, so, the Brunner Mond Company took over the site, and converted it to manufacture fertilisers. In December 1926, Brunner Mond merged with three other chemical companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), who took control of the plant. ICI no longer operates in Billingham, having sold many of its businesses in the 1990s, creating a downward slide in the town’s fortunes.
Between 1923 and 1968, Billingham had its own urban district council which built, among other things, the Billingham Forum, Kennedy Gardens, and Billingham Golf Club. It was absorbed into the County Borough of Teesside in 1968. In 1974 Teesside County Borough Council was abolished being replaced by the County of Cleveland which had four districts, Hartlepool, Langbaurgh, Middlesbrough and Stockton on Tees. Billingham was then part of Stockton on Tees. In 1996 Cleveland County Council was abolished with Billingham being part of a new single council for Stockton and Billingham. The population in 1961 was 32139, recorded as 99% white, a figure far below the national average.
Billingham is home to several religious communities, the largest of which is the Church of England, and the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of England parish covers all of Billingham, the Clarence’s, Cowpen Bewley, Newton Bewley, and Wolviston. The Roman Catholic community is served by three parishes, Regular RC mass attendance in the town is around 756, The ‘other; Christian community is served by two Methodist churches, one Baptist church, and a Pentecostal Church. There is also a Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons), and a Kingdom Hall for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
LikeLike
I remember Finlays well, and the record booths. Records were relatively expensive, even 45’s, so there was little likely hood of me buying records on a regular basis, until I had acquired a Saturday job, in 1963, whilst attending college. Was there a coffee bar inside?, or perhaps I’m thinking of the coffee bar further down, which became the haunt of motor bikers, some years before the Mods and Rockers of the mid sixties, came on the scene.
LikeLike
David Isley – yes I remember the coffee bar upstairs at Billy tech. It was good – I was 15. It’s sad there’s nothing for young teenagers today except maybe the Forum, but I mean for boys and girls to meet and chat like I did.
LikeLike
Brilliant picture of times past. I really do think that we shared the best of times back then.
LikeLike
I remember the “brave new world” of the new shopping centre being with its helter-skelter ramp and two-storey car park. A great sense of anticipation and so glad when it opened! I grew up in Carlton but we did go to Billingham quite a bit, and later on I worked in ICI’s R&D labs there.
LikeLike