The photograph shows the block of buildings to the left of Ramsgate (to the right in the image). The roof line on the right is Stewarts Clothing, Tees House, which is on the corner of Ramsgate. Manorgrove is now a Bet Fred bookies shop and the pub is now the George Pub and Grill. Of interest, the Manorgrove building was once two shop’s 104 & 105 High Street and if you look carefully at the building, just above the M on the sign is a round mark. It is a plaque that states, ‘John Walker’s Birthplace. 29th May 1781’. I think the photograph is mid to late 1980’s as Mr Trims occupied the upstairs shop from 1981, although the frontage looks a little worse for wear in this image. Also I believe on of the parked cars is a Mini Metro.
Photograph and details courtesy of Alec Moody.
Picture Stockton Archive 
When I was a young kid, Exchanges in the photo was a Wimpy restaurant, complete with tomato shaped ketchup containers. Mind blowing. I think you had a choice of burger with or without onions
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Hi Steve, here’s a photo of when it was The Wimpole pub and a Wimpy Bar at the same time!
https://flic.kr/p/7Har4V (thanks to Wood’s Library)
Also fun seeing what was offered and the prices on a 1970’s menu: https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/nostalgia/unearthed-1970s-wimpy-menu-shows-22546312
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Great photo, the bus brought back memories of running to catch the 3A outside The Board Inn on Bishopton Lane to go to Richard Hind in the late 60’s.. Was it really that long ago.
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I was at Richard Hind till 1968.I think I remember a Steve Smith from those days.I moved to Cape Town in 1982 .
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Hi Brian
Some of the others that were in my year at that time were.
Alan Dunwell – Brian Davidson – Anthony (Stan) Mcdonagh – Steve (Albert) Ward – Graham (Spud) Rutherford – David Harker (Who I met again recently after 50 years) – Pete Burley – Alan Blackburn – Ian Blackburn – Nigel Beaumont – Andy Lloyd – Geoff Green – David Harbron – Ronnie Bray – Peter Harding – Desi Hart – Geoff Watson to name a few.
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Hi Steve , I can’t remember any of those names . Maybe I was in the year ahead of you . I was more interested in soccer than academics but caught up later in life and became an Engineer . I remember Eric Young was in the year below . He was signed by Man Utd as a youth player and was captain of the England u 18 soccer team .
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HI Brian, I knew a lad called John Matchett who I think along with Eric Young was 2 years above me.. Eric Young was an incredible footballer in what at the time were 3 very good school teams. Other players in that team were Chrissie Wilson, Terry Shepherd, Steve Humble, and Decca Ferguson..
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Hi Steve , yes I remember those guys who were a year younger than me . I played in the same team and was lucky enough to score 49 goals, 6 in one match, the last year. I think Steve Humble was the goalkeeper. I remember playing against one of the rough Tilery school teams and their big centre forward was running through to head the ball and Steve came out, missed the ball and punched their centre forward in the face. We made a quick get away after the match.
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Mr Trims was the barber to go to at the time, prior to that we all used to go to Ray Duncan in Ramsgate where you could get something other than the short back and sides which all the older barbers did.
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I used Mr Trims in the 80’s. I think the owner was John Davison but I used to go to his sidekick, Ronnie Elmer. Ronnie moved to his own premises somewhere near Ramsgate but he passed away at a young age, some years later. It looks to me there are probably four mini metros in the picture.
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The ones I can definitely see are Two Volvos, two metros, a cavalier mk1 and Nova mk1.
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Stockton is already in decline.
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The plaque to John Walker is of significant historical interest. He was the inventor of the friction match, an accidental discovery on his part, according to Wikipedia. The German women’s magazine Brigitte illustrated an article on Walker and his invention (back in the 1980s) with the moment a match flared into life, suggesting it was the real beginning of the liberation of women, especially servants, whose task it was to rise each morning and strike fire and steel to make the spark that lit the stove – in the winter, in total darkness due to the curfew, and with frozen fingers, often resulting in bloody knuckles. There is a wonderful poem (set to music by Hugo Wolf) by Eduard Mörike describing a jilted servant girl doing this (‘Early, at cockcrow, ere the stars disappear, I have to stand at the stove, and strike fire’). The difference made by the friction match is hard to overestimate – at one shilling for a box of 50 – but led to cruel exploitation of the poorest (female!) workers who produced them in dangerous, unhealthy conditions and sold them on the streets (the sad subject of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ‘The Little Match Girl’). And it all began on Stockton High Street. Thank you for this photo.
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