While I've got my nostalgia head on, how about John Brittons toy shop? When I got to about ten my Dad used to wheel me up to Brittons about a fortnight before Christmas, give me some money and hand me over to the shop manager while he went off into town. I then had the best two hours of the year picking out my presents for myself. I always made a beeline for the half landing on the stairs where there was a big chart with all the Subbuteo teams and colours and a rack of boxes with most of them in. Ps if that sounds a bit like a privileged oik, I wasnt. My Mum died at Christmas when I was young so my Dad could never really get into the spirit of it. Kids forget though so I just loved having the free reign to get my own stuff.
Brilliant place. Could spend hours in there - even now. Used to love Redgates/Zodiac in Sheffield too.
Oh yes it was a wonderful place, as was the Co-op toy department which had a pretty impressive model railway set up every Christmas. I used to drool over that. Never got one. Still haven’t got one....
Wonderful shop, brings back so many memories. Board games, bikes, model railways, Britain's farm models, Corgi, Matchbox, Dinky Toys. On a smaller scale, there was also a lovely little toy/model shop in Cudworth. I think it was Horton's? What a brilliant post @churtonred.
There was also a weird shop behind St Marys church on the corner where the law court is that was a hardware shop but had a section that sold all sorts of model soldiers etc. Loved that place.
Oh yes, the model farms. I had one of those with little plastic cows and pigs and horses. How DID I manage to entertain myself with that??
Is the old coop building still at the top of market street? Opposite the Wetherspoons pub? I remember a big entrance and a very big market type atmosphere... or maybe I dreamt it?
It was there yes, but not any more. I've been away from the town too long to give you the timetable of changes but all the Co-op shops up there disappeared some time ago. One of my most vivid memories is the old fashioned wire transfer of cash where the counter assistant would take your money and put it in a small container attached to this zip wire kind of thing. It would then wing its way up to the cashier and your change came back the same way. Unbelievable to think of that now, but that is how it was back in the 1800s
I think this used to be the way in... seem to remember a big corridor that lead down to it... It’s opposite the Grille restaurant.
Now houses the temporary library til the new one opens on the old superdrug site. Yep Coop supermarket type thing was in there used to go in there neary every day on school holidays when staying at my Nan's.. Always remember they went shopping every day to town lol.. Then we would go across from there into the Co-Op Cafe, I'd have an egg custard with a milky coffee or sometimes a banana milkshake. Strange how some memories remain so vivid, think it's because for me those times form most of my memories of my grandad who passed away in the late 1980's. That building also housed the Arcadian hall. Another memory of performing their in a schools recorder competition.
Wasn’t it Fletchers and Sharps or am I thinking of somewhere else? Used to sell a mean metal catapult there.
