This is
part two of a history of Howden shops and inns and covers mainly
Bridgegate, St Helens Square, Cornmarket Hill, Churchside and Highbridge.
Click here to go back and read part
one.
Don't forget to look at the old
photos page for more pictures of Howden. All pictures are for
sale as either prints or as digital images.
See also the page which refers specifically to
Howden Market Place and also
Irene Bancroft's memories
of Howden.
Bridgegate from the Co-op towards Cornmarket Hill
Now we cross the entrance to Market Place and continue with the
Co-op shop , formerly the Half Moon Inn. To read
more about the Half Moon, look at the Market
Place section on this website.
Mr William Armstrong, tailor
Memories: After the present Co-op premises
was Armstrong's. Mr Armstrong was
a tailor. He was very gentlemanly.
He died in 1944 aged 88. Mr and Mrs Armstrong's
daughter Edith Mary married Charles Buttle in 1914. They had children
Ronnie, Joyce, and Douglas Buttle.
The Buttles lived with the Armstrongs. In church
Miss Morris, Mrs Kemp and Mrs Buttle used to sit in the pews behind
the choir stalls.
The shop later was Deeleys and sold knitting
wool etc
Drinking tea on Cornmarket Hill are from left:
Miss M Moore, Miss Hetty West, Mrs Megson, Miss P Sunderland, Mrs
Buttle, Bessie Bruines, Miss Dorrie Shaw (all three standing); seated
Miss Sunderland and Ron and Doug Buttle
Britannia Inn
Next was the Britannia. This was originally the
Grapes but had been renamed The Britannia by 1839. In 1854 the landlord
was William Clayton, who later was well-known as landlord of the
Half Moon.
The landlord in 1920 was George Greason who had
married Angelina, the widow of former landlord Edward Ainley in
1910. Sadly Mrs Angelina Greason was widowed for a second time when
Mr Greason died in 1921. Mrs Greason stayed on as landlady but in
1930 there was a new landlord at the Britannia when Billy Walker
moved there from the Sotheron Arms in Hook.
It was later kept for many years by his daughter
Miss Edie Walker.
A view of Bridgegate with the Britannia on the
left. and Hodgsons' shop a little further along
Hodgsons' shop
Memories: Next was barber Harry Hodgson. It
was about 2d for a haircut. He used to come and sort of sing to
you - he used to stop cutting and watch when the East Yorkshire
bus came in. It was a fascinating shop. He had a copper cistern
for water.
His wife sold fruit. She had a little
warehouse down Vicar Lane. Barry Walker remembers taking 'taties’
there from Les Shaw’s. He carried a ton of taties down that
lane and she said "By, you work well" and gave him a threepenny
bit. Ron Palmer used to take tomatoes and vegetables there from
the market garden at Knedlington Manor in a two wheeled truck.
Next, across the lane, Westlakes had a fish and chip shop.
Mr Soanes the saddler
John Henry Soanes saddler's shop was next to Bridgegate Fisheries
and was part of the original King's Head pub.
Memories: Saddler Soanes used to repair binder canvases, school
satchels - in fact he used to make satchels; then went into shoes.
He was married to Edith and had two daughters Mary and Margaret.
Mary was once carnival queen. She died quite young.
Mr Soanes came originally from Middleton on the Wolds. The shop
was a druggists and was later rented by Mr Durham as a saddlers.
Mr Soanes was Mr Durham's apprentice. He took it on from Mr Durham
and bought the property around 1926/7. He was the last saddler there.
Mrs Tasker's shop, no 64 Bridgegate
This was earlier the premises of William Draycott, a baker. Later
it was run by a Miss Draycott.
Memories: Some people remember it as Mrs Tasker’s. She
sold pies and it was rumoured it was horsemeat in them [I think
this was a joke!!]. She also sold buns. She later had a cafe.
The premises fell into disrepair, as can be seen
above and were restored by Mr Ian Mason, as can be seen in the picture
below. It is now a delicatessen.
Powls' shop
Powls' shop sold furniture, bicycles, motorbikes,
petrol and many other items
Mr Ken Powls, writing in 2005, remembered how,
'One of my brothers, Cecil, was a pioneer in
the new miracle, the wireless. He had a charging shed built at the
back of our garage in St. John Street and started a business charging
wireless batteries which were brought in about once a week. He was
no organiser and often forgot to label the batteries with their
owner’s name and so we had constant arguments in the shop
about the ownership of the batteries. He sometimes forgot to put
them on charge and so there was also a constant knocking on the
door when somebody’s wireless had gone dead during the 10
o’clock news. The batteries were filled with sulphuric acid
and so there was always an acid smell in the shop.
We sold crockery, which was delivered to us
on a railway horse and cart from the station. It was packed in straw
in a wicker basket and it was left in the street until we were ready
to unpack it.The most sought after thing that we sold were tins
of carbide to replenish carbide lamps. Theselamps depended on a
drip of water on to the carbide, which produced a flame, but they
were very tricky and depended on the exact amount of water to drip.
Oil lamp glass funnels were also in greatdemand because lights were
turned up too high and the glass cracked. There was a constant demand
for 6d cycle repair outfits for the punctured inner tubes.
Paraffin was pumped up from a drum that we
had in the shop and we sold it in any receptacle,mainly milk jugs,
for the oil lamps which were then the only means of lighting apart
from candles.Petrol for the few cars on the road came in 2 gallon
tins and we had a funnel which filled the tin topour the petrol
into the car. Red tins were for Shell and green tins for Pratts.
Eventually we had a petrol pump installed in the doorway of number
86 Bridgegate with a 500 gallon tank dug in thefloor. We sold R.O.P.
petrol (Russian Oil Products) which did not go down very well with
the local residents because anything Russian was considered not
quite rightAnother constant demand was from people wanting to use
our telephone which was fixed to the wall. We never knew how much
the call cost so presumably my father thought of a number and doubled
it. This service was night and day'
Mr Powls has written several books about the history
of Howden, including his memoir entitled Many Lives.
The Powls family had a Dennis bus and in the
1920s ran a regular service taking workers to the nearby airship
station where the airship R100 was being constructed. The airship
hangar is shown here in the background.
'Simmy Rutter'
Memories: He was a cobbler His shop was between
Powls' shop and Spiveys chemist. It has been demolished. He had
a a pair of miniature shoes in his shop window. It was very dark
inside, as were many shops then.
Spiveys chemist
Memories: Next was Spiveys chemist, on the
corner of Cornmarket Hill. Mr Spivey sold all sorts - sheep dip,
linament etc- mainly agricultural stuff. . There were big bottles
in impressive colours, red and green. There was one big one with
a royal coat of arms on it - a massive thing.
Bridgegate and St Helen's Square
Now we go back to the other side of Bridgegate and start at Batty
Lane
Across Batty Lane
Memories: There were cottages down Batty or Angel Lane. AG
Rae, the chemist had his warehouse and Johnsons lived down there.
Alf O’Connor who had one eye always used to stand on the corner
near Wilf Hodgson's. Wilf Hodgson was a barber. There was a little
side door into his shop from Batty Lane.
Draycotts and Wilf Hodgson
Memories: Where Screetons estate agents is
now, was Draycott' butchers'. After Mr John Draycott’s death
in 1936 his two daughters continued the business until they sold
out to the Co-op in the early 1950s. They ran the shop helped by
Harry Batty. The slaughter house is now Screetons car park Tom Batty,
who was a pig killer, worked for Tommy Moore. His brother Harry
worked for Draycotts.
The two Draycott sisters, Phyllis and Dora
were very keen tennis players. Their sister Charlotte was blind
but played at the Shire Hall.
Additional memories come from the granddaughter
of Maud Draycott:
My grandmother was Maud Draycott who was born
in Howden on 15th May 1897. Her father was a butcher, and she had
sisters Phyllis, Dora, Enid and Charlotte or Lottie as she was known.
Lottie was blind but a good pianist. These ladies were my great
aunts and the only one I did not meet was Lottie. She suffered from
epilepsy and died quite young. She did, however, receive a piano
diploma in her lifetime which my brother has framed and hanging
in his house.
I have heard many stories about my maternal grandmother’s
family and all the sisters were very hard working and extremely
tough. Dora and Phyllis both lost their fiancées in the First
World war and never married. They lived together in Prestatyn in
North Wales just round the corner from my grandmother, Maud, who
I used to visit often. The butcher’s was also where they slaughtered
the animals and I have heard tell that the sisters’ job on
returning from school was to wash down the walls and yard of blood
from the day’s slaughtering'.
Alexander George Rae, chemist
Memories: Next to the butcher's was Mr A G
Rae, chemist. He was usually known as George. The previous chemist
was a Mr ?Akam. Mr Rae was an officer in the Home Guard; his cousin/sister
Mrs Bell lived with him. He was in business there until he died
in 1979.
Eric Watson used to go round selling chemist's stuff out of a van.
Mr Rae had his own brand of cosmetics called ‘Marvell’
which he made up.
We used to get stockings from the shop and
setting lotion, which was a bit green and used to come out in great
blobs.
He always drove those Citroens called ’Light
Fifteen’. He had a couple of St. Bernards. You could get the
purple cough misture which was oil of almonds, syrup of violets
and syrup of squills(?), whatever they were. He mixed that up. The
shop was full of drawers with all the Latin names of the drugs.
He always looked pale, unlike Mrs. Bell. She
used to advise on how to put on make up –she was always fully
made-up at any time of day. She’d come into the shop in these
lacy negligees.
It was said that after the war the floor of
the dispensary was rotten and underneath was full of water and there
was telephone equipment down there from when it was the post office.
Gilbert Dudley, tobacconist
The shop to the left of the chemist's was for
many years a tobacco and confectionery shop. It was run by the Rhodes
family in the early 1900s.
Henry Rhodes, his wife and at least 10 children
came to Howden from near Bingley by 1881 and lived in Churchside.
Henry ran a small market garden. By 1901 Henry and wife were living
at this shop whilst their son John Henry was the postmaster and
lived next door at the Post Office. Another son, Arthur, was living
elsewhere in the town and was a painter and decorator
Later the tobacconist was Teddy Wilson and then
came Mr and Mrs Gilbert Dudley.
Above is a view of both the Bowman's and Wellington
inns in Bridgegate. On the extreme left is agricultural machinery
outside what was Glews' implement showroom
The Wellington
The Wellington was known in the eighteenth century
as the White Hart Inn and a lease of a property called 'White Hart
in Briggate' was recorded as early as 1724.
An advertisement in the York Herald of
January 1813 invites contestants to take part in 'Howden Cockings
to be fought in Mr Fosters's Pit, White Hart Inn'. An amazing prize
of £100 was offered for the winner of a match between 'cocks
or stags' of over four and half pounds. The birds were allowed to
wear blinkers and were to wear 'fair silver gaffs' (artififical
spurs). A pair of cocks would be 'on the sod' each day at 11am.
The Wellington was a stopping point for stage-coaches
travelling between Liverpool and Hull. The stage coach The Eclipse
called here on its way to Liverpool at 8am. and on its journey back
to Hull at 6pm.
In the 1820s the inn was re-named in honour of
the famous Duke, victor at Waterloo and was owned by Robert Daniel
and the Francis Hutton.
The landlord in 1823 was William Bowman and later
in the 1830s the inn was kept by George Galtress. An additional
storey was added to the Wellington in 1864 to cater for the increased
trade brought by the visit of the Yorkshire Show to Howden. It was
then owned by and run by J. Sherburn. The Wellington yard contained
many stables and was the site of pig and cattle markets.
Around 1900 Isaac Dunn was the landlord and he
had his name painted prominently across the front of the inn. By
1911 Isaac Dunn had left Howden and was running the Duke of Cumberland
in Cottingham.
Landlords also included Isaac Murphy in 1913, 'Billy
Hewison' and H. B. Jones in 1940.
The Bowmans
The Bowmans took its name from John Bowman [1795-1858]
who was brought up at The Wellington where his father William was
landlord. John worked as a farrier and veterinary surgeon but by
1839 he was landlord of the Half Moon. By 1851 he had bought the
former Nag’s Head across the road and re-named it Bowman’s
Commercial Hotel and Posting House.
In 1864 the Yorkshire Show was held in Howden and
extra accommodation was built at the rear of the hotel. By 1876
it had stabling for 85 horses, 18 bedrooms and a smithy in the yard.
The landlord of the Bowman’s in 1911 was
Thomas Shaw, originally from Faxfleet, and his wife Charlotte. Living
with them was their daughter Ethelia who was married to Harry Matthews
who was a horsebreaker.
The Congregational chapel and St Helen's Square
Next came Glews implement showroom and Nurse Oliver's house. Then
there was the Congregational chapel with the Milton Rooms behind.
On the left is the Congregational chapel with
the war memorial in the foreground
This picture was taken in the 1980s as the chapel
was being demolished. You can see the new housing to the rear
The area behind the War Memorial, St Helen's Square,
is now very different and most of the original houses have gone.
The former premises of Fred White, joiner and undertaker are still
there. Another row of cottages has now gone and on the end was a
fish and chip shop.
Memories: There are many memories of this fish
and chip shop known as 'Ma Grayburns'. Arthur remembered 'young'
Bill Walton He used to go into Ma Grayburn’s fish and chip
shop in St. Helen’s Square, where the one who shouted loudest
got served - there was no queue. He used to shout ‘give us
two Ma, give us two’. The old fashioned chipper was at one
end of the counter. Pa and Ma Grayburn would be going like mad.
She’d say, chop us some chips somebody, so the nearest customer
would do it. So much for shop hygiene.
At Grayburns were two or three wooden topped
tables. You got served at the counter and then ate at tables.
Arthur Bancroft’s shop was on the corner
of Northolmby St, opposite Powls’. It stood right onto the
kerb - it was pulled down and is now where the council built flats.
They sold cakes, groceries etc. Arthur Bancroft was a fireman and
had a brother who played the trombone.
The shop was formerly kept by Dicky Eden who
went to Hook.
In Northolmby Street was Bert Randall who
was a plumber. Across the road was joiner and undertaker George
Cawkill at no 3.
The Black Bull
Between Northolmby Sreett and St John's Street
was the Black Bull, now the premises of the Lower Ouse Internal
drainage board.
In the eighteenth century the Black Bull was owned
by the Lowther family. William Lowther, who died in 1739, and his
wife Priscilla owned the inn. Priscilla, who died in 1764, was,
according to the ale house licences, the licensee until her death
and she then left the inn to her son Matthew who is listed as licensee
in 1777.
The landlord in the 1820s was Moses Jewitt.
Preston Swallow was the landlord of the Black Bull
in 1911. He was a 70 year old former gardener from Pontefract.
The last landlady was Mrs Mary Harding who gave
up the tenancy in 1936.
Miss Bruines
On the opposite corner was the fancy goods 'repository'
or shop kept by Miss Hannah Rigby who died in 1909.
Miss Bruines had this shop later selling fancy
goods. It is now part of Minster View.
The Black Swan
Next door at the Black Swan the landlady in the
early 20th century was Mary Bearpark. She retired and went to live
with her daughter and son-in-law West Anderson. By 1911 George Rippon
was the landlord, although he was a former soldier and soon re-joined
his regiment when the war broke out.
The next landlord in 1917 was John Gill who moved
in with his wife Jane and their family. John also ran a taxi service.
He died suddenly in 1919 and his son Leslie, then not quite 15,
took over the taxi driving. His brother Ralph, who was killed in
1933, and sister Stella joined him as drivers.
The Gills - Leslie and his son Don - were later
based at 79/81 Hailgate and for the next 60 years drove most Howden
families to their weddings and funerals and most family events in
between. Leslie also managed the Majestic Cinema, now the East Riding
Customer Services premises, until 1956.
Meanwhile Blyth Backhouse, a potato merchant, was
at the Black Swan. His wife was a keen badminton player.
Arthur Swales
Memories: Next was Arthur Swales’ shop.
Old Mrs Swales had arthritis badly and she used to sit in the back
of the shop. Sarah Pooley, who had come from the workhouse to look
after Mrs Swales, served. They sold tomatoes etc. Their son was
Fred Swales.
Churchside
Now we go down Churchside.
Memories: Down Churchside was ‘Cis’
Coopers shop. Barry remembered that she sold all sorts including
toffees. If she weighed it and was too much she’d bite a bit
off. With tomatoes she’d keep changing them until she got
the right weight.
Also here was Kirbys hairdressers which was
was where Vi Philips lived. She ran a dance school. There was a
dancing troupe and a yearly panto. They went touring to Wales. People
remembered a Renee Ali, supposedly a West End star, who used to
come on in pantomime dressed in top-hat and tails singing 'Following
in father's footsteps, I’m following my dear old dad'. She
used to be smoking. She used to do cartwheels and keep the top hat
going. Panto was on for a week in the Milton Rooms.
The old Co-op was on Church side. The church
bought it for a youth club. The top part of it was used for parties.
In the old Co-op a man called Wood served for a time. They had sawdust
on the floor.
The old Howden Co-op. It has been demolished
and is now [2011] being replaced by flats.
Highbridge
Memories: The pet shop (no.5) was Fred Nicholson's
grocer and feed merchant. He had a little van and went round the
countryside selling any kind of animal feed. First man in Howden
to own a Biro. A good cricketer.
There were mainly houses up to the corner except
for a tiny shop selling vegetables run by Mr Robinson, Bertha’s
brother. His eyesight was so bad that when you went into the shop
he was wearing spectacles already, then put another pair on top.
Children used to go in with a sixpence, and
there’d be all goody jars on the counter top, and there was
a round hole in’the middle where he put the sixpence in so
he could see it. He had a Reliant 3-wheeler van.
On the corner of Highbridge and Hailgate was
'La La Bailey's' shop (L.A. Bailey).
On the opposite side of Highbridge was Bertha Robinson’
s shop, a kind of tiny department store, selling clothes, bread,
toys, sweets, tobacco, biscuits. You never saw things weighed; the
scales were out of sight. When she retired she bought a very nice
bungalow on Boothferry Road.
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