Former Sheffield Savings Bank, Crookes

Image: © Dave Hitchborne Taken: 26 Aug 2008

Now a charity shop, but years ago, my parents and my brother and I lived above this former bank. Part of the agreement for living in the flat meant the occupants become caretakers of the bank and as result of that, someone had to clean it; wash the floor behind the counter, dust all the furniture, polish the brasses and the pewter inkwells and do whatever was necessary to clean the lino floor on the staff side of the counter, and also clean the windows. The weather made a big difference to the work involved. There was also the staff toilet to clean and the pots to wash, but not in that order. Basically, the bank was one large room with an internal entrance porch and chunk taken out of the far left corner for the staff room. The entrance doorway was central, with two large windows either side. The double–doors led into an internal porch with a door at 90º to the left and right. The lower half was wood–panelled and the upper half was glazed with obscure glass. Facing the porch was a full–width counter with flip–tops at either end for the staff and a small screened off privacy section. The customer side was lino tiled and it took plenty of Vim and elbow grease to clean them. To the far right of the bank stood two large safes. Ahead was a door to the exit and staff toilet. Between the door and the staffroom was a barred window with obscure glass. The staffroom wall that faced the counter had a large desk up against it. The returning wall had a built–in cupboard to the left, which contained the ledgers. The staffroom door was to the right of this. Between the far wall and the counter was a huge desk and a supporting pillar. The small staffroom had table, chairs, odds and ends and an entrance door to the cellar and a matching barred window. There was also a low metal box, but I don’t know what it was used for. It may have been another safe. Through the door to the cellar, the steps led to the left. To the right was storage space for mop, bucket and other cleaning items and was underneath the stairway to the flat above. The rear entrance/exit and toilet was in a part of the building that extended from the main building. The left-hand window of the flat belongs to the lounge, the other, the front bedroom. To the left is a Pizza Shop, to the right is a Beauty Salon. To the left of the block - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1226951 to the right - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1232146 The pub opposite - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1232455 and the road opposite - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1232278

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