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Crookes, SHEFFIELD, S10 1TE

I remember a time when there wasn't a lean-to here and the doorway was a mirror of the one on the left. It was built in the '50s and back then it was metal, rather than asbestos and painted black. The other must have rusted away. It was handy to climb on to retrieve tennis balls out of the gutter, not that there is a gutter on the extension now. It's remains are lying on top of the lean-to. As a child, I often wondered what the shopkeeper used the lean-to for, but never asked. The shop is A & K - Butcher’s Shop. It was Peat's back then and next door was Melias - Fruit & Veg, which later became Joe Winter & Son - Plumber and Building Contractor. The next property on is F.A.B.L.E. - Charity Shop, which used to be the Sheffield Savings Bank. The bank had a nine-roomed flat and this is where I lived with my parents. At the other side of us was a Bakers and Confectioners. Very handy, but we never monopolised them because they hosted cockroaches, which occasionally came through to the flat. They had a dough mixer, which droned on for hours sometimes. I don't know where they had the ovens, but they didn't keep our flat warm. Every winter our bath, wash hand basin and toilet froze solid.

Back when I was a child this yard had a smooth surface and was ideal for hopscotch and cricket. I've belted many a 'sixer' over these roofs, which was pretty easy as we used a sponge ball, or a tennis ball. There was an iron drain cover at the far end of the yard and we used to play marbles around it. The various passages, nooks and crannies and lowed walled gardens here and about offered excellent places for hide and seek. I got 'caught' smoking behind the lean-to once, by a policeman who came to check if the bank's (more about that here - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2181581 ) doors were locked. I was only eleven. My school mate nicked the cigarettes from his mother's shop and taught me how to smoke. Not a lot to thank him for. Across the road is http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1232525 Present Moments - Card & Gift shop, which was Macduff - Fruit & Veg Shop. As a child I once dug a trench through the thick snow for my mother to get to the shop. A bit later a milk float came down the road and bounced up and down the trench. I legged it when I heard the crashing of glass.

A general view of Crookes as seen from the bottom of Toftwood Road.

Living here as long as I did, I knew a lot of the shopkeepers. When my wife and I married, in 1967, many of them bought us wedding presents. Until 8th October 1960, this road was a major tram route. There was a tram depot south of here on the nearby Pickmere Road.

The corner of Crookes and Toyne Street. The first shop was Arthur Davy & Sons Ltd. - Provisions. My mother worked there for a while. It later became Johnson Brothers Ltd. - Dyers. Followed by, P.Bonsal - Fruiterers, DER (Domestic Electric Rentals Ltd.) - T.V. Rentals, Boots the Chemist, Gowers & Burgons - Grocers, Buy Wise - Self Service Grocers and W.A.Broom Ltd. - Bakers. As 2008, the shops were, A.C.Smith - Optician, Boutique - Florist, Cooplands - Bakers, Halifax - Cash Point, Bairstow Eves - Lettings, Threshers - Wines & Spirits, The Carpet Web - Rugs & Flooring, The Admiral - Fish & Chip Shop.

The shops on Crookes are well monopolised. I've never known a vacant shop and they are far enough away from Meadowhall Shopping Centre not to be impacted by it.

Rush-hour on Crookes.

This row of shops, which stretches from Duncan Road to Toftwood Road, were built as two separate blocks. The shops changed hands a few times, but in 1965 they were – from left to right – (not in sight) Thomas H Shaw, Pork Butchers – (extreme left, just showing) Willis Oxley, Newsagent – Hubert Bell, Butcher – Peet’s, Ladies’ Outfitters – J Smith, Potpourri and Macduff, Fruit & Veg. I was more familiar with Hubert Bell’s as Shentalls http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1232525 The shops are now listed as – from left to right – Flourish, Delivery Service – Baxters, Newsagents – Churchills, Dry Cleaners – HS Eyecare, Optometrists – Barnardo’s Store, Charity Shop – Present Moments, Gift Shop.

While still at school, I did the occasional part-time leaflet drop. They were handed over by the thousand and I had to shove one through every letter box until they were gone. Toyne Street, with its roadside doorways, was always my first port of call. This was also an alternative way to Western Road School, instead of going via Springvale Road.