It wasn't unusual to see a bull running along Crowtree Road
Jim
On the green there was a little garage called the Blue Arrow garage. Now you’ll have heard of the Blue Arrow Taxis. Well, that’s where it started, little garage on the green. And they used to repair the taxis and clean them. Again on the green, opposite the Blue Arrow garage, there were some old buildings. They were like farm buildings. And this area was a real throwback. It was a nice, cobbled area outside and they used to repair carts. They used to park them outside after they finished working on them or they were parked there waiting to be worked on.
Pauline
And it was carriages as well.
Interviewer
Trewitt’s was the business.
Jim
I know the business very well and I was in that garage quite a few times when I shouldn’t have been because there used to be a hole in the door and it was just big enough for me to crawl underneath, but we never did any damage. Right behind there was the blacksmith’s and that was the top of Jefferies’ back lane, named because Jeffries, the butcher’s, was at the bottom of the back lane. Everybody knew it as Jeffries’ back lane. And it was right between Fenwick Street and Crow Street. And there was often horses being led up there to be shoed at the blacksmiths.
And down onto Crowtree Road, there was a butcher’s, not Jeffries butcher’s, but on the other sde of Crowtree Road and Broome Street. And behind this butcher’s, there was an old off licence called Croziers and old Mrs Crozier used to serve you there, and she used to pull you a pint on the bar, not me, but I’ve seen her pull a pint on the bar. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen that done in a shop. Right behind her shop was the slaughterhouse. Now they used to slaughter the meat for the butcher on the corner of Crowtree Road and Broome St and you would often see cattle or sheep being led along Crowtree Road and down into Broome Street, and occasionally when one got right close to the entrance of the slaughterhouse, that would panic and escape. And it wasn’t unusual to see a bull running along Crowtree Road or up the side streets. Carter Street where I lived, I’ve seen a bull run up there. But the unfortunate thing was when they used to corner it, sometimes on The Green, sometimes at the top of one of the streets, they used to call for Sergeant Grey to come from the Drill Hall to shoot it.
It was a thriving area, it was a lovely area Crowtree Road, with many shops and lit up at night and especially around the Christmas time, you know when all the lights in the shop. There was Maynard’s, which was a sweet shop on the corner of Northumberland Street and they used to have a Christmas Club and I used to take me pennies and ha’pennies there all year. And then about a week or so before Christmas I used to say to me mam, “Right, I’m going down. I’m going to spend my money. It’s only a few shillings.” And she used to say, “I’ll come with you.” And she chose the sweets, not me. My savings, but she chose the sweets. There was a fruit shop further along, adjacent to the Londonderry, and when they were finished with the empty wooden boxes, they used to throw them over into the back lane. And we used to queue up and break the boxes up and take them home for firewood. And I had a thriving business. I used to collect the wood and tied it into bundles, and I had a little barrow made out of Vaux’s boxes and two pram wheels. And I used to fill it up with sticks and I used to go round the Almshouses and sell them to the pensioners in the Almshouses.
Cawthorne’s was the pasty shop and Pyburn’s was the dip shop I think and whenever we were in the baths, High Street baths, we used to get a penny dip. And it was just a bun dipped in gravy, but it was fantastic, fantastic!
This memory is part of the Bishopwearmouth Heritage Scheme collection.