Today's scan features a strip of negatives that come from a film from the 1980s. Three photographs from the strip feature Elland. Two of them show some half-demolished buildings with the tower of St Mary's Church in the background. The buildings, which look a little worse for wear, must face onto Westgate, and they may include the back of the old Rose And Crown Inn. The inn - which dates from 1725 and is a Grade II listed building - is still standing, although as a boarded-up empty building rather than as a living pub.
The third shot was taken a little further along Southgate, I think, and features the door to one of those old cafes where the entrance always seemed to be around the corner.
The Rose and Crown became a warehouse(next to Dobson's sweets) for the Thomas Bros off license shop around the corner at 'The Cross'. Kids used to raid the bottle yard then bring the bottles into the shop to claim the bottle refund. This company got taken over by 'House of Townends' which I worked for in around 1983-86 as a dray mans mate. This was when landlords often used to reward the drivers and drivers mates with a pint or half pint and there were about 18 deliveries. At 17 yr old, the consequences of these drinks were often obvious. Nearly all dray drivers had similar experiences eg Webster's and Tetley's drivers. The shop eventually became Oliver's Fish and Chip shop and the warehouse had a short life as bars and nightclubs with several different names.
ReplyDelete