My Salford

A Memory of Salford.

My mother and father had a newsagent's shop on Tatton Street. They were Jack and Gladys Ackerley. We lived there until the mid 1960s. The shop was opposite The Duke Of Edinborough public house. I still remember lying in bed at night and listening to all the noisy people coming out of the pub at closing time. After I left Ordsal School I worked for ten years at Stratton Pharmacies, a chemist's shop which was at the top of Phoebe Street on the corner of Regent Road. My father was actually born in Regent Square in 1898 and the house still stands today. I remember Smiths bicycle shop on Tatton Street and a draper's shop called Fiddlers. Next door to where we lived was a printer's shop called Calderbanks. At the top of Phoebe Street on the other side to the chemist was a lovely baker's shop and the owner was a lady called Minnie Goy. Fifty odd years on I can still taste her delicious meat and potatoe pies (they were what you called pies, not like today's rubbish). Across Regent Road from the chemist was a Co-op store and I think next to that was a ladies' fashion shop called Leibermans. I remember a bit further down from the chemist on the same side was a barber's shop owned by a little Jewish man whose name I forget. The man who was the pharmacist in the chemist where I worked was called Jack Jebb. He was very highly respected and the locals would often come in and consult with him rather than go to see a doctor. I can still see how Regent Road used to look then as I have all the pictures in my head. Does anyone remember a rather sinister looking rag and bone man who all the kids used to call Coakey Nolan? He very much resembled the charactor of Fagin in 'Oliver Twist'. Salford was a dirty old town then with a not very good reputation. As a young girl in my teens I used to be a bit ashamed of telling anyone where I lived...never the less now, a lot older and hopefully wiser, I am proud today of telling people where I originated from. Salford has a lot to be proud of today. It has changed such a lot and I only wish that my father could see the transformation that has taken place, he would be amazed to see what the Trafford Park docklands has now been transformed into. Before he had the shop he used to work there as an engineer. I left Salford many years ago but occasionally I drive through re-living memories. There will always be a place in my heart for Salford.