Turning back time: Saddleworth in days gone by

DO YOU recognise this iconic Saddleworth shop from the 1950s? 

The historic photo shows Mike Stevens in front of the village shop on the main street in Delph decades ago.

Now, Mike lives in Australia but sent the photo to a friend Dot Gledhill to look back on times gone by and share with others.

Dot has researched the thriving village life of the 1950s and 60s, when it was crammed with nearly 50 shops and businesses, and carried out interviews to capture people’s memories.

The shops of the time included R Wild’s bread shop, Mr Whittaker’s toffee shop, Quarmby’s grocers, the Delph Co-op at the Millgate, Hannah Farrar’s haberdashery and Miss Murgatroyd’s newsagents, which was destroyed by a fire.

There was also Mr Robert’s cobblers shop, Mitchell’s milk bar which became a laundrette, Seth Dobson’s hardware store, Mrs Doherty’s knitting wool shop, Jimmy Wrigley’s greengrocers and JT Sykes’s grocers.

Then further down came Geoff the barbers, Ellen Settle’s toffee shop, Minnie Symes’s fish shop, the Post Office, the Co-op, Mr Holland’s chemists, an electricity/gas showroom and Shaw’s hardware store.

The hairdressers/chiropodists was near Clarke’s butchers, then Pickup’s confectioners, Wharton’s ice-creams, another toffee shop, Charlie Broadbent’s butchers, Mrs Brown’s dairy, Clegg’s greengrocers, Walmsley’s tobacconists, a bakery, a chip shop, Edgar Hardy’s electricians, Whitehead’s newsagents and the Distict Bank.

Do you have photos or details of Saddleworth in times gone by? Email aimee@saddind.co.uk or call 01457 879264.