I worked for quite a few of my formative years down Lock Lane, just off Sheffield Road, by the side of the canal and was there from start to finish of the viaduct and subsequent alterations to the road network. The shops in those days were busy. A bank, a hairdresser ( Alf Swindells kept it. He was a man who "knew " everything and "everybody", A customer visited Rome on holiday. Alf asked if he had seen the Vatican? The customer replied that he had and,indeed, he had been blessed by seeing the Pope. "Did he speak to you"? enquired Alf. Yes he did" replied the customer. "What did he say? "...."Who cuts your bl**dy hair "? replied his custome.There was also a fish and chip shop...using coal for its range and dripping for its chips, a post office, a chemist and others beyond my memory.
The first photo is looking toward the Ickles and Rotherham. There was a large pub on the right ( not the Plumpers). Sadly, its name eludes me but it was a Tennants/Whitbread house and I think it can just be made out in the distance. The second and third Plumpers were behind the photographer.
Can't help with the loft windows but in the 50/60s it was said that many lofts in this part of the world had been knocked through to permit ( illegal) renting of bed spaces along a line of terraces... for the very many immigrant labourers employed in Tinsley's steel works.