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Change Alley in Sheffield City Centre


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How much can you remember about Change Alley in Sheffield City Centre?

What exactly was it? What buildings, shops and businesses were there?

Any memories of change alley that you can share with us?

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1 hour ago, Sheffield History said:

ETyMR6-WoAAGo-f.jpg

How much can you remember about Change Alley in Sheffield City Centre?

What exactly was it? What buildings, shops and businesses were there?

Any memories of change alley that you can share with us?

Sheffield Register, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, & Nottinghamshire Universal Advertiser 25 April 1794

Could Lot 1 be the four story building in the centre of the photo ?? ( Left of centre )

Sheffield 1.JPG

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Screenshot 2020-04-09 at 22.53.33.jpg

A really old photograph of the Change Alley area (might even be number 72 and 74 change alley)

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The buildings numbered 72 and 74 are on High Street. Change Alley is the narrow road heading off to the right.

EDIT: Looking at some old maps I am now wondering if that part of what is now High Street was known as Market Place when the photo was taken?

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Screenshot 2020-04-10 at 09.39.55.jpg

 

38 minutes ago, madannie77 said:

The buildings numbered 72 and 74 are on High Street. Change Alley is the narrow road heading off to the right.

EDIT: Looking at some old maps I am now wondering if that part of what is now High Street was known as Market Place when the photo was taken?

 

So maybe they'd have been around where the small shops are on the right hand side of change alley entrance?

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Can anyone remember the toy shop that was on Change Alley in the 50s ?

i think it was called Weston’s.

They sold prams and stuff as you went in, but up some rickety stairs ,they had another floor where they sold model trains, Dinky toys and, my obsession at the time, toy soldiers.

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5 hours ago, paulhib48 said:

Can anyone remember the toy shop that was on Change Alley in the 50s ?

i think it was called Weston’s.

They sold prams and stuff as you went in, but up some rickety stairs ,they had another floor where they sold model trains, Dinky toys and, my obsession at the time, toy soldiers.

Hello paulhib48,

this may help, Kelly's directory, published 1957.

change_alley_1957dir..jpg

 

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6 minutes ago, SteveHB said:

Hello paulhib48,

this may help, Kelly's directory, published 1957.

change_alley_1957dir..jpg

 

That’s extremely interesting SteveHB.

It obviously was Weston’s though it doesnt mention the toy sales part of their business.

It appears to be the very same Weston’s that I dealt with in later life as a newsagent when they were  operating from premises in the Wicker. I think they later became Turners.

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2 minutes ago, SteveHB said:

How on earth did they manage to run a wholesale newspaper business from those tiny premises at 32 which contained a retail toy shop as well?

I guess ,even then, that it must have been registered offices and they were actually operating from elsewhere.

When I first became a newsagent in 66 they were the wholesale suppliers, along with WH Smith, for the whole of Sheffield, I believe. 

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13 minutes ago, paulhib48 said:

That’s extremely interesting SteveHB.

It obviously was Weston’s though it doesnt mention the toy sales part of their business.

It appears to be the very same Weston’s that I dealt with in later life as a newsagent when they were  operating from premises in the Wicker. I think they later became Turners.

 

2 minutes ago, paulhib48 said:

How on earth did they manage to run a wholesale newspaper business from those tiny premises at 32 which contained a retail toy shop as well?

I guess ,even then, that it must have been registered offices and they were actually operating from elsewhere.

When I first became a newsagent in 66 they were the wholesale suppliers, along with WH Smith, for the whole of Sheffield, I believe. 

Same directory, same year :)

westons1957.jpg

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I remember the City Fuel Office quite well, in the window was a selection of solid fuels laid out in grates, but one thing that did intrigue me was a water tap hanging down in the window the only support was the thread that was holding it, fishing line perhaps? anyway water flowed from the tap, just where was the water coming from, it wasn’t connected to any water pipe to feed it, then after much though it dawned on me that a glass tube ran from a sump on the window floor up into the tap, the water was pumped up the glass tube into the tap which just had enough clearance for the water to run back down on the outside of the glass tube, Magic.
 

 

image.png.3a55ab262b13de68ca5314e49eaed9db.png

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Thanks Steve HB. Excellent work!

Its funny but I can only remember the businesses on one side of Change Alley. 

We,d usually call at Thornton’s on the corner then pop in Weston’s and head towards High St to get a tram to Firth Park from outside C&A.

Burnett and Hallamshire  and Marsdens Milk Bar are the 2 other places that stick in my mind

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Marsdens' advert in a 1953 coaching guide, hence the emphasis on restaurants, including the Carlton Restaurant, clearly visible in the image at the top of this thread.

marsdens carlton.jpg

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I often called into George Ashtons on the corner of Norfolk Street & Change Alley. It was the go to merchant if you required any small out of the ordinary plumbing/engineering bits and pieces.

 

Change Alley.jpg

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On 10/04/2020 at 09:01, madannie77 said:

The buildings numbered 72 and 74 are on High Street. Change Alley is the narrow road heading off to the right.

EDIT: Looking at some old maps I am now wondering if that part of what is now High Street was known as Market Place when the photo was taken?

 

Is that not High Court running off High Street in the photo there?

 

Market Place still exists today. It is the stretch between where the Bankers Draft is down to around Watsons' Walk by Argos. Literally just the path around there on the edge of Castle Square/Angel Street.

Current Google Maps suggest it stretches round to where Pizza Hut is, but that'a a new one on me? I thought it started at the Bankers Draft.

 

Screenshot 2020-04-14 at 16.41.13.png

Screenshot 2020-04-14 at 16.39.03.pngScreenshot 2020-04-14 at 16.40.00.png

 

I believe in longer gone times, Market Place was the whole Castle Square area?

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2 hours ago, deejayone said:

Current Google Maps suggest it stretches round to where Pizza Hut is, but that'a a new one on me? I thought it started at the Bankers Draft.

A polite notice  :)

Never take "Google Maps" as fact.

There are loads of mistooks!

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