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Gents urinal on Gower Street and Sutherland Road in Sheffield


Sheffield History

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Oh happy days when after a good drink…urinals were plentiful and an overstretched bladder might be released  with impunity.

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Not just after a night in the pub.  Try a bit of age and "old men's problems".  Councillors who close public toilets should be force fed a few pints, stood in the cold and then watched by the Old Bill to ensure they don't do anything naughty.  Repeat until they get the message.

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Plenty of old guys walking about with Prostate cancer and similar which means that life without plentiful public urinals/ toilets, are a real nightmare as I can testify.

That's a very good suggestion for councillors and also, for  MP's and government ministers too who all guard their money as though it's the crown jewels until they want to splash out on a shindig.

We just don't shout enough.

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You can get a card from prostatecanceruk.org which states "Urgent, I have a medical condition that means I need to use a toilet quickly.  Please can you help" and from bladderandbowel.org which starts with "Just Can't Wait" and then says much the same.  The former is card, so I keep it in my wallet, the latter is rigid plastic and I keep it on a holder at the end of my sunflower lanyard.  With a lot of cafes shutting their public toilets due to COVID, I've had to use it in the past to gain access to the staff facilities.

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On 04/11/2021 at 10:13, MartinR said:

You can get a card from prostatecanceruk.org which states "Urgent, I have a medical condition that means I need to use a toilet quickly.  Please can you help" and from bladderandbowel.org which starts with "Just Can't Wait" and then says much the same.  The former is card, so I keep it in my wallet, the latter is rigid plastic and I keep it on a holder at the end of my sunflower lanyard.  With a lot of cafes shutting their public toilets due to COVID, I've had to use it in the past to gain access to the staff facilities.

I pop into the nearest pub and say "Can an old man with a problem use your loo please" and have not been turned away. And in some shops I've asked for the staff facility. But I'd prefer it if public toilets were available. On the other hand when you see how they are abused you shouldn't be surprised they're closed more often than not. 

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On 02/11/2021 at 15:37, Sheffield History said:

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There used to be a police box on that corner. I had my mealbreak there on many occasions when walking 7 and 8 beats in the early 60s. Often it was a cheese and onion sandwich from a shop further up Gower St.

Walked up there a couple of years ago with my wife and  we had to get the hell out of it after being racially abused and harassed by young Asians. What a change from the welcoming community that Burngreave used to be. 

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My granny used to live on Verdon Street from before the war until they pulled down the old houses in the 60s. Everything has changed so much around there.

Sutherland Baths has long gone and the old shops/houses on the left going up Gower Street are just a memory.

The ex-policeman talking about his beat brought back one memory. I used to spend the weekend with my granny and did not want to go home on the Sunday night so I locked myself in the outside toilet and refused to come out. My parents got the local beat bobby to come and get me out. I thought I was going to prison. I never moved so quick in my life!!!

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Actually that stirs a memory !  All kinds of things happened in my two and half years covering Burngreave and Pitsmoor, the worst being getting a lifelong injury after being charged in the back by two participants in a street fight on Spital St., the best being the sense of community in the Sheffield Hurricane when all hell was let loose in the middle of my nightshift. I didn't get home until 3 in the afternoon.  I bet they don't see many coppers walking those streets now!

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On 06/11/2021 at 12:00, fentonvillain said:

There used to be a police box on that corner. I had my mealbreak there on many occasions when walking 7 and 8 beats in the early 60s. Often it was a cheese and onion sandwich from a shop further up Gower St.

Walked up there a couple of years ago with my wife and  we had to get the hell out of it after being racially abused and harassed by young Asians. What a change from the welcoming community that Burngreave used to be. 

One of my relatives (Chief Supt Norman Clayton) was based in Atterclffe until retirement in 1976, also as an Inspector he did the prosecuting at the magistrates court in the old Town Hall building. Is he a name you remember?

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10 hours ago, LeadFarmer said:

One of my relatives (Chief Supt Norman Clayton) was based in Attercliffe until retirement in 1976, also as an Inspector he did the prosecuting at the magistrates court in the old Town Hall building. Is he a name you remember?

Indeed I do. I recall him as an Inspector in Warrants and Prosecutions Dept along with Inspector Holden who was the father of an old school pal at Sharrow Lane Junior and Inspector Stubbins.  Unlike today where the CPS present cases (increasingly badly) there was an element of discipline involved in court appearances. The W & P Inspectors would reprimand an officer who let the Police down by dressing improperly or giving poor quality evidence - that is to say evidence which would give a defence solicitor a chance of getting someone off such as hearsay, or inadmissible. My wife, who started with the CPS as a prosecuting solicitor when it began in the early 80s and became a senior crown prosecutor, told me of some quite blatant breaches of court procedure by PCs in the courts she worked in before her early retirement in 2007, including Sergeants who hadn't a clue about what was admissible. The CPS replaced proper lawyers with cheaper-to-pay Lay Presenters and the whole things has gone from bad to worse. I should say she never worked in Sheffield courts but in other police force areas elsewhere. The Police prosecutors, she readily admits, were far more professional than some qualified lawyers. 

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11 hours ago, fentonvillain said:

Indeed I do. I recall him as an Inspector in Warrants and Prosecutions Dept along with Inspector Holden who was the father of an old school pal at Sharrow Lane Junior and Inspector Stubbins.  Unlike today where the CPS present cases (increasingly badly) there was an element of discipline involved in court appearances. The W & P Inspectors would reprimand an officer who let the Police down by dressing improperly or giving poor quality evidence - that is to say evidence which would give a defence solicitor a chance of getting someone off such as hearsay, or inadmissible. My wife, who started with the CPS as a prosecuting solicitor when it began in the early 80s and became a senior crown prosecutor, told me of some quite blatant breaches of court procedure by PCs in the courts she worked in before her early retirement in 2007, including Sergeants who hadn't a clue about what was admissible. The CPS replaced proper lawyers with cheaper-to-pay Lay Presenters and the whole things has gone from bad to worse. I should say she never worked in Sheffield courts but in other police force areas elsewhere. The Police prosecutors, she readily admits, were far more professional than some qualified lawyers. 

Brill, nice that you remember him (even if it was because you didn't like him 😃). He was my grandfather and his full name was Norman Waterfall Clayton.

He joined straight after WW2, but I think he had to join Derbyshire as you couldn't live in the force area you worked, think he started at Dronfield? Then moved to Rotherham, then Sheffield Police. He retired in 1976. Sadly passed away quite a few years ago now. I imagine he may have been quite an authoritative gaffer in the police, and did things strictly by the book.

When he retired the Magistrates court published an article in the Star thanking him for his service as prosecutor, and for not having a single day off sick in 30 years, something perhaps unheard of nowadays. I have that newspaper cut out along with his wooden truncheon, uniform and brochure invite to tour the newly built Snig Hill nik in 1974. He was also presented a photo of Attercliffe nick (the old one, since knocked down) which I think is where he was serving upon retirement. He was the big influence for me joining West Bar police in 1998, but sadly I had joined a completely different police force to the one he served, what with PACE 1984 etc. I found it nothing like his version, and for the worse.

Would love to hear any memories you have of him, even if they are negative (I hate quite a few of my gaffers)!!!

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