A very enjoyable, poetic read. It's difficult not to get all "remember when..." round there these days but what is the future for that part of the city? It seems the universities are sprawling all over the city centre and its fringes, sanitising and exorcising the place, with each development. Maybe once the student accommodation bubble bursts ( it's got to one day hasn't it?) we might have a load of social housing around town, returning these areas to real neighbourhoods.
Ah TJ's. The best job I ever had. I was on the shoe department sellng platform soles ( I used my wages to buy a pair in various shades of brown, not a good choice). Then I was put on the frozen chickens near the front door. A bargain at 50 p each. I never made it to the coveted make up counter. All the staff were impossibly glamorous with bouffant hair pearl pink lipstick and false eyelashes. All were chatty, kind and nurturing. The staff canteen nourished us with meat and 3 veg followed by apple pie and custard. It was a mothership, a happy place. .
For me London Road will always evoke the Essoldo, where I caught up with all the horror films I could once I looked old enough to bluff my way past the X certificate, and where I was stunned by my first foreign-language film, Buñuel’s LOS OLVIVADOS (still devastating, and a masterpiece).
Lovely article. I remember the dancing waters in the grotto when I was a kid, and I got all my kitchen utensils and bedding from TJ's when I moved out of my parents' house. Sad to hear that it is getting converted into student flats, it is a lovely building.
TI'S at Christmas used to be one of the grottos that you HAD TO VISIT when you were a kid, along, if you were lucky enough, with Lewis's & Blaclkers I still occasionally visit London Rd, and it's almost like visiting a shop defiantly carrying on trading after a car or lorry skidded off the road & smashed it in. Many years ago I worked in TJ's warehouse (or "distribution centre" as it was more sniffily known officially) when it was in Wavertree by where Plessey's once stood, in the weeks before Christmas, looking at the stuff they used to send out to the shops back then, I'm not surprised it went under.
The ironic thing as well, one morning all the staff got called to a meeting, Personnel said that the company had been suffering "heavy shrinkage" (somebody on the staff either there, delivering or at the shops was helping themselves to stuff (never found out who, or what they were taking)
Thanks David. Lovely piece, and I look forward to the next one. Walking around town is like talking to the ghosts of your previous selves. It hurts and delights in equal measure.
That was a very enjoyable read. Thanks. I feel the same about shops like the old Blacklers, for the underwear, tights for school, socks for dad, and remember the Army Navy Stores? and every Saturday down to Great Homer Street Market! It’s like the shoppers of Liverpool have been pigeon-holed into the “glitz?” of the Liverpool One shopping area but actually that can be unaffordable for many ( and also I think can come across as stifling and sometimes brash in many ways ) …so good old TJs is still going ! You know the markets are still very much a nostalgic shopping experience aren’t they too and good for a “regular” shop ( not all consuming like shopping malls) and a bargain… but yes TJs for the bedding of course!
A very enjoyable, poetic read. It's difficult not to get all "remember when..." round there these days but what is the future for that part of the city? It seems the universities are sprawling all over the city centre and its fringes, sanitising and exorcising the place, with each development. Maybe once the student accommodation bubble bursts ( it's got to one day hasn't it?) we might have a load of social housing around town, returning these areas to real neighbourhoods.
Ah TJ's. The best job I ever had. I was on the shoe department sellng platform soles ( I used my wages to buy a pair in various shades of brown, not a good choice). Then I was put on the frozen chickens near the front door. A bargain at 50 p each. I never made it to the coveted make up counter. All the staff were impossibly glamorous with bouffant hair pearl pink lipstick and false eyelashes. All were chatty, kind and nurturing. The staff canteen nourished us with meat and 3 veg followed by apple pie and custard. It was a mothership, a happy place. .
For me London Road will always evoke the Essoldo, where I caught up with all the horror films I could once I looked old enough to bluff my way past the X certificate, and where I was stunned by my first foreign-language film, Buñuel’s LOS OLVIVADOS (still devastating, and a masterpiece).
I hope TJ's manages to survive...
Lovely article.
Lovely article. I remember the dancing waters in the grotto when I was a kid, and I got all my kitchen utensils and bedding from TJ's when I moved out of my parents' house. Sad to hear that it is getting converted into student flats, it is a lovely building.
TI'S at Christmas used to be one of the grottos that you HAD TO VISIT when you were a kid, along, if you were lucky enough, with Lewis's & Blaclkers I still occasionally visit London Rd, and it's almost like visiting a shop defiantly carrying on trading after a car or lorry skidded off the road & smashed it in. Many years ago I worked in TJ's warehouse (or "distribution centre" as it was more sniffily known officially) when it was in Wavertree by where Plessey's once stood, in the weeks before Christmas, looking at the stuff they used to send out to the shops back then, I'm not surprised it went under.
The ironic thing as well, one morning all the staff got called to a meeting, Personnel said that the company had been suffering "heavy shrinkage" (somebody on the staff either there, delivering or at the shops was helping themselves to stuff (never found out who, or what they were taking)
Thanks David. Lovely piece, and I look forward to the next one. Walking around town is like talking to the ghosts of your previous selves. It hurts and delights in equal measure.
A delicious slice of Christmas past! Thank you David for serving up Christmas 1963 ( and others) with your sparkling words!
That was a very enjoyable read. Thanks. I feel the same about shops like the old Blacklers, for the underwear, tights for school, socks for dad, and remember the Army Navy Stores? and every Saturday down to Great Homer Street Market! It’s like the shoppers of Liverpool have been pigeon-holed into the “glitz?” of the Liverpool One shopping area but actually that can be unaffordable for many ( and also I think can come across as stifling and sometimes brash in many ways ) …so good old TJs is still going ! You know the markets are still very much a nostalgic shopping experience aren’t they too and good for a “regular” shop ( not all consuming like shopping malls) and a bargain… but yes TJs for the bedding of course!