Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Altrincham]

Your definition of "suburban town" is going to cause a bit of debate - perhaps you could name a specific place by way of example?

I think I know what you're getting at, though. My "main" nearby town used to have a few nightclubs, one of which was once very well known for its place in the Scottish "rave scene". One of the clubs succumbed to a "tragic fire" and the site is now about to be redeveloped into flats; the "ravey one", essentially the function room of a hotel on the edge of town, has long gone.

I'm not really sure about the others, though; going into town for a night out means forking out at least £50 in taxi fares before I spend money on anything else, so I've absolutely no idea about what's still open and when. I think the venue with the sticky carpet is still going, but it'll probably keep going for eternity regarless of what happens.

I’m thinking specifically of suburban areas of Greater Manchester and north Cheshire. Places like Altrincham, Sale, Bredbury, Alderley Edge.

These places had nightclubs, so nights out didn’t involve travelling in to the centre of Manchester. One in particular in Altrincham was right next to the football ground but in a very residential area. Its demise came because of trouble outside the club that spilt into the immediate neighbourhood. It was eventually knocked down and replaced with a housing development.

 

[Cross City]

I’m thinking specifically of suburban areas of Greater Manchester and north Cheshire. Places like Altrincham, Sale, Bredbury, Alderley Edge.

These places had nightclubs, so nights out didn’t involve travelling in to the centre of Manchester. One in particular in Altrincham was right next to the football ground but in a very residential area. Its demise came because of trouble outside the club that spilt into the immediate neighbourhood. It was eventually knocked down and replaced with a housing development.

Not sure what it's like in Manchester but most bigger districts here in Brum have decent nightlife centres (including clubs). Moseley, Sutton, Harborne, Solihull, Longbridge, Selly Oak, Edgbaston all offer a decent night out.

 

[Altrincham]

Not sure what it's like in Manchester but most bigger districts here in Brum have decent nightlife centres (including clubs). Moseley, Sutton, Harborne, Solihull, Longbridge, Selly Oak, Edgbaston all offer a decent night out.

Altrincham has great nightlife, especially in the town centre which has been revived over the last 10 years with some very good eateries and bars. The converted Market Hall has become a bit of focal point. There are some smaller pockets of the town centre which are lovely enclaves with bars.

The nightclubs and discos though are long gone. Late night drinking and socialising in the town centre now takes place in bars with late opening hours.

 

[GordonT]

Not something you would want to debate too deeply but for historical record the sheer variety and onetime copious availability of what youngsters used to term "naughty magazines" merits a mention when contemplating the pre-internet world.

 

[Western Lord]

Not something you would want to debate too deeply but for historical record the sheer variety and onetime copious availability of what youngsters used to term "naughty magazines" merits a mention when contemplating the pre-internet world.

Not just "naughty magazines", your local cinema (even "respectable" circuit houses such as Odeons and ABCs) would be quite likely to be showing softcore porn double bills with titles that wouldn't be allowed today. This was killed off by the advent of home video, but in their heyday the dirty raincoat brigade were a good source of revenue on a wet afternoon.

 

[AM9]

Not just "naughty magazines", your local cinema (even "respectable" circuit houses such as Odeons and ABCs) would be quite likely to be showing softcore porn double bills with titles that wouldn't be allowed today. This was killed off by the advent of home video, but in their heyday the dirty raincoat brigade were a good source of revenue on a wet afternoon.

There was one of those, the Ilford Essoldo at the bottom of Ilford Hill. Most weeks it was either showing some horror film (e.g. The Pit & The Pendulum) or a seedy soft porn film. It was actually located just west of the River Roding, putting it in the LCC borough of Manor Park. Maybe the council there had a more liberal outlook than the largely lower middle class Conservative administration of Ilford Borough Council in the 1950s.

 

[GordonT]

Maybe the council there had a more liberal outlook than the largely lower middle class Conservative administration of Ilford Borough Council in the 1950s.

Whilst on the theme of seedy entertainment there was the tendency of specific pubs to provide lapdancers to amuse their clientele.

 

[THC]

Whilst on the theme of seedy entertainment there was the tendency of specific pubs to provide lapdancers to amuse their clientele.

When I was on work experience at London Transport back in the late 1980s - I won't say with which department as it's a small world - a pub crawl round Shoreditch and Hoxton was organised for one evening and we ended up in a hostelry with a rotating cast of strippers. They clearly had a fan club, although not a rich one, judging by the pound notes that adorned their g-strings. Even though my teenage male impulses were to stay and stare, my Irish Catholic upbringing soon kicked in and I made my excuses to leave.

THC

 

[Springs Branch]

. . . the sheer variety and onetime copious availability of what youngsters used to term "naughty magazines" merits a mention when contemplating the pre-internet world.

Yes, with availability including the top shelves (and not necessarily just one shelf) at innocuous local newsagents and corner shops across the country. I guess it was all part of the nudge-nudge, Sid James/Benny Hill zeitgeist in the permissive pre-Thatcher era.

Our local newsagent, where I picked up my regular monthly copy of Modern Railways, had a particularly fine selection on display, encompassing mainstream Penthouse & Playboy-style titles, through to some rather "niche" interests. Presumably all of these had a ready market, otherwise they wouldn't be stocked.

Even as a young teenager, I used to wonder which of our near neighbours would regularly pick up a glossy mag specialising in rubber mackintoshes or young women in schoolgirl costumes getting caned along with their pack of Players No.6? And what did his wife think about it?

 

[Bald Rick]

Our local newsagent, where I picked up my regular monthly copy of Modern Railways, had a particularly fine selection on display, encompassing mainstream Penthouse & Playboy-style titles, through to some rather "niche" interests. Presumably all of these had a ready market, otherwise they wouldn't be stocked.

I used to buy such a magazine to hide my copy of Modern Railways inside to avoid embarrasment when walking down the street.

 

[75A]

When I was on work experience at London Transport back in the late 1980s - I won't say with which department as it's a small world - a pub crawl round Shoreditch and Hoxton was organised for one evening and we ended up in a hostelry with a rotating cast of strippers. They clearly had a fan club, although not a rich one, judging by the pound notes that adorned their g-strings. Even though my teenage male impulses were to stay and stare, my Irish Catholic upbringing soon kicked in and I made my excuses to leave.

THC

In the 80's & 90's I worked in a BT Training School in Paul St (nearest Tube Old St) on Friday lunchtimes and often late into Friday afternoon we used to to take our students on a visit to Browns where the young and not so young ladies would take their clothes off to music.

 

[Killingworth]

My doctor uncle subscribed to Men Only and Lilliput magazines in the 1950s. They merged in 1960 but I have a suspicion they may have found their way onto the table in his surgery waiting room.

 

[AM9]

My doctor uncle subscribed to Men Only and Lilliput magazines in the 1950s. They merged in 1960 but I have a suspicion they may have found their way onto the table in his surgery waiting room.

I used to wonder what the target of Health & Efficiency was in the '60s.

 

[Hadlow Road]

I still recall my pleasure at finding that one of my clients, back in the late 70s, subscribed to Plastics and Rubber Weekly.

They were cable manufacturers and I quickly found out that it was their trade journal.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I still recall my pleasure at finding that one of my clients, back in the late 70s, subscribed to Plastics and Rubber Weekly.

They were cable manufacturers and I quickly found out that it was their trade journal.

My dad had that one before he retired... he used to work for Yarsley Technical Centre ( later SGS Yarsley ).

 

[OhNoAPacer]

I still recall my pleasure at finding that one of my clients, back in the late 70s, subscribed to Plastics and Rubber Weekly.

They were cable manufacturers and I quickly found out that it was their trade journal.

Reminds me of the textbook Fibres films plastics and rubbers. A handbook of common polymers

 

[Falcon1200]

A number of naughty magazines somehow ended up in the smoking room in Buchanan House, Glasgow.
(The smoking room was introduced when smoking in the office was, finally, banned).

 

[D6130]

A number of naughty magazines somehow ended up in the smoking room in Buchanan House, Glasgow.
(The smoking room was introduced when smoking in the office was, finally, banned).

When I worked in Buchanan House (1979-83), quite a few of my male colleagues kept a few naughty magazines in the bottom drawer of their desks. Heaven knows when they had the time and privacy to peruse them. Friday lunchtimes perhaps? At that time quite a few of my colleagues also kept a half bottle of whisky and a couple of glasses in their bottom drawer, which would come out at about 15 30 on a Friday afternoon....but that's for another thread!

 

[Trackman]

Half-time manual scoreboards at football grounds.

 

[Killingworth]

Score cards at cricket matches printed on site and updated several times throughout the day.

At least they were at Northumberland CCC back in 1958 when playing Yorkshire II in the top Minor Counties fixture of their season. Durham and Lancashire II were slightly less prestigious although both Lancs and Yorks would usually include 2 or 3 1st XI players. In those days Durham weren't the county cricket force they were to become but they were the local Derby match opponents.

 

[AM9]

My dad had that one before he retired... he used to work for Yarsley Technical Centre ( later SGS Yarsley ).

Many years ago when receiving trade magazines at work was the norm, I remember a trio of engineers in an office competing for the most inappropriate magazines to be recieved. One was a magazine with Rubber in its name (it may even have been Plastics and Rubber Weekly, and the recipient's occupation was 'Consultant Phrenologist', (colloquially called a professional bump feeler).

 

[GatwickDepress]

Not something you would want to debate too deeply but for historical record the sheer variety and onetime copious availability of what youngsters used to term "naughty magazines" merits a mention when contemplating the pre-internet world.

See also 'hedge porn'; often kitchen sink-style British grot strewn about the woodlands and hedgerows of this sceptred isle, left to be discovered by giggling students. I do a lot of litter picking and you still come across the odd magazine poorly concealed under a bush. You do wonder who these people are that stick so rigidly to analogue proclivities in a digital world.

 

[GordonT]

"Mainstream" religious denominations having outdoor services in good weather, often in seaside or park settings with random passers-by being encouraged to join in the worship. Also less common these days are folk in town or city centres wandering around with placards on sticks reading "The End is Nigh!" "Repent Sinners!" etc. and attempting to engage with randoms with a view to "saving" them by quoting in a loud voice from the Bible and/or pressing biblical tracts in the direction of the hands of the passers-by.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Also less common these days are folk in town or city centres wandering around with placards on sticks reading "The End is Nigh!" "Repent Sinners!" etc. and attempting to engage with randoms with a view to "saving" them by quoting in a loud voice from the Bible and/or pressing biblical tracts in the direction of the hands of the passers-by.

Someone doing just that in Carlisle city centre only last month!

 

[OhNoAPacer]

"Mainstream" religious denominations having outdoor services in good weather, often in seaside or park settings with random passers-by being encouraged to join in the worship. Also less common these days are folk in town or city centres wandering around with placards on sticks reading "The End is Nigh!" "Repent Sinners!" etc. and attempting to engage with randoms with a view to "saving" them by quoting in a loud voice from the Bible and/or pressing biblical tracts in the direction of the hands of the passers-by.

Try Keswick. There is a regular a really annoying individual with a loudspeaker spouting vaguely unintelligible religious talk.

 

[SHD]

Lots of stuff linked to film photography. For example, photo minilabs. Especially, the once-ubiquitous red-and-yellow K (for Kodak) signs advertising “1 hour pictures” - although some of them remain, sometimes as marks of a distant past, sometimes to indicate one of the last Mohicans minilabs.

Similarly, photography counters or drop boxes at supermarkets. Small shelves, often diagonally affixed, designed to store film boxes, in general stores or tourist shops. Darkroom equipment and chemicals widely available at places like Dixon’s. Photo clubs at schools, universities, workplaces, etc.

(Disclaimer: I have been a keen analog photographer and camera tinkerer for the best part of 30 years and I still regularly shoot film, at least one per month!)

 

[GordonT]

Lots of stuff linked to film photography. For example, photo minilabs. Especially, the once-ubiquitous red-and-yellow K (for Kodak) signs advertising “1 hour pictures”

I vaguely remember that comparably priced films from (say) Kodak and from Agfa had their own distinctive way of reproducing certain colours.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

I don't think anyone has mentioned credit card imprinters used by retailers when you paid by card.

For that matter a lot of credit cards these days aren't embossed so an imprintedr wouldn't work on those even if you had one.

 

[Killingworth]

I don't think anyone has mentioned credit card imprinters used by retailers when you paid by card.

For that matter a lot of credit cards these days aren't embossed so an imprintedr wouldn't work on those even if you had one.

See post 2297 a month ago.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

See post 2297 a month ago.

My apologies. I did a search but obviously didn't do it correctly.