Streets of Hoole & Newton: Difference between revisions
Update Walker Street
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The Co-op in Walker Street closed in July 2017 (the Faulkner Street shop had already closed) in order to concentrate business on The Elms site on Hoole Road. This brought to an end 110 years of the Co-op on its Walker Street site.
The other major building was the Tin Chapel erected in 1894 following a dispute between Nonconformists, who had run a successful Sunday School at Westminster Road Schools, and the Church of England to whom the Duke of Westminster eventually gave the Schools. The Chapel was originally a Church of England Mission Hall from Edge Hill in Liverpool. When the Congregational Church moved to its present site on Hoole Road, it became Braids furniture store.▼
In the 1950s, football fans could catch a double decker bus from behind the Bromfield Arms to take them to Chester Stadium in Sealand Road. It’s unlikely that the bus would get through today.
=== A Cinema in Hoole ===
[[File:8SHN4 Montage of Cinemas in Chester in the early 1900s.jpg|thumb|301x301px|''<small>A montage of Cinemas in Chester in the early 1900s</small>'']]
It is not widely known that in 1913 an application was made to build a picture house opposite the Co-operative Store which opened in 1906 in Walker Street. The proposal by William Williams, Hoole’s well known builder, would have seated 450/500 people. The architect was R. Cecil Davies recognised for founding Hoole's Volunteer Fire Brigade and who became Mayor of Chester. A major concern was protection in case of fire, and exits and equipment came under scrutiny. Mr. Williams said that, if a license was granted, he would allow firemen to be on duty there, as they did in cinematograph halls in Chester.
The plans were not proceeded with and today's terrace of houses with then a shop at either end was eventually built on the site. Hoole residents had to go to the pictures in Chester and a montage of the cinemas there is shown.
=== The area between Pickering Street and School Street ===
The area of land between Pickering Street and School Street has over the years seen some interesting activities. The Hoole Millennium Book incorrectly attributes the street’s name to George Pickering, an artist who lived at Brook Lodge and whose work included paintings of the gardens in Hoole House. Pickering Street was actually named after Thomas Walker's daughter, Elizabeth Pickering, who had married Charles William Harrison Pickering a merchant banker from Liverpool, who helped finance the second transatlantic cable.
[[File:8SHN5 Advertisment 1914.jpg|left|thumb|386x386px|''<small>Advertisment 1914</small>'']]
▲The
At the end of School Street, Weaver Bros. who advertised themselves as “Removers, Packers & Storers of Furniture” ran their business from the turn of the century to 1914 when they sold off their carts and equipment and advertised the premises as “a large yard with stabling for 5 horses, loose box and coach house etc. to be let".
[[File:8SHN6 Thomas Mangel in School Street.jpg|thumb|317x317px|''<small>Thomas Mangel in School Street</small>'']]
During this time Thomas Mangel set up his carriage hire business with landau and hansom cabs being available. His business continued throughout the First World War and despite the development of motor transport was still running in 1923.
A photograph taken in School Street in the 1930s shows Jack Smith and 3 colleagues on motorbikes and it seems that they were garaged there. Jack Smith, well known for his Pioneer Shoe Shop in Faulkner Street, was a motorcycle enthusiast and a prominent member of Chester Motor Club becoming its chairman. In 1933 he was captain of the Hoole side in a motorcycle football match against Chester. He was responsible for bringing motorcycle grass track racing to Hoole Playing Field and his son, Bill, became a prominent TT rider.
[[File:8SHN7 Motorbikes in School Street.jpg|center|thumb|330x330px|''<small>Motorbikes in School Street</small>'']]
In 1931 the end property was sold, and it became the base for Crimes Removals, their vans becoming a regular sight in the area. George Arthur Crimes lived an No. 2 School Street and after war service he became the first Treasurer of Hoole & Newton British Legion and of their Poppy Day Appeal. Following his death in 1968, Lewis’s Ice Cream acquired the premises using it to garage their own vehicles and sub-letting it to the Schools Meals Service and for car repair work. Unfortunately, in 1979 John Lewis, a partner in the firm was found hanged there.
From 1963 School Street Garage advertised its business and occasional car sales. Tom Parry and Chris Vollands became the owners. Tom still works there today using the name ‘The Black Taxi Garage’.
School Street was originally a cul-de-sac and the entrance to the Urban District Council’s Depot. It was opened up to provide access to the misnamed Ashtree Court which was built on the site behind the Council’s offices at The Elms. Ashtree House was a large west facing mansion some 300 yds further down Hoole Road next to the Bee Hive pub, at the end of what is now Phillip Street.
A number of images relating to the Walker Street area follows.
== Warrington Road - Mayfield House<ref>''<small>Article researched and written by Ralph Earlam, August 2019, Hoole History & Heritage Society</small>''</ref> ==
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