Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Who remembers... Wirral General History Chat...

This has already been discussed here. Star Productions, which made Star Yachts, was Denye's, not next to it. There is a picture of it, with John Denye and his staff, here.

Does anybody remeber the phoenix picture house in wallasey village. I remeber seeing E.T there when i was in my teens.

sarah

Used to go every Friday from when I was a small kid. Later used to go out with one of the usherettes who used to give me her Comps (complimentary tickets)
Even saw Jackie & Bridie the folk singers on stage there.

Had a good friend there who lived opposite the Phoenix. His name is Chris Gibbons....circa 1970. He later joined the RN.

...used to know an elderly couple who moved into one of the properties built on the site of the Phoenix Cinema. They swore blind that the ghost of Roy Rogers regularly flitted across their bedroom walls at night!

That would trigger a few stories.

lmao bert.....

maybe some truth in the projection and replay theory with hauntings but cant see roy rogers films being that tragic lol

I think they just rebuilt parts of the building, as the block at the top was still there when it was Pioneer as it had the rainbow style logo I think.

Pioneer always seemed so much bigger then ASDA today, I remember going in a few years before it closed and think it had like a Pizza stand, a Garden area with like those white plastic chairs etc.

I also remember going into ASDA in Birkenhead with me mum when pringles first came out

We would go into town and then do the shopping at ASDA which I'm sure I will be doing again come this winter. I also remember the old Argos which was on the other side to where it is now, then you had the tiny superdrug next to Woolies and BHS where Primark and Virgin was.

I don't know why but the old Living store seemed to be so much bigger then what is there now, they had a household floor at the bottom then a floor with a clarks on then a cafe at the top with a mini Disney type store and the Co-Op bank, but all seems tiny what is there now, maybe they have a lot of stockroom space.

Also don't know how true this is but I remember Sainsburys in Upton being built and there was a story going around that prenton was going to close, I was also told the Prenton store was the first Sainsburys in the whole of the area when opened and people would travel a fair way to shop there.

Pioneer was much bigger than ASDA but it didn't have anywhere as near as much car parking as ASDA has. It did have that mini-multi-storey car park at the back, which they kept on altering at each refurbishment.

Coop buildings and ASDA buildings, Woodchurch

Neigh.

I have a privately made tape (and offtake CD) of a very early (say 1960) Spinners evening which also featured Jackie & Bridie.

One feature of the Phoenix in the early days was the room at the back which was separated from the main area by a large window. The idea was that it would be used by mums with babies/ very young kids who may otherwise have disturbed the other people present. Eventually the window was removed and the area became a favourite place for lads/ girfriends

Snod

The joke at the time was that they were conducting swimming lessons at the Phoenix --- for the breast strokers on the back row!

Not quite true. My father owned 3 Bidston Road (entrance in Townfield Lane) When the devlopement started the council compulsory purchesed about 8 to 10 feet off of the property to widen the lane. The wall which you see now had to be rebuilt as you see it now.
The bungalow was built on bottom half of the property and became 1 Townfield Lane. It was designed for my father by an architect called Sheridan and won a Daily Mail bungalow design award in about 1976.
After it was completed no3 was demolished and Townfield Court built. Until this time 3 Bidston was the only house in the lane.

Nos 1 & 3 Bidston Rd were an asymetrical pair of houses built in the 1920's as diplomatic residences for the then Chineese government.
No 1 is now Homebank 80 ? flats ugh.