Bananas and broken biscuits

A free banana

I grew up in Boston Street and remember Fyffes very well which was just around the corner from where we lived. Me and my friends would stand out side and watch the bananas being loaded into a large airtight room where I was told they use a gas in order to remove the spiders which hide in the centre of the long (hand) bunch. As young kids we would stand and watch the workers for ages and often be given a banana each.  

The rag and bone man

Does anyone remember, at the other end of Boston Street, the rag and bone man? If my memory is correct there were a row of garages/store units, and, like other readers, I remember going down London Road, into the Co-op, the payment system, Belmans, Woolworth’s – the old one before it moved to opposite the Co-op.  The store was on 3/4 floors, I remember the top floor was lighting/hardware and ground floor had a large sweet section and also a cake counter.

Do you remember any of these places? Please share your memories by posting below

A bag of broken biscuits

The other store we used was Osbourne’s (if I have spelt it right), they were in London Road opposite Oxford Street.  Mum would shop in there and I remember a row of square see-through tins with all types of biscuits. We would buy a bag of broken biscuits which for me was quite a treat. My early school days were in Providence Place, the school I guess you would call it a type of nursery, as a young lad of around 4/5 years old. The school was attached to the St Bartholomew’s Church which is now the compound for the mobile tyre garage opposite.