What a suprise to see the old Co-op on London Road in Brighton. It must have been a much slower moving city in the 1950s. I have been visiting Brighton for the past 20 years and I do like Brighton very much. I live in Rotherham, South Yorkshire but I always look forward to visiting East Sussex when I have the chance. I would love to see more old photos of Brighton.

I was also fascinated by the aerial money containers at the Co-op in Lewes Road, but next door was a great electrical shop called Tingley's. It was there I took my parents accumalators, from the giant wireless, to be recharged. I would get thrupence for this which I would spend on sweets in Schofield's, next door again.

I, like David had to go to Tingley's with a accumalator. It was one of my Saturday morning jobs to run errands for the old chap next door. It was the same every week, take his empty Guiness bottles back, pick new ones from the off-licences at the bottom of Hartington Road, pop next door to the newsagent (can't remember the name). I'd get a Daily Sketch and then into Tingley's take old accumalator back and pick up new one. The money we earned for running errands and taking empty lemonade bottles back was our picture money for the afternoon we either went to the Gaiety or the Duke of York depending which one had the best film or, if it was a U if it was A and then we used to ask some one to take us in. Looking back things must have been a lot safer we never thought there was any danger and to think we must have only been about 8 or 9. Happy days.

I would just like to say how much I remember my days at the Coop Lewes Road and London Road in the 1950s with my mum, and seeing your money whirring around the store. After all these years still remember our divi number 8801 its imprinted never to be forgotten. "Happy Days"

I can remember going into Woolworths in London Road with my Mum and two brothers. I recall clearly the wooden floors and a dusky smell. We used to run up and down the shop and I can just remember it being dark, not at all like the Woolworths we know today. My Mum also used to go into Sainsburys, St. James's Street, and I can still see the sawdust on the floor and the high glass counters where women wore white outfits and their hair up in nets. How we have progressed.

I used to work in Sainsbury's at 55 London Road, more or less opposite the Co-op. Our manager was a lovely genial man. I cannot remember his name, I used to work on the cheese counter, dairy and would help my friend Daphne Bish on the deli counter when she had an extra long queue. Was there a store in London Road called Roslings which had a similar cash system to the Co-op?

Anyone remember Bellmans also in London Road?

I remember the Bellman's store in George Street Hove. One day, I was waiting outside the store with my two young sisters who were still in the pram, while my Mother shopped. Along came a tramp, the first I had ever seen, and I was terrified. I can still see the grime on his toes which were poking through the sacking 'socks' he wore. He had a long wispy grey beard and had a piece of string to secure his coat. I now feel quite ashamed of myself being frightened of him and hope I didn't hurt his feelings.

I remember Sainsburys in St James' Street too. Every Saturday from the age of 10 I used to get the bus from Lower Bevendean and go and get the Sunday joint. Mr Wells always served me and I used to stand and watch him pat the butter into squares and the smell that came from the bacon flitches is unforgettable.

Does anyone remember Bradshaws Cycle Shop in London Road (near Preston Circus)?  Or how about the Hot Pie Shop in St James's Street - lovely Beano pies!

I used to work at the Zylo factory. It was my first full time job. There was a lady there  called Minnie Strutton. She was so funny and we got on really well. One day she asked if I was going to St James's Street in the dinner hour. I wasn't but I said 'Yes' so she said 'My grandchildren are coming up tonight. Could you get me six Beanos?' 'I got back after a rush and she said 'Did you get them? I bet you were tempted to open them, weren't you? I thouight she meant comics, instead she meant the very special beano pies. I never lived that down. Once tasted never forgotten. Just as John Pope said,'Lovely pies'.

When I was about 11, in 1933, my mother took me to the Co-op in London Road, to buy my first pair of long trousers (jeans hadn't yet been adopted for daly wear, they were just overalls for work). I was fascinated by the overhead trolleys that carried money from the desk where the purchase was made, to the central cashier. Apparently the cost of cash registers and training for the many cashiers that would be needed was too high, or the shop-workers could not be trusted with the job, so the management decided that a single cashier in the niddle of the store was better. The shop-worker had to place our money and the bill she had written out, in a small cylindrical wood pot and attach it to the trolley above her head. then she pulled on a cord, which released a spring of some sort, that sent the trolley sailing along a wire, over to the cashiers station. A few minutes later, back came the trolley and the shop-worker removed the pot and emptied the contents on to the desk, giving us the change and a copy of the bill. In those days a pair of boy's pants cost 1/11 3/4, which was one shilling, eleven pence and three farthings. Just like now, everything was not quite a whole number of monetary units, but there was no sales tax to calculate. As for accumulators, little, but heavy, glass cells, which provided the direct current to heat the emitters in what were then called valves in a "wireless set," I had to take ours down to a shop owned by Fred Osborne, just below Bentham Road, in Elm Grove, for charging. Then I had to carry the re-charged unit back up to Firle Road. That journey was a chore, but necessary if we wanted to listen to the wireless and tune in Radio Luxembourg with Hildegard singing those wonderful love songs. Even the advertising was entertainment of sorts in those days and you couldn't hear it on the Beeb.

I can't remember Bradshaws cycle shop in London Road but there was a Bradshaws cycle shop in Western Road near the top of Waterloo Street. They also sold small motorbikes and their works were down the alleyway in Farman Street. I bought my first new bike from them when I was 15, to get me to work at Allen West.

Hi Dennis.  George Bradshaws, London Road, was near Preston circus and was very much a secondary outlet to the Western Road branch.

I always looked at the bikes in Bradshaws, London Road as I passed it on the way home from school. I finally got to buy one - so much a week when I got a paper round.  It was a gleaming green Raliegh roadster with panier bags on the carrier. They also had a great range of Dinky model cars in a glass cabinet on the right of the entrance.

Any one remember the old Central School in Church Street? It had entrences in Jubilee Street and Regent Street. Miss Warland was the headmistress (1948). The teachers were Mrs Sherman, Mr Bridle, Mr Edwards, Miss Glass, and a lady we knew as Teacher Audery.

Thanks for all the stories of fond memories long ago. I grew up in Brighton so also have strong memories of all areas of Brighton and Hove. Loved the old Woolworths and its' wood floor; the Co-op too, that's where I started my very first bank account. I have now rejoined the Co-op bank because of its ethical work. One memory has arisen now which no-one can confirm. Perhaps someone can help. I grew up understanding a Mrs Shilling (Schilling) started Woolworths and that Woolworths was therefore selling many items at only one shilling. Does my memory serve me well or I have I conjured this one up? (As we sometimes do when young).

Does anyone remember the toffee apple shop called Pips in Oxford Street, all sizes of toffee apples and the smell was lovely? I remember getting the beano pies, the best ever. Pamela (who worked at the Zylos) my sister also worked at the Zylos factory, Pauline Gunn and then when she married her name was Shoesmith.

Hi. I was born in Grand Parade, went to St Johns School. I used to walk down Riding School Lane to get my Beano and meat and potato pies. I remember Pips in Oxford St, smashing ice cream and toffee apples. Does anybody remember Sundays, seeing the fountain in Victoria Gardens changing colours?

Re Woolworth's; Sandra, my (fallible) memory tells me that a long time ago, Woolworth's shopfront signs bore the words "the 3d and 6d store" ("nickel and dime" in the USA). A Mr F W Woolworth was the founder rather than Mrs Shilling/Schilling. Not that it matters now that Woolworth's has joined them in shuffling off our streets...

I too remember the cash conveyance system in London Road Co-op. I seem to recall that the central cashier was in the basement with the overhead wire system on that floor only. The ground and upper floors used what appeared to be a network of pipes which sent the containers pneumatically to the basement. The sales assistant would place the cash container into a hole in the wall, then a few minutes later it would re-appear in the same hole with the change and receipt.
My mother and I used to queue up in the basement twice a year for the dividend payout. The boredom was relieved by watching the overhead activity. Our share number was 3388, originally my grandmother's. Was there a Bradshaw's in Lewes Road as well, just along from the bottom of Elm Grove? There was a bus stop nearby where the number 48 trolleybus stopped en route to the Barracks.

The above has certainly brought back memories to me. I too remember going to the Coop with my grandmother and being in awe of the flying spectacle of those little pots wizing all over the place. I would hate to have been the maintenance person when things went wrong. I remember the Woolworth store with its wooden floor and that particular smell, that's where as a small kid I was first introduced to the Airfix packet of scale figures, the cafeteria that sold those famous American style Hamburger and Milkshakes? I also remember standing out the front of this store one very wet day and watching the US Air Force Band play whilst marching down the road, it seems a long time ago now but happy days.

I was born and grew up in Brighton. I remember those overhead trolleys containing cash and receipts. They were incredible to watch as a kid. We always wondered how on earth they worked. I thought the store that had them was Roslins opposite the Co-Op but a bit further toward St Peter's Church. I do remember very clearly the aromas of the old Sainsbury and International stores - a funny mix of processed ham and cheese. Woolworths too had a scented aroma which many years later when I moved to New York I recognized again when I walked into a Woolworths store on Broadway near Wall Street. It was an identical aroma to the Woolworths on London Road. Could have knocked me down with a feather. My mother worked at Stuarts - a small 'ladies outfitters' shop until they closed in the early 1970s and thereafter at Blundell's in Kensington Gardens.

I do remember Pips on Oxford Street. Great ice cream and armour-piercing toffee apples that I'm sure contributed to the wealth of many a dentist in the Brighton area. There was also, I think, a very good bicycle shop on the same side of the street as Pips. Fabulous frames, wheels and gears - all far beyond the reach of my paper round wages!

Hi John, I well remember Bradshaw's Cycle Shop in London Road and The Pie Shop at the top of St James' Street. As a lad I used to go to Brighton Boys' Club (with my three boxing brothers) in Devonshire Place and on cold winter nights afterwards we used to run down the street to the latter in order to buy a Beano Pie, and then while still steaming hot consume it on the No 46 to Patcham trolley-bus home. Happy days. p.s. anyone remember Gizzie's Ice Cream Parlour at the bottom of St James' Street? Regards to all my old muckers should they read this. Robin

Ahhh, Beano pies, Saturday lunchtime treat. Piping hot from the oven. Beats a Big Mac any day. The simple things that pleased us then.....

Does anyone remember cash carriers in any other Brighton/Hove shops? I have a website at www.cashrailway.co.uk and I'm recording any systems that I find in books, on the internet, or that people remember.

Yes I remember the little lady in her headscarf who would serve me lovely toffee apples and ice cream at Pips in London road.

The cycle shop Phil mentioned near Pip's Ices, was Strudwicks. I also used to windowshop there, but my older Brother bought all the bits there for a racing bike, which he built himself and it cost him £26, in the mid fifties.

Mmmm, it's now a serious traffic nightmare along the London Road. Happy memories of going to visit Father Christmas though, as a lad.

I remember a lot of the old shops of Brighton too, until I moved away in 1973 aged 27. There was Woolworths with big brass door handles, which was almost opposite Bellmans; Home and Colonial, Maypole, Sainsbury’s; the Post Office in Oxford Street. There was a shop with lots of biscuit boxes on the edge of the pavement somewhere between Oxford Street and Baker Street, Bradshaw’s for toys in Lewes Road and Dewhurst butchers. I remember Blackman greengrocers as I worked on their market garden for more than two years at Falmer. Do you remember Collins model shop; Martin’s deli and chip shop in Lewes Road and of course the Co-op. Shopping at Roslings was like going into a ‘Grace Bros’ type shop with its overhead money railway. I can also remember horses being shod in the blacksmiths at the London Road end of the Open Market. I can remember walking around every Saturday with my Mum to fetch the shopping. We went to Lewes Road each week, London Road every fortnight and Western Road for a special shopping trip a few times a year. My mother would never use a supermarket and rarely a bus, and all the shopping, for five, was carried home on foot!

I would like to mention Burnards stores on the corner of London Road and Baker Street, good value, also Kays (grocer) opposite.

I can also remember the cake shop called Calderwoods on the corner of Baker Street at the "level end" and at the top of Baker St was a lovely fish and chip shop just up from a pet shop. I used to buy some rolls and some chips and stuff the rolls with the chips often, when it was dinner break at Fawcett School.

Anybody remember when Lyons Cornerhouse used to be on the corner at the bottom of St. James's Street? 1954 I think. I used to go there for lunch most days when I worked for Penfold and Champ Accountants of Marlborough Place. Wonderful tomato soup and a roll, followed on special occasions by apricot pie!

Gizzis was further up St James St Opposite Cavendish St. The one Robin is thinking of was Bert and Seenies - not sure of Spelling- but was opposite the Post Office. I believe the building is now a Bank. I was a Brighton Boys Club Boy. I lived on the corner of High St for many years. Robin must remember Skipper. I have many memories of that area. Have any questions of the area please ask.

My Grandfather Charles Capon of Ringmer Road, was a grocer at the London Road Co-op in the 50s. He was on the cheese and bacon counter, which was just on the right as you entered the store. I remember him in immaculate, white starched aprons. There was a huge bacon slicer and the cheeses were cut with great precision with a wire, the butter formed with butter paddles and individuallly wrapped for each customer. I seem to recall that the other grocer on that counter was called 'Spanish John' The aroma from the bacon and cheese as you first entered the store was unforgettable... I've also never forgotten our 'divi' number 4097 after all these years!! What lovely times they were!!

Lyons Corner shop!! I can still smell the coffee. No coffee since has ever tasted like that. I'd quite forgotten how much I miss it.

How about Fullers in East Street where on very special occasions my brothers and I would be taken for waitress served afternoon tea by a maiden aunt. I can still envisage their famous coffee & walnut cake and have never tasted better since!

Wow, I don't know where to start. My Dad was on the managing committee at the Coop so I knew everything about it. Anyone remember heads of department: Growcock, Conway, Harvey, Pascal? They were nice people. The overhead cash system was indeed amazing. I remember Mr Capon quite well, Susan. When Bellmans store was built down the road, it was considered an ultramodern innovation and just a bit scary (not least because of the hideous green sign). Bellman himself was an important supermarket pioneer. Spanish John had an interesting background: The manager of the Coop Hall up the road was one Dick Polling who in his youth as active in the Spanish Republican cause. His contribution was to bring over orphans from Spain - my understanding is that 'Spanish' John was one of these. I remember him as a very excitable guy! Mr Bradshaw used to sit at his counter in the back of his Lewes Rd shop and sell train sets at exorbitant prices - but he could be arm-twisted !

My daughter has moved to Brighton so I love to visit her as I went there often as a child. Does any one know what happened to the large sand pit and paddling pool that used to be along the front by the beach? I spent many a lovely sunny day there.
[Editor: Look here for some information on a paddling pool on the seafront. Is this the one you mean?]

I remember walking from Port Hall Place to the Co-op in London Road with my mother in the early 50s, she had a three figure Co-op number but can't remember what it was. We always got the bus home with a load of shopping bags, then walked from Dyke Road to home.

I was having music lessons near the Dials between 1947 and used to spend a lot of my pocket money on sheet music. Some came from Lyon and Hall in Western Road or directly opposite was Murdoch's (next door to where coffee beans were roasted giving out delicious smells). Some of my music came from Tofts in London Rd., and some from Wickham, Kimber and Oakley in George Street, Hove. I often went to Haslett and Barrs in Duke Street, where Peter Barrs would sit at the piano and play the latest pop tunes. Besides new music I bought a lot of my classical pieces second hand at Holleyman and Treacher's bookshop, also in Duke Street.

Glynis - What year would that have been that your sister worked there and could you ask her if it was around 1956 /58? And does she remember Joyce Hazelgrove, Queeny, and Peter Simmonds, and Minnie? I've only just looked on the page. Hope to hear from you.

I also remember the Maypole & Lyons Corner House in St. James's Street. Does anyone remember Jean Bennet who lived in Elder Street off New England Street?

I also remember the old Arcadia Cinema in Lewes Road, also prefabs in Viaduct Road.

My godfather Clem Rosling had a department store in the London Road. The site was sold to Woolworths' in the 1960s, and is now occupied by the '99p' shop. Clem and his wife Kathleen and Clem's parents lived in a flat on the top floor of the store. There were many stores like this, a bit like 'Are you being served!'. I can remember a trip to the toy department downstairs and leaving with a nice toy. I caused a certain amount of envy at school by having an Uncle Clem who owned a toy shop! Clem used to spend his day walking around the shop floor greeting customers. Apparently a lot of ladies remember Mr Rosling as being very charming and visited the store to see him. The Rosling family had a plot of land in Patcham which they used to visit after lunch on a Sunday. Clem was in charge of the orchestra at St Bartholomew's Church just behind the London Road; he liked playing the timpani. He had a shop in Hove for a while, before he retired to Fox Hill Village, then Spalding and finally Bexhill in Sussex.

Yes, I remember most of these shops. Pips was the best ice cream, I was told they were gypsies. How about Gibbs the jewellers where my Mum worked just past Bellmans or De Marco Bros where I worked for three weeks? He used to make different flavours every day. It was an ice cream parlour a couple of doors from Margaret Hardy where I went to school. We lived on Campbell Rd, with Woods ironmongers on the corner which was taken over by Nortons. I live in Nottingham now but coming for a visit next week, not been for seven years!

Hi Anne Ball, do you remember Janet and Margaret Simmons who lived on Campbeell Road, also a Jean Bennet who lived on Elder Street? Thank you.

MAurice White, did you once teach in Cambridgeshire?

Hi Doug Newland, yes I remember the Simmons but am not sure about Jean Bennet. I do remember Elder Street though, we used to have our bonfires over there when they knocked the houses down.

Does anyone remember a Nina Hensen who served in the Sainsbury's shop?

Does anybody remember the butchers shop almost opposite Truform shoes, sort of set into the old Co-op building on the corner of Baker St?

My school, the Brighton and Hove Stage School performed our school show The Wizard of Oz at the Coop building, London Road in the early 1960s. Some of my class mates were Ken Hancock as the Tin Man, Maureen Parker, Roger Doidge, Judy Campbell....the good old days.

Hello Derek Taylor: You posted a question. Does anyone remember Bellmans. I do! I believe there was another Bellmans along Western Road in Brighton. I used to go there when I was a kid. John Hutchings.

Like most, I too loved watching the overhead cash containers wooshing across the store, the vacuum tubes which also followed, Saturday morning pictures at the Astoria, (mostly Marx Bros films and Pathe News), bean pies, broken biscuits, 'Penny Drinks' near my school at Coombe Rd (at the time dear King George died), something called 'Sterio Custard' that nobody seems to remember - was a slab of custard, which was eventually broken up to mix with liquid. Oh glorious days, running around The Lanes as well, then seeing cartoons at the Duke of Yorks, which am amazed was still there on my last visit to Brighton. Does anyone also remember Needham's music shop in Ann St, Margaret Trussler, Barbara Redgrave, or the Bakers at the end of Buller Rd?

Does anyone remember the name of the School House opposite the end of Campbell Road New England end ? My mum lived in Argyle Road and remembers going off to this two roomed school house when she was very small. They used slates to write on. She has been racking her brain and can't remember its name It would have been late 1940s early 50s .

There was a Bellmans in London Road. I am sure I stood in a long line for stockings, must have been about 1950. The stockings were for my sister. There was also a Bellmans in Western Road at some point. Think they mainly sold Wool.

These are wonderful memories of London Road, it's a shame to see what it has now become. I used to get dragged down there regularly as a child in the late 50s. I loved the pink ice cream from Pips and looking at the comics which were held up with pegs on the newspaper stand outside the original Woolworths on the corner. I remember the man that ran that stand, he wore glasses, he seemed to be there in all weathers throughout my childhood. I was a big fan of the Co-Op too, especially at Christmas when they had a toy fair and all the trees on display along the exterior of the building. They were indeed happy days.

I remember Smith and Brown clothes shop half way up Trafalgar Street on the left - they had the cash carrier system as well.