43 replies to this topic

[Alan]

Eddie, I was trying to recall. Who was the female Council Leader in the 70s? If you remember, her accession coincided with Pilks strike leader Gerry Caughey joining the council in about 1971 or 2. The big gesture was to fly a pair of her kecks from the Town Hall flagpost

[eddiedunc]

Peggy McNamara

[Alan]

Ta, she started a long line of rough feminists

[ellie ellins]

It was an ugly, undistinguished building and hardly worth preserving.

[Griffin]

Having read that, I've just been trying to think of any other buildings in St. Helens which could be described as beautiful. With the best will in the world, the only one I can think of is the Friends' Meeting House. There are a few you might call distinguished or striking, but not many. The thing is, when you grow up in a place, the built environment is important to you, regardless of its aesthetic qualities. These days, when a building goes, it's usually replaced by something far worse. To me, the wholesale redevelopment of the town in the sixties and seventies dealt a serious blow to any connection I (and, I suspect, many others) felt with the place. Since then, it has got worse and worse, until I hardly know the place now. The Fleece wasn't the most beautiful or distinguished hotel you ever saw, but it served its purpose well, when there was a need for high-class accommodation for discerning businessmen. It went down considerably during the sixties. At the start of that decade, my uncle stayed at the Fleece when he was over from New Zealand. By the turn of the seventies, he had begun to stay elsewhere. Places like the Fleece changed as the class of business customer also changed, until we now have these awful, anonymous stereotyped places belonging to chains like the Hilton, Radisson, etc; and the completely unspeakable Travelodges and Premier Lodges. The old, individual hotels could be somewhere on a spectrum from sublime to appalling, but at least you could remember which town you were in when you woke up.

[Nemo]

It was a farm house annexe.

Neowt special.

There's neowt special in St. Helens archiertectuarally speaking.

[kes]

The co op building was travesty to knock down , what have they got now?

[eddiedunc]

Too true Kendy

[Alan]

The real gem was the old market hall and that street alongside with the cobbles

[stonehenge-2006]

As I recall, I thought The Fleece was very grand inside. I remember the huge hallway and huge glass mirror.......but nothing else. I use to think as a child, that I couldnt wait to grow up and be able to go in and drink in there!! I use to think that of a pub in Liverpool Rd too, it had a mosaic pavement outside it, was it The Grapes or The Vine, it was further down from The Float, it use to look very romantic and mysterious. How I wish all those old pubs were still here !!

Getting back to The Fleece........I then grew up and spent my wedding night in there ..........and I cant recall that either

[Alan]

stonehenge-2006, on Nov 2 2007, 04:12 PM, said:

it was further down from The Float, it use to look very romantic and mysterious. How I wish all those old pubs were still here !!

That Float was a new pub to me!

[Voll]

The Vine is in Elephant Lane, or was.

[Olliebeak]

We used to go to The Fleece for our Staff Christmas Lunch when I worked in Fibreglass (69 - 72) - always very posh, lots of knives and forks, linen napkins and proper silver service waitresses.

[brunty]

its still there voll it closed down a few months ago and reopened 6 weeks ago with new tenants.

[Voll]

Excellent news, brunty. It and the Brown Edge were always my favourite locals when I went home.