Another of Silsden's mainstay businesses is at No. 39 Kirkgate, which has been a newsagent's for at least 100 years, from the time of James Edward Streets. The present owner, Martin Twigg, is pictured above with his mother, Rita. Martin bought the business from Martin Lampkin in 1994, the Lampkins having followed John and Shirley Twigg, who were proprietors from 1963 until 1988. Martin, who is chairman and treasurer of Silsden Golf Club, is John Twigg's nephew. Apart from the Lampkin years, Rita Twigg has helped in the shop since 1963.

Signs of the times: the present-day frontage of Twigg's (above) is restrained compared with the 1970s stridency of tobacco and newspaper advertising (below).   

John and Shirley Twigg, who came to Silsden from Keighley, acquired the business from the Fuguill family, which had kept the Streets name during their proprietorship.

Above: This Streets advertisement was published in the Urban District Council's 1954 guide to Silsden.

Above: The shops from No. 31 (the bakery, not in picture) to No. 39, between Aire View and New Road, are an attractively colourful Kirkgate asset. The same aspect but with different retailers in the 1970s is pictured below. 

Above: 1970s scene. The launderette on the left, which is now The Rice Bowl Cantonese take-away, was the fondly-remembered Milk Bar in the 1940s and 50s. The Silsden Liberal Association rooms had several different uses before becoming the Co-op funeral-care office of today. For several years No. 37, now the Beehive hair and beauty salon, was Gibson's greengrocery and then Myers greengrocery. The Gibson name was uncovered in recent repair work on the title board of the Beehive salon.    

Above: In the late 1890s and early 1900s, before becoming Streets' newsagent's and stationer's, No. 39, with a veranda, was run by John Roberts, fruiterer and seedsman. Photograph from the late Kevin Bower's collection.

Above:This intrepid woman cyclist in the 1890s contrasts starkly with the two shawled lasses on the pavement outside John Roberts' shop. Photograph from the late Kevin Bower's collection.