Vets add a new dimension to Kirkgate's commercial changes

Silsden Vets, specialising in small animals and pets, has opened at No. 74 Kirkgate, which previously was a tattoo parlour. Senior vet Kenneth Alexander and his border terrier Archie are pictured above with nurse/receptionist Deborah Troake. Silsden Vets' parent company is East Park Vets, of Harrogate. Mr Alexander will be mainly on duty in Silsden; at other times the vet will be Maria Balatsouka.

Silsden Vets adds to recent changes in Kirkgate, which include the packed opening on Sunday, February 24th, of the Old Post Office café and bar, The Yorkshire Vaper (at what was Rowlands pharmacy, between the Red Lion and Isherwood's butchers) and the C & K Nail Bar, where Nadine's used to be. I will be posting about these new businesses soon.

After the heatwave cometh the flood

Following February's record high temperatures, another freak event occurred in the town centre on Thursday, February 28th, when water from a burst pipe in Wesley Place cascaded across the Stakes Beck bridge and along the footpath by the newly-opened Old Post Office café and bar into Kirkgate.

Wesley Place was being resurfaced at the time and the job extended round the corner towards the park where the water-pipe burst. At the time of my photographs it was too early to say what exactly had happened but there were fears that the Old Post Office and adjoining properties would be affected when the water supply was turned off for repairs.

Aire View's historic line from chapel to beauty salon

The Elegance Beauty Salon in Aire View is one of Silsden's longest-established businesses. It was founded 26 years ago by Debra Camsey (left) and Sarah Callon (right) with financial help from the then government's Enterprise Allowance Scheme. Debra and Sarah are pictured with Sharon Pickles, who joined Elegance 14 years ago. The new salon caught a rising tide of demand for nail and beauty treatments, and was virtually Silsden's first specialist provider. Shellac and nail treatments in general are among the most popular of the Elegance offerings.   

The shop at 6-8 Aire View had many different occupiers up to the arrival of Elegance in May 1993. Previous outlets included pine and pottery, greengrocery (Mick and Dick's), Army and Navy type clothing store, sports supplements, wholefoods and bike shop. 

For a few years in the 1920s, the premises were home to the Bethany Pentecostal Church, which was visited by Lam Jeeveratnam, pictured above. Born in 1892, he had been raised as a Lutheran in India but was converted to evangelism at a Pentecostal rally in Leeds. He married an Englishwoman and preached around the country, later returning to India without his family.

Lam Jeeveratnam is pictured in the Bethany Church doorway with Herbert Mitchell, a Skipton Road grocer, and Mr. Mitchell's daughter Doris (later Doris Rogers, a well-known Methodist local preacher), who would have been six at the time. Before the advent of the church, the building had been the meeting room for the first Silsden branch of the Independent Labour Party, formed around 1906.

Baby Boomers: class of 1958 at Aire View School

Back row, left to right: Susan Coates, Catherine Hodgson, Susan Judson, Ann Driver, Sylvia Scaife, Jean Howson, Jean Bancroft, Billy Stevens, Roy Sanderson, John Throup, Colin Smithson, Philip Dickinson, Michael Spencer. Middle row, left to right: Rachel Atkinson, Elizabeth Atkinson, Christine Kettlewell, Barbara Watson, Catherine Mason, Kathleen Buck, Heather Marshall, Judith Southern, Anita Wass, Keith Lowcock, Rodney West, Neville Ackroyd. Front row, left to right: Josephine Saam, Eileen Walker, Susan Brown, Margaret Power, Kathleen Rogers, Linda Tillotson, Mr Edward Chester (deputy head and class teacher), Marjorie Bell, Catherine Spencer, Kevin Hawkins, Geoffrey Roberts, John Golden, David Foulger, David Atkinson.

The junction that will always be known as Tannery Corner?

A recent surge of interest in my blog of February 24th, 2015, about the changing face of North Street near the junction with Bolton Road (Tannery Corner) has brought to light the photographs above and below. Taken in the late 1990s by Steven Mitchell, they show the old tannery before the building was knocked down. 

Janet Mitchell said her husband took the photos because he suspected the building might not be there for ever.

My photos above and below show the corner as it is today.

The changing times of a distinctive Victorian building

Pictured above are Charlotte Hawkins (left) and Katherine Hopwood, joint owners of the Beehive Hair Salon at No.37 Kirkgate. They are the modern chapter in the story of a building that has been a prime commercial site for more than 120 years.

A hairdresser since leaving school, Katherine opened the Beehive eight years ago. Charlotte became her partner in the business two years ago. Their clients span all ages from tots to very senior citizens. The Beehive, with its distinctive frontage and  standout lettering, attracts passing motorists in busy Kirkgate.

For more than half a century the shop belonged to Arthur Dixon, tailor, clothier and hatter. This photograph shows the premises in 1909, decorated for the second Silsden Charity Carnival. The sign on the wall says that hats, caps and a large variety of the latest styles are available in store. Dixon's was still trading in the 1950s. No.37 was later a greengrocery, first Gibson's and then Myers'. It was subsequently an accountancy office. For a year before Katherine opened the Beehive, the shop was a florist's.

A scene from the 1970s when No. 37 was Myers' greengrocery.The Liberal Association rooms next door had several uses before becoming the Thomas Clarkson/Co-op funeral-care office of today.