It’s been a number of years since the History Society has had a talk on the Bronte family – so we’re making up for that on WEDNESDAY 13th JULY 2022 by having Nick Holland talk about ‘Anne Bronte and her siblings’. Nick is the author of ‘In Search of Anne Bronte’, ‘Emily Brontë – A Life In 20 Poems’ and ‘Aunt Branwell and the Brontë Legacy’.
This talk will take place upstairs at the Library. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Anyone is welcome to attend. There will be a charge of £3 on the door for non-members.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to Covid affecting two of our committee members, we will not be able to run this meeting on Zoom.
After nearly 35 years, it was announced this week that the town’s branch of W. H. Smith’s would be closing on 3rd September 2022.
A spokesperson for W. H. Smith was quoted in the Keighley News online on 9th July 2022: “We can confirm that the WH Smith store in Keighley will be closing in September. Unfortunately we are unable to continue to trade viably from this location and the decision has been taken to close the store as a result of the forthcoming lease expiry. We are currently in discussion with Post Office Limited, so it has time to find a suitable franchise partner to ensure continuity of post office services within the town. We are disappointed to be losing our presence in Keighley and we would like to thank all our customers for their support and for shopping with us. We are also extremely grateful for the commitment of our in-store colleagues who we will support with this transition and redeploy to nearby stores, where possible.”
The store had opened in the Airedale Centre on 4th December 1987, with an advert announcing the fact in the Keighley News of the same day: “There’s a new shop in town. The name’s familiar, but it looks and feels completely different. Of course, when you see the exciting stationery, books, cards, newspapers and all the other things for which we’re famous, you’ll realise you can’t be anywhere other than W. H. Smith. Just a word of warning about your first visit to our new shop: make sure you’re not in a hurry. The temptation to browse could well prove irresistible. Because when you’re in a stylish shop, you can’t help shopping in style.” (With thanks to Eddie Kelly.)
Top images taken in 1987/88 from slides donated to the History Society by Steve Seymour. 1987 Advert provided by Eddie Kelly. Bottom photograph taken by Tim Neal in July 2022.
The Broomhill branch of the Keighley Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd. officially opened on Co-operators’ Day, 7th July 1928. It was built to service the Broomhill estate, Keighley’s first council housing estate, which was begun in 1920. The store contained grocery, butchery, fruit and confectionery departments.
It was the Co-Op Society’s largest store apart from its headquarters on Brunswick Street. The store was designed by the CWS Architectural Department. The store was issued with the branch number 20. This replaced the original branch number 20 which was Oakworth Hall, which had closed and so the number was available to be reassigned. The store is located on Broomhill Avenue and is still open as a Co-Op store today.
The original photographs were taken around the time of opening and are part of the Keighley and District Local History Society digital archive. The colour photograph was taken by Tim Neal in 2018.
These four photographs showing progress on the new town centre shopping precinct were taken on 1st July 1969 by Robert Long.
The plans for the town centre redevelopment were drawn up by The Murrayfield Real Estate Development Company Ltd. and were agreed by the Town Council. The development of the shopping precinct mainly took shape in the second half of the 1960s. Cook Lane, Queen Street, Brunswick Street and College Street were bulldozed but at least preserved within the structure of the shopping centre by becoming Cook Way, Queens Way, College Walk and Brunswick Arcade. Adelaide Street was bulldozed and forgotten.
The work was staggered, with many shops and businesses opening up as soon as the opportunity arose. The first section to be completed was Brunswick Arcade with some of the first shops being Holmes’ Ladies Wear, Adams Coffee Bar, Graham Men’s Wear, Lakewell Ltd., Halford’s Cycles, Wilds, Boots and Currys. The Boots store can just be spotted in the bottom left photograph. Most of the shopping centre was open to the elements until the late 1980s.
Photographer Bob Long (writing on Facebook in April 2021): “I took these photos of the town centre re-development. There should be about 200 photos in all. They were taken for Seymour & Harris architects in London. This was a three year contract I had with them, from foundations to finished shop fronts. I was 19 when I started and just starting my photographic business. A friend of mine, a Mr Bill Cusker, was the site supervisor for Token Construction Company and got me the job of photographing the redevelopment site. I had to climb up scaffolding onto top of the rooves to get the best shot required. The contract was to take photographs once a month to show the progress of the construction for the architects. I did this for about two years until the shops were ready for occupancy.”
Original prints of the photographs are held in the Keighley and District Local History Society physical archive. They are all available to view on the History Society’s Flickr site.
