Newport/Cannon Street area

I too grew up in that area around 60's 70's. Never called Gresham as I recall.

Our house had no bathroom or central heating and an outside toilet. We never thought of it as rough, we knew no better.

Thankfully most people now can enjoy better facilities.
 
I was a kid when they started the demolitions in the mid-60's and the continued until through until late 70's / early 80's. I remember being quite frightened and confused, every Saturday when I went into town on the bus with me mam and dad there'd be another vast wasteland which had been created. Huge spaces full of smouldering rubbish, topped with miserable grey skies.
As a result, I've always been really interested in that period and what it did to the town. My paintings on the theme (see earlier post in thread) are from old film footage and an extensive collection of photos of the time. docks 3.jpg12509577_10207529652655196_2454402696496443261_n.jpgCannon roofless.jpg
 
the_dormouse said:
I grew up just off Gresham Road and lived there well into my twenties and cannot ever recall the area being called Gresham.When did that become a thing?
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Seems to be what various mayors have called the area between Princess road and Union street.
 
thewanderer said:
We need to upend planning laws so people can build their own homes instead of volume housebuilders building what they are told to by busybody councillors
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We need those approving planning to make sure accommodation at least meets the guidelines set out in the 1950s or bigger, and expand public sector housing. It's not just about those who can afford to build their own homes.
 
boroPE said:
Seems to be what various mayors have called the area between Princess road and Union street.
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The gas storage tanks were on the other side of Newport Road. The area of Cannon Street around Newport Bridge had a particular name amongst locals, but I can't for the life of me remember it.
 
RaysLugg2 said:
I was a kid when they started the demolitions in the mid-60's and the continued until through until late 70's / early 80's. I remember being quite frightened and confused, every Saturday when I went into town on the bus with me mam and dad there'd be another vast wasteland which had been created. Huge spaces full of smouldering rubbish, topped with miserable grey skies.
As a result, I've always been really interested in that period and what it did to the town. My paintings on the theme (see earlier post in thread) are from old film footage and an extensive collection of photos of the time. View attachment 45505View attachment 45506View attachment 45507
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Paintings really good btw 👌🏻
 
It's where my parents grew up in the 1930's, 40's and 50's.

My mam told me that when she and dad first married in 1954 they bought a house for £99, knowing that it was to be knocked down in two years time. The house had been used for B&B and had no work done on it since it was built over 100 years previously. The thinking behind that was that it would be cheaper than the rent and that when it did eventually get knocked down they would be compensated by the council.
Mam said she refused to live in the house as whenever she opened the front door and let some light in, all she saw was a moving carpet of cockroaches, mice and rats darting for cover.
When the house was eventually discovered, mam, dad and baby Trug were rehoused to Berwick Hills where a four year old Trug managed to burn the house dowwn, resulting us having to move to Easterside- But that is another story.
Fox Heads got it's name because the builder of the houses was called Fox. He put a small stone fox's head on the front elevation of all the houses he built, hence the name Fox Heads.
 
I used to play darts for the Volunteer pub in Cannon Street in what was called the South Side League comprising only pubs in Cannon Street.
On a different night I played for the Gosforth situated “over the border”. This competition was known as the North Side League and contained only pubs yon side of the Albert Bridge and up to the Transporter.
There’s a picture of the Palmerstone over page and this was my grandad’s local. He lived in Bank Street, was an engine driver and died in the Infirmary on Newport Road.
 
Trug said:
Mam said she refused to live in the house as whenever she opened the front door and let some light in, all she saw was a moving carpet of cockroaches, mice and rats darting for cover.
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Ah, the cockroaches. I have vivid memories of them. Coming down in the morning the open fireplace was swarming with them.

Mind you, my first holiday job was 1966 in a museum-like privately-owned hotel in Scarborough - I can still remember the owner's name, Violet Enid Binns. I had to cook breakfasts first thing in the dimly-lit basement. When I'd put the light on the whole kitchen floor was a swarming mass of the horrible things.
 
thewanderer said:
We need to upend planning laws so people can build their own homes instead of volume housebuilders building what they are told to by busybody councillors
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Only " people" won't build will they, builders will, cheaply built with cheap materials, nice new slums.
I'll stick with the busybodies thanks.
 
Lottowyn said:
There’s a picture of the Palmerstone over page and this was my grandad’s local. He lived in Bank Street, was an engine driver and died in the Infirmary on Newport Road.
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He might have been among the groups of men I watched playing Toss the Penny when I was a kid. The Infirmary has bad memories for me too. I fell head first into the open fireplace mentioned above and split my tongue in half meaning two horrible weeks there scared out of my wits.
 
One of my Nanas was from Cannon Street area - she lost 2 twin sisters to diseases fo poverty, they were about 7 years old, my nana kept their clothes for years. Aged around 18 my nana was knocked completely out by a policement during a riot in Cannon Street. My Nana was generally a very law abiding person, she was a young supervisor in the new Woolies store in Linthope Road in the 1920s. Cannon Street must have been a rough tough place in the 1920s. Sorry I don't hold its rougher and bleaky today. People may have moved out of Central Middlesbrough that lived there in the 1920s so there is a different social profile i.e those with professional jobs live in North Yorks villages while they used to live in Linthorpe, but over a 15 mile radius, its no rougher now.
 
I dislike that video despite it’s arty style. I think they showed the footage in MIMA a couple of years ago
 
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