Many thanks to Paul Doleman for another great old photo of Hoylake following on from an old aerial view of Hoylake published a couple of weeks ago.
Here we can see a Ferris’s Cafe in Government Road. Who knew that there used to be a cafe in that road? Well, actually I did, but not that one. According to the sales particulars for this house in Government Road, there was once a Walkers Tea Rooms. That’s the exact same building so perhaps the cafe had a change of names at least once?
Please leave a comment if you know the answer. Oh, and look out over the weekend for another couple of follow-up photos that I’ve received.
I remember Mr and Mrs Bailey having a grocery shop there in the fifties and sixties, they were lovely people.
I remember it being a shop for drinks and ice creams when i was young, can`t remember if it was still a cafe too.
Fascinating, I grew up in Strand Road and spent many, many times in Government Road.
We used to roller skate from the house (which was the cafe) to the bottom at break neck speed, with only the windswept sand from the beach to save us.
The ‘Pictures’ (Hoylake Cinema to those less local) that were able to be viewed from the house (what was the cafe). Some big sandstone chunks of the old lighthouse were used (and could be clearly seen) on the corners of the cinema when it was built. I wonder what happened to these when it was demolished?
Amazing what memories come flooding back! Good days, as are these…
Am I right in thinking that there used to be a Ferris’s chip shop on Market Street, across from Chapel Road?
Not sure about a Ferris’s chip shop being in Hoylake, but I seem to think there was a Ferris’s cake shop in Banks Road, West Kirby.
There was a Fletchers chip shop next door to where the Old Anchor pub was in Market Street (entrance to a car park now). Not heard of a Ferris chip shop though
I knew the Governement Rd shop/cafe as Baileys. They used to make pots of tea for “trippers” to take down to beach. I remember taking pop bottles back there for the 2d we got for them- and buying icescream there.
I remember the shop as Bailey’s. Mr and Mrs Bailey were very nice…..Mr Bailey was an Evertonian and we used to take him to the match sometimes when we went to watch Liverpool Reserves. This was a big treat as a child. I remember the tables and chairs – it was a cafe too. Ferris’s were bakers. My “uncle” Denis Smith from Meols served his time with them before being called up into the Navy during the war and going on the Russian convoys. I think their main bakery was in Market Street in Hoylake.
I remember Ferris’s bakery and cake shop in Market Street. It was almost opposite the Punch Bowl. Fred Ferris used to appear regularly on radio in a programme called Dave Morris’s Clubnight. His catchphrase was “Has he been in?” to which the cast would shout “Who?” and on one occasion his reply was “Happy Harry Hollingsworth from Hoylake”. Harry Hollingsworth was a signwriter whose workshop was in a loft at the back of Billie’s cafe. I went to school with his son George.
In 1964 my parents, John and Edith Caddick, who had previously lived in Rainhill, purchased the house from the Baileys and ran it as “Seaview Stores & Cafe” until my father`s early death in September 1976. My mother and two younger brothers, Michael and Stephen, then moved to West Kirby. My grandmother lived in the house, too, and occasionally busied herself in the cafe`s little kitchen until she became too old. I remember that in1966 and 1967 there was additional help on busy weekends by a schoolgirl from the neighbourhood, Miss Jennifer Jones of 11 Strand Road. We met in the summer holidays which I usually spent at home,coming from school and later university abroad. We became penfriends but due to my many changes of address lost contact. Later visits to 11 Strand Road were unsuccessful as Jennifer and her mother had moved out and I could not find out where to. The golden days of my Hoylake holidays are unforgettable, and I remember that my father called No 28 “a happy house” when we moved in on July 29th, 1964.
I am the Jennifer Jones who lived at 11 Strand Road with my mother. The house originally belonged to my Great Grandfather, Joseph Charles Jones. My grandfather was Robert Jones and my father was also called Joseph Charles Jones, but was known as Charlie. All were Hoylake fishermen, with different generations living in Wales and Hoylake. I remember you well Gunnar and was sorry that we lost touch. I enjoyed working in the cafe for your family whilst I was at school. I went to college and became a teacher and we moved away in the early seventies. I have traced my family tree both in Hoylake and in Wales and I recognise many names mentioned here. Some of them are my relatives.
Hello, I am now the owner of 30 Government Road and would love to know more about the house ex no 28 and now 30. I am an artist but my daughter, a musician, will be living there until I can re-locate. I taught in Toxteth for 20 years as a head of art and feel I was drawn to the house. The welsh link is my husband (Davies) but some of my family live directly across the sea to near Talacre in Wales. Any history would be helpful. Annie
Like other posters I remember the premise as Baileys. But later not sure of dates but maybe late 60s early 70s my friends Jo and Steve McCready bought the property. They had been living in a flat over the shops attached to Tsco- ( or the old Kingsway). Jo and Steve moved to Sussex with their kids and sadly I lost touch.
Thank you so much Sue come and knock when renovations complete.
My Granny trained to be a Confectioner in this Shop in 1911
Dave Yeaman comments
When I was a youngster in the 1950’s this building was a shop owned by Mr and Mrs Bailey (it was known as Bailey’s) who were a very friendly elderly couple who regularly exchanged my bag full of Moorhouses empty leomonade bottles, which I had collected off the shore on hot summer days after the crowds had gone, for which I got 3d a bottle!
Great way of supplementing pocket money! I was often sent there as a kid to buy groceries.
Stella Williams comments
Hello, Does anyone remember or have any information about Madrens a little general shop inbetween the terraced houses in Lee Road. My Ganny lived in Lee road and when we stayed in school hols we often we often bought sweets from there.
I remember Madrens run by two sisters i think, there shop was a little gem they stocked everything the shop closed in the 60s when one sister passed away and the other was ill, Hoylake was full of little shops like that, particularly in Shaw st where there was a shop on the corner of every street.
Hi Diane,
Madrens was on the right hand side of the houses in Lee Road as you entered from Market Street. If I remember, it really was just the front room of a little terraced house which had an old dark wood dividing section with a flap up hinged counter. My nan and grandad on my Mum’s side, Harold and Florence Marriott lived in Newton Road and I would get sent to Madrens for biscuits. I was living at 4 Waverley Road at the time. There was also another shop that was run by two sisters in Hoylake….. Williamsons or Williams’ – which was on the corner of Elm Grove (it’s now a barbers shop). This was a proper sweetie shop, everything in jars, weighed out and handed to you over the counter in little triangular twist bags, The sisters always wore pale blue overalls and seemed to be so tiny….I actually thought that maybe they were related to fairies and were magic!
Our Dad used to take us there every Sunday after tea at my other Nan and Grandads in Elm Terrace, Anne and Arthur Dawson (who had The Maypole on Market St) and buy a bag of Midget Gems and a bag of Wine Gums to share out. Being the big sister it was my job to share them out equally between the three of us…and all I can say is that considering maths wasn’t my best subject at the age of 10…….Andy and Claire…I’m truly sorry for the uneven numbers!
Hoylake also had a Woolworths, where the dance school is now, previously John David’s. I spent many a Saturday cherishing a photo frame with a picture of Haley Mills in it……wishing for long thick blonde hair……and buying my very first music single….dare I admit to it….Puppy Love by Donny Osmond.
The other shop that defied modernisation was Bentleys…or Gently Bently as we children called it. This was a sweet shop, post office and toy shop all rolled into one at the top of Waverley Road. This was owned by the Bentley Family who lived at 1 Waverley Road. There was little old Mrs Bentley who was tiny like a little bird, who always wore dark dresses with a White collar, grey hair in a bun and t-bar shoes. I think it was her son, John who ran the shop with her. Her daughter Miss Bentley (can’t remember her first name) was the wonderful headmistress of School Lane Infants School. I used to be so excited at Christmas when they would put the toys in the glass cabinets at the far end of the shop……….
There are so many lovely memories of Hoylake, I think I have been very lucky to have been born and bred here.
Gina Kirkham (nee Dawson)
Many years ago, I came to Hoylake looking for Church Road (where my Ancestors are buried)
After traipsing about without success, I decided to call on Ted Radestock for assistance.
I knew that Ted lived in Hoylake at Government Road – in fact he was in process of making me a Propeller and Rudder for a Model Boat I was constructing.
Success – I soon found Government Road and Ted’s house.
Not only did Ted put me right (Church Road was actually Trinity Road) – he also took me up to the top floor of his house and pointed out the Church Graveyard,
A good end to a frustrating beginning.- and who would have known that a thriving little factory was operated in Government Road ?
Ricky.
Hi Ricky,
Ted Radestock is my stepdad and is still going strong. He has retired and his company Scale Brass Propllers was sold a few years back. He still retains a bit of an interest in model making but his projects now seem to steer towards scale railways.
Gina
Hi, there definitely was a Ferris’s bakery in Banks Rd when I was growing up, early 50’s. I seem to remember my dad saying that a famous snooker player was a relative of the Ferris family.
Val Frost nee Blakeley
There was a ferris chip shop opposite grove park in the little row of shops, it was the one next door to the newsagents and was later a ladies hairdresser.
My parents John and Edith Caddick bought the shop in 1964 and owned it until the mid 70s when my dad died. The shop then was shut and sold as housing, and more recently has been split into two dwellings I noticed on a recent visit. The café ran until the early 70s but with lost trade became uneconomical to run as a café.
As a kid it was busy at times as I remember having to queue to go back in to the shop to tell my parents I was going to the baths, the old outdoor pool down the prom opposite the Parade school. I also remember going onto the beach to collect litter to find old discarded bottles of pop and to get the deposit back from my parents’ shop.
The sailing club boat yard was opposite the shop and behind it the cinema. Just above it was a block of old peoples’ flats built in the mid to late 60s I think as I used to deliver food there from the shop at times although the shop was losing trade as supermarkets on the main road took business away. As a kid in a sweet shop I didn’t really eat sweets but my friends liked to visit and my dad sometimes let us sit in the café with a coke each! Other memories as well as being at Holy Trinity Infants and Junior schools as a child except in reception class when the teacher Mrs F would not believe I could read and kept me on baby stuff for a term or more! Also Hilbre scouts at Lake Road until they moved into their new HQ the other side of the main road.
I am so happy my friend found this link for me. I purchased the now number 30 Government Road on the 15th May 2015. As many of you may know from looking through the window the house has been renovated and will soon be live in. As I was renovating the house I kept thinking I don’t want to live in the downstairs lounge…it feels as though it should be open to the public…and I find it strange that next door (28) was a tea shop and my house a shop (30). Also strangely, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I also “saw” a thin elderly lady looking out to sea through the window as though she was still waiting for someone. Her hair was up in a bun, dark straight but greying. As an artist I could draw her even now the impression was so strong. If anyone knows who she is can you let me know. And any other information about the house and its owners will be gratefully received.