WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION

After leaving school in 1952 I found employment with H.Goodhall Ltd, in the Wholesale Market in Wolverhampton as a groundsman and porter. I would say the first three years working here in the market (before a break for National Service) were the best three years of my working life.

Rest In Peace

The hand bell that rang out daily at 3.00p.m. around St Peter's Square, to herald the closure of a days trading has now been muffled for good.

And the many tradesmen and customers that had for many years gathered around at 6.00 a.m. outside these once majestic wrought iron gates of Wolverhamptons old fruit and vegetable wholesale market have long since departed after paying their last respects.

All that's remaining is this brief unique view of the Catholic Church of St Peter and St Paul and Giffard House, framed by the last remaining arch, which adds an extra poignancy to a deeply moving scene at the end of the life of this Edwardian built masterpiece R.I.P.

North Street - its final indignity was Wholesale Destruction.

The eye catching Wholesale Market, of which I recall with great affection, was erected in 1902, on a site now occupied by the Civic Centre, Wulfruna Street, in an area formerly known as Horse Fair.

The last Picture Show

Seventy years later in the early 1970's the market building itself was still in quite good condition, but unfortunately its design and layout, didn't meet with the demand for modern day distributing. Its existing facilities couldn't cope with the quick handling, of the huge transports, and this caused terrible congestion, around Wulfruna Street during busy periods.

This, plus the lack of storage and garage space, for use by the merchants etc, added further handicaps to smooth organisation, and it was with much regret a new site had to be found away from St Peters Square.

1963 in like a Lion and out like a lamb.

For those of us who worked in the Wholesale Market during the first two months of 1963 there was no need for threats of being sent to Siberia, it was colder in here. It snowed heavily just after Christmas and then for weeks a glazed frost piled on the agony.

It was the worst freeze up since 1947, two things that always spring to mind was the tea freezing in cups when left a while unattended, and the price of the few vegetables produced leaping in price each day. The ground became so hard one local farmer Wallace Cartright from Wombourne resorted to using a pneumatic drill to dig parsnips!

This is a shot of the market interior in summer of 1963. The market appears very quiet now at the end of the day's trading.

It mainly features the large trading area allotted to H. Goodall Ltd fruit & veg merchants. One of Goodhalls fleet of vehicles is seen fully laden, about to leave with goods for delivery to Newport Shropshire. The gentleman with arms folded was Tom Price, the General manager of H.Goodall; seen here chatting to Jack Thomas, a local greengrocer from Park Village.

Vegetables in their Blood.

A group of market veterans force a smile even though they are being uprooted from the ornate aisles of the Wulfruna street headquarters, where they have spent most of their working life.

They are from left to right: Sam Leason, George Henson, George Talbot, Horace Horton, Bert Weaver, Tom Adey, Steve Thomas, Edgar Finney, and Arthur Green. Looking back with hindsight perhaps, a tear or two would not have gone amiss.

Gone but not forgotten

In the local press on 22nd November 1973 it said... By Monday next the Edwardian shell of Wolverhampton wholesale market will be strangely quiet, because the trade will have moved two miles away to Hickman Avenue. The bustle and the banter of the fruit and veg trade, will now be echoing around new £500,000 premises at Monmore Green.

QUERY CORNER

Hello to everyone who enjoys reading my Blog, again I would like to say a big thank you, as it's always fun to get an email or a comment on something I have posted.

I have had a few more comments left on the posts recently and I hope this trend continues to grow as I really enjoy people asking me if I remember certain places or people from Wolverhamptons yesteryear.

To make it easier to for other blog followers to read peoples questions and my answers, I have decided to try something new.

From now on if someone leaves a comment with a question, if i have anything to say on the subject I will feature the original comment and my answer in it's own little post.

I will be calling these posts 'Query Corner', and will show the original comment and my reply to them within the post.

OK, with that little explaination out of the way I'd like to move on to the first ever Query Corner.



QUERY CORNER

'Hi Bill do you, or anybody out there remember a second hand car pitch in Molineux St just past Vincent St, opposite the football ground, in the mid 1950s, or have any photos of Molineux St in this time?' - John


Yes John, I remember it well It seemed to me from stories I heard that there had always been an area of open ground on that corner of Vincent Street used over the years for garage related businesses.

One such story came from Kath Thomas, whose father Albert Thomas was the licencee at the 'Cottage Spring' in North Street.

Its beer garden overlooked that area of open ground and Molineux Street. When the original Molineux Street stand blew down in the gales in January 1925, he allowed the customers to stand on the garden tables on match days, and did a roaring trade.

But back to your comment and this photo from the time in question. At that time S & H.Amis limited, sold second hand cars from here next door to Pay Pool Motor engineers on the corner of Vincent Street, seen opposite the returning trolleybus.



There were times before and after the war, when the No.3 bus from Fordhouse's would have been stranded here in Molineux Street for above ten minutes, as the hordes of fans left the ground after the final whistle.

A little further up the street next to the hoarding which separates it from O'Connors shoe repairs, the pet shop is finding the trade very slow these days.

But on the opposite corner to Jimmy O'Connor. The Fox Hotel is still doing a good trade, especially when the 'Wolves' are at home.

The bus will continue on its return journey from Fordhouses and make its right turn into North Street, in front of Jones' fish and chip shop and Corkes Radio shop next door, and will proceed to its stop at the 'Chequer Ball'.


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