Long lost view of Spring Gardens

THIS view of Spring Gardens has gone forever - because of the major redevelopments in the 1960s. All the properties in the Cleveland Street /Waterdale section of Spring Gardens were cleared in the early 1960s.

Much information about life on the town's streets during the present century has been recounted to me by many keen Star readers, and Graham Whiting has provided some fascinating childhood recollections about Spring Gardens.

He said: “My parents moved to 38 Spring Gardens in 1945 when I was six months old. The property was rented for about 11s a week and my mother used to say that many of the houses in the street were formerly occupied by posh people who had servants. The toilet was outside. There was no hot water or a bathroom and my mother used to wash me in a tin bath every Sunday night in front of the fire. Whenever my parents wanted a bath they used the St James' Street slipper baths. My father worked at the Carr Wagon Works. My mother used to make most of my clothes. Those that she bought were mainly from Ellands which was at the St Sepulchre Gate corner.”