Crowtree Road c 1900.
Crowtree Road runs from the top of Holmeside to High St West and with Fawcett St across the bottom a half-mile square of shopping streets is formed. In the late 1800s these four shopping streets surrounded a maze of narrow residential streets of small cottages many of which survived until the 1930s. though by then mixed up with markets and small shops. The four original surrounding streets survive and now enclose The Bridges shopping centre.as well as part of the old High St West now pedestrianised.
Information from Len Charlton.
Norman Kirtlan
This is a photograph of Barclays Bank in North Bridge Street on 29th June 1927 On the right is the tobacconist’s shop of Henry B Tufle and Sons, who did a roaring trade at this tram stop outside the Wheat Sheaf tram depot and offices, because this was where all the crews changed at the end of a shift. The offices, which can be seen just beyond Barclays also housed their rival Lloyds Bank, which can be seen with the Wheat Sheaf pub beyond. Tram 13, which was rebuilt from an open-top car in 1922, is just arriving at the stop. Information from Malcolm Fraser
This is Fawcett Street in the 1890’s. The town hall, on the left, was built in 1890 and still looks new. The columns of the Athenaeum Building on the right were removed in 1900 and replaced by the shops which can be seen in photo SDTC 022. A horse tram is seen heading north towards the river. The horse tram system operated here from 1879 until 1900, when the new electric trams took over. Info from Malcolm Fraser
Bridge Street, looking north towards the Wearmouth Bridge in 1939. Judging from the shadows its about ten in the morning and the street is already busy. An Austin saloon car, registered in London in 1935, heads a line of traffic waiting for the lights to change at Mackies corner. The Corporation double-deck bus is a Daimler and probably about a couple of years old. The tram behind it came was bought from Huddersfield in 1938 had been one of their most luxurious trams. It has just passed the Grand Hotel, one of the town’s most prestigious venues at that time. Info from Malcolm Fraser
