Photo request - Shore Road at the bottom of Fortwilliam park

[Dargan]

Margaret,
I'm delighted you've enjoyed these, I know how precious memories are and I know well how special the area was back in those days whe life was so much simpler. I still have a few more to go but unfortunately I don't have anything that shows the garage. Most of them will show the demolition of the houses. However, look out for one picture which shows Mr. Lee's door and window very clearly (Fortview Terrace) for I'm sure it hadn't changed much over the years. He held out to the bitter end pre-demolition. One or two others further up the road may also be of interest. If I'm ever sent anything new it will go straight on here. Rest assured. I'm still in contact with one or two people who might be able to help and will ask if anyone has anything that shows the garage at the corner of Oakmount Drive. All the best.

[Dargan]

Margaret. These photo's are arranged in a group to try to help you to recall more of your childhood. The first and second show 223 Shore Road which was near enough to the garage you mention. The third photograph is AFTER demolition and shows the fenced-off land this house was on (one of Fortview Terrace) and its once close proximity to Aerocrete. The fourth picture shows the entry at the back of Fortview Terrace prior to it being demolished, and the side of the old Aerocrete building.

[Richard 202]

Hi Dargan, in what year did you take this photo? Late 90's? I remember the first shop that sat on this land was Wellworths, then it became Safeway and finally Asda.

[Dargan]

Hi Dargan, in what year did you take this photo? Late 90's? I remember the first shop that sat on this land was Wellworths, then it became Safeway and finally Asda.

Hi Richard. As far as I remember all of the photo's I've shown on the forum were taken approximately December 1990/ early January 1991. I'm fairly certain of it as I don't recall having taken any when I returned for visits after I left in 1992. I remember Wellworth's too. Do you remember these old houses on the site before Wellworth's? In case you were very young when they were pulled down, here's something that might jog your memory if it was the case that you ever walked by them: at ground level, in the wall next to the front doors, there were little arched recesses that once had tiny iron grilles across them to scrape your shoes on before you went into the house. When I was a young child in the late sixties I used to be fascinated by them as they just seemed so unusual to my young mind.

[Dargan]

Hi Richard. As far as I remember all of the photo's I've shown on the forum were taken approximately late December 1990/ early January 1991. I'm fairly certain of it as I don't recall having taken any when I returned for visits after I left in 1992. I remember Wellworth's too. Do you remember these old houses on the site before Wellworth's? In case you were very young when they were pulled down, here's something that might jog your memory if it was the case that you ever walked by them: at ground level, in the wall next to the front doors, there were little arched recesses that once had tiny iron grilles across them to scrape your shoes on before you went into the house. When I was a young child in the late sixties I used to be fascinated by them as they just seemed so unusual to my young mind.

[mmcgoverne]

Margaret. These photo's are arranged in a group to try to help you to recall more of your childhood. The first and second show 223 Shore Road which was near enough to the garage you mention. The third photograph is AFTER demolition and shows the fenced-off land this house was on (one of Fortview Terrace) and its once close proximity to Aerocrete. The fourth picture shows the entry at the back of Fortview Terrace prior to it being demolished, and the side of the old Aerocrete building.

Dargan, you're whipping me into a frenzy here!!!    So close!!!!!!! I'm remembering when I learnt to ride my bike, I would come out of 269 and was allowed to turn left and pedal a hundred yards or so, and when we lived there there was just a huge boarded off space a bit set back from the road with maybe a dwarf chain link fence about six feet in front of the hoarding (you know the old iron ones with spikes along the chain that hung down between two concrete posts). There might have been adverts as with a billboard, or it may, may have been a building? This in your pic is the area with the new metal fencing/wall with newly planted trees.

I DONT remember Aerocrete, what frontage did it have on Shore Road itself?? I also don't recall Fortview Terrace, how can that be?? Was the terrace boarded up in the 70's??? or maybe it was just out of my "playing" range. I was allowed into Oakmount Drive, up to McCloys and Uncle Cesar's, (where the petrol station is now) and that was it.
 
And from the angle of the picture, it's almost like where I lived WAS Aerocrete??? Crickey this is exciting, thanks a million Dargan, I can't tell you what these pictures mean to me....

[Dargan]

Margaret, I'll try to help you sort this out in your mind tomorrow. Do you want a picture of the land where your Uncle Cesar had his place? I took some pictures when the foundations of the petrol station were being laid. They're not great but they show the empty ground.

[mmcgoverne]

Margaret, I'll try to help you sort this out in your mind tomorrow. Do you want a picture of the land where your Uncle Cesar had his place? I took some pictures when the foundations of the petrol station were being laid. They're not great but they show the empty ground.

Yes please Dargan that would be fantastic. I think I've got it - I went onto Google maps and looked at street view. Aerocrete was on the OTHER SIDE of the hoarding or buildings I recall, where now there are some units. There is still a stretch of wall left, that's what I remember. So you had 265 Shore Road, the garage, and 269. Immediately to the left was the hoarding and possibly those 4 units (dont know when they were built. Then, Aerocrete and Fortview Terrace. I will attach a still from Google when I figure out how to!!!
 
Any pictures of the waste ground before the filling station would also be great, I am, I hope you dont mind, planning to print these off and lay them in a kind of retro hard copy Google maps street view on my living room floor! x

[mmcgoverne]

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[Richard 202]

Hi Richard. As far as I remember all of the photo's I've shown on the forum were taken approximately December 1990/ early January 1991. I'm fairly certain of it as I don't recall having taken any when I returned for visits after I left in 1992. I remember Wellworth's too. Do you remember these old houses on the site before Wellworth's? In case you were very young when they were pulled down, here's something that might jog your memory if it was the case that you ever walked by them: at ground level, in the wall next to the front doors, there were little arched recesses that once had tiny iron grilles across them to scrape your shoes on before you went into the house. When I was a young child in the late sixties I used to be fascinated by them as they just seemed so unusual to my young mind.

Ah I see, thank you for the date confirmation Dargan. In that case it must be the Wellworths railings that you have photographed in your image. A very rare sight indeed!

I used to buy my computer games from Wellworths, back then they cost £2.99 and came on cassette tape! It's funny, I still remember the original Wellworths layout. I have had dreams which have featured it in the past, as crazy as that sounds. I seem to have many dreams of my youth, and they get more proficient as I get older!

The arched recesses that you mention do ring a bell, although they were not something that I recall on my parent's house (in Waveney Drive) or my grandparent's house (in Mount Vernon). As you say, I most probably walked past the row of houses after Aerocrete as a small child.

Margaret, I remember a car showroom at the location you mention you are looking for. I am 32, and I swear the location was a car showroom at least up until the late 80's. Maybe it is my imagination and it was simply a garage?

It's definitely not the Vauxhall garage that was on York Street facing the end of Alexander Park Avenue (now a housing development).

[Richard 202]

Margaret, is it this area that you wish to find a photo of:



(Dargan's photo)

Is it this area, but from the 70's?

[Dargan]

Yes please Dargan that would be fantastic. I think I've got it - I went onto Google maps and looked at street view. Aerocrete was on the OTHER SIDE of the hoarding or buildings I recall, where now there are some units. There is still a stretch of wall left, that's what I remember. So you had 265 Shore Road, the garage, and 269. Immediately to the left was the hoarding and possibly those 4 units (dont know when they were built. Then, Aerocrete and Fortview Terrace. I will attach a still from Google when I figure out how to!!!
 
Any pictures of the waste ground before the filling station would also be great, I am, I hope you dont mind, planning to print these off and lay them in a kind of retro hard copy Google maps street view on my living room floor! x

Please feel free to do anything at all with them! I'm glad they are of use. I'm also glad you have figured your locale out as I was beginning to get a bit hazy thinking about it all. I remember my uncle speaking about the garages your family owned but he is now too old to get any coherent information out of! Will put on my pictures of the ground before the filling station later today. 

[McGurggle]

Hi Dargan
 
You've brought tears to my eyes!  Thank you SO much! I'm faily sure my dad used to take me to the tyre place, there were lupins growing on the bank behind it, I'd see them when I went to school...I agree with Richard, you have been a real goldmine, there are so few pictures I have found of the area between Troxy's and Lowwood Park. The wee greengrocers - my mum used to take me to that for her shopping, then we 'd go into the combined wool/toy shop a bit furrther down Shore Road, and thewre was also a bakers and some sort of cafe upstairs along that row..cross the road for the butchers, and if I was good I could have a Penguin or Wagonwheel...the third B&W picture, if it was ajust a SMUDGE to the right, would show the garage....getting closer! What is amazing to me is how closely my memory tallies with these pictures - I used to sit opposite that little triangle at the bottom of Fortwilliam, there was a bench and my mother would watch me out the window. It's very emotional for me, those were good times before everything went badly wrong for our family, thank you again Dargan x

The wee shop used to be the 'Penguin'. My ma' worked there for quite a few years. The owner was Manuel Drummond from Kent St and his ma' was 'Lizzie the fish wummin'. Hern's alay !!!
Golden days and memories.  .Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh   
McG

[mmcgoverne]

The wee shop used to be the 'Penguin'. My ma' worked there for quite a few years. The owner was Manuel Drummond from Kent St and his ma' was 'Lizzie the fish wummin'. Hern's alay !!!
Golden days and memories.  .Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh   
McG

That's it!!! The Penguin!! And I used to make a point of having a Penguin biscuit if I could....they did wee bits and bobs by the till while your ma was paying for bits, things like pencils and rubbers and wee toys to tempt you! I was telling my son the other day how I used to go shopping with my ma down the Shore Road, her with a string bag on her arm, and we visited the bakers, the greengrocers, The PENGUIN  ,the butchers, and McCloys to finish off for some R Whites- we don't shop like that anymore. Golden days indeed! Thanks McG!!!!

[mmcgoverne]

Margaret, is it this area that you wish to find a photo of:



(Dargan's photo)

Is it this area, but from the 70's?

Hi Richard, do you know I didn't scroll enough when Dargan posted this picture and didn't even see the showroom - sorry Dargan!!!!
 
The car showroom is on the site of the garage and two houses, it must have been taken after the early 80's??? Yes, I lived in 269 in the 70's, and as far as I recall, when I was about 14 (1981 - Tainted Love was no. 1 in the charts at the time I recall), I came back to Belfast for a holiday, and the houses were being demolished. So that car showroom was there before the present Hutchinsons place that's shown on Google street view now. Soooooo close!!!!! 
 
When I lived on that corner there were two houses, a bit like the ones in Dargan's picture of Rookby Villas, with a garage in between, or at least a driveway into a garage at the rear, so at least as wide as a car. The concrete bollards and chains are there as I remember, to the right of the house I'm certain someone will have a picture, everyone's been so helpful, I live in hope, but this pic confirrms to me the exact location.
 
Margaret