Bedlington Top Club

[Keith Scantlebury]

My current wife worked there and she kept mentioning the fact that a crack in the wall beyond the stage (as you looked from the bar) near the fire door was getting bigger every day. No one would believe her so she put a mark against it every day. They then started to realise that they better get something done about it. The rest is history.

(Best I can do Keith.......)

Well, I thank you kind sir

[Malcolm Robinson]

Is this the one?

That's the one foxy........ classic example of of bunker architecture!

[Adam Hogg]

That's the one foxy........ classic example of of bunker architecture!

No malcolm the bunker is to the right of the picture and is still there today.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Well that couldn't be you skivving in the underpass Adam!

[threegee]

OOPS!! I stand corrected, I knew full well it was Jimmy Milne. I think it was because symptoms and written Eddie Milne (mistakenly I'm sure) and that name became planted in my mind, therefore I agreed unwittingly. (thats my excuse and I am sticking with it Foxy)

Another correction then: the names aren't spelled the same. Millne and Milne; just as you'll observe at Millne Court.

I never thought I'd be caught saying this, but Eddie Milne was a good deal whiter than most of the Labour MPs that have been bussed in by Socialist Central to "represent" us. He was kicked out of the party because he asked too many questions about exactly what was going on in the North East Labour Party in the Dan Smith / Poulson Era.

[michael lown]

This one was pulled down.

I remember going there during the school holidays when my mam worked behind the bar, I loved playing snooker when it was empty

[Symptoms]

Symptoms, Keith and then Malcolm ... all suffering memory loss - too much time spent here perhaps.

Yep, it was Jimmy Millne (I suppose the Eddie Milne name was just lodged in front of the mushy bit of my brain). I'm glad I correctly remembered that it was his former home; we used to raid his orchard at the rear gaining access via a lane (or it might have been an archway) maybe where that Co-op funeral place is ... Dowson's Buildings or was that on Hartford Rd? Fond memories of his department store in the Market Place where just about anything could be bought: leather soles & heals, taps for boots, catapult elastic, stink bombs, and of course the Record Dept where you could listen to the singles before purchase (I think he had headphones or maybe it was a couple of booths) ... I still have a few of these records.

[Canny lass]

And don't forget the coffe bar he opened alongside the department store. One of the best cups of coffee in Bedlington at the time!

[Keith Scantlebury]

And don't forget the coffe bar he opened alongside the department store. One of the best cups of coffee in Bedlington at the time!

Noooooooooooooo Peter Bacci's regulars would argue differently

[Symptoms]

I was only in Bacci's billiard hall (I'm sure it was known as that and not a snooker hall) a couple of times as I probably wasn't 'old' enough to be a regular. I do remember that the place had a certain cache for being where the 'faces' or the tough lads hung out and was always being warned by my old man to stay clear. Wasn't the billiard hall upstairs via a rickety staircase??? Didn't he have another cafe at the Station - on the corner just along from the level-crossing; we used to go in there to play the pin-ball machines.

[Canny lass]

Keith, I honestly wouldn't know what a cup of coffee in Bacci's tasted like. Just read what Symptoms has to say about the place! Definitely not a place for the tender gender of Netherton. No, give me Jimmy Millne's any day. He was a great host as well. He went from table to table talking to everybody. Sometimes he'd greet you in the doorway, escort you to a seat, carry your shopping bag and get your coffee from the counter. Made you feel like royalty.

Symptoms, In answer to your query about the cafe at the station, that wasn't Bacci's. It was Moscardini's, or Moskies as it was better known. Can't remember the guy's first name. Pete would probably be able to tell you.

[Keith Scantlebury]

The cafe at the station was Mario Moscadini's better known as Mosci's (spelling). After he sold the cafe he (Mario) opened the cafe on station road in Ashington. I called in sometime in the mid 90's, oddly enough just after one of my regular trips to Itlaly, his son told me that his parents split their time between here and Pisa where they also had a home. Mario will be long dead now I would imagine.

[Keith Scantlebury]

Canny lass , we posted together re Mosci's. If you look in the gallery you will see photo's of Peter Bacci and his shop in the market place, I think it was Foxy who put them in. I used to live at the Market Place between Johnsons shoe shop and what was at the time Carricks the bakers, so I remember Bacci's and Millnes well.

[Canny lass]

Sorry about the spelling Keith. Little bit of Swedish slipped in with that k (can't have a c before an i without it sounding like an s). However, your right. Mario it was.

[Keith Scantlebury]

Sorry about the spelling Keith. Little bit of Swedish slipped in with that k (can't have a c before an i without it sounding like an s). However, your right. Mario it was.

My spelling was probably wide of the mark as well

[John Fox (foxy)]

Symptoms, Keith and then Malcolm ... all suffering memory loss - too much time spent here perhaps.

Yep, it was Jimmy Millne (I suppose the Eddie Milne name was just lodged in front of the mushy bit of my brain). I'm glad I correctly remembered that it was his former home; we used to raid his orchard at the rear gaining access via a lane (or it might have been an archway) maybe where that Co-op funeral place is ... Dowson's Buildings or was that on Hartford Rd? Fond memories of his department store in the Market Place where just about anything could be bought: leather soles & heals, taps for boots, catapult elastic, stink bombs, and of course the Record Dept where you could listen to the singles before purchase (I think he had headphones or maybe it was a couple of booths) ... I still have a few of these records.

I have a photo of this store which I'll post in a couple of weeks when I get home.At the moment I'm sweating my nuts of in South Africa.

[Symptoms]

foxy - be careful at the traffic lights.

[John Fox (foxy)]

I have a photo of this store which I'll post in a couple of weeks when I get home.At the moment I'm sweating my nuts of in South Africa.

I must be getting old, thought I had a full on view of the store but cannot find it, anyway this snack bar should jog some memories KEITH ? This photo was taken in 1970. Not sure when the second pic was taken.

[Adam Hogg]

I must be getting old, thought I had a full on view of the store but cannot find it, anyway this snack bar should jog some memories KEITH ? This photo was taken in 1970. Not sure when the second pic was taken.

I would guess that the second pic was taken in the 50's/60's foxy with the VW camper in the picture and the other cars in the picture, would gamble and say 50's but not sure.

[mercuryg]

The second picture is definitely post 1960 as that's a later Ford Anglia in the foreground - possibly a '64/65 model - and in the background is either a Mini van or traveller, both early 60's models. Interesting pictures.

[John Fox (foxy)]

The second picture is definitely post 1960 as that's a later Ford Anglia in the foreground - possibly a '64/65 model - and in the background is either a Mini van or traveller, both early 60's models. Interesting pictures.

The parking has'nt changed!

[Keith Scantlebury]

That will be me in the pram

[Malcolm Robinson]

That will be me in the pram

Aye pushing it!!!!!!

[Malcolm Robinson]

The second picture is definitely post 1960 as that's a later Ford Anglia in the foreground - possibly a '64/65 model - and in the background is either a Mini van or traveller, both early 60's models. Interesting pictures.

Second pic after 1962 there is a Mk 1 Cortina on the right hand side.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Is that a white Austin 1800 in the first pic? That would make it 1964 on.....