The Old Village

[hilbrelad]

It is great to see a West Kirby Forum established. I hope this history section will get lots of posts, so that the oral history of this area is recorded and available for a wider audience and future generations. I now live in Canada but grew up in West Kirby in the 1950s and still have some strong and fond memories that have been refreshed by recent visits.
As we lived on Caldy Road I frequented the old village almost every day. Given my age, I was especially drawn to the sweet shop, which for a while was run by a Mr. Cropper. Next door was the grocery shop where you presented a list and the items on it were brought to you from the shelves. At the corner where Dee Lane and Caldy Road meet there was Mrs Baines Bakery where I was often sent to pick up fresh bread. Down Dee Lane, on the left just before it goes over the former railway bridge, was Barnetts newsagents. Here I would buy the Children's Newspaper, as well as Beano and Dandy comics. Opposite the bakery was the pub (name forgotten and now changed) but I was too young to go in there, and later preferred the Ring O'Bells up the hill. Perhaps this bit of nostalgia will encourage others to record their memories of Wekka (as we called it). John Marsh

[Dadoronron]

Good to see/hear from you, John.

My old Dad was born in the "fisherman's cottages" on Village Road in 1908 and had a garage with his brother for a while in the early 50's up behind the cobbler's opposite St Bridget's Lane just down from the Ring O'Bells - both lots of property have now, of course, been converted into modern homes and the Ringers has become posh fish restaurant.

The pub on the corner of Caldy Road and Sandy Lane (not Dee Lane) which ran down toward the south end of the Marine Lake where it joined Banks Road and the South Parade was The West Kirby Hotel which was razed in the early 60s to rise as the Moby Dick.

Dee Lane actually runs down to the beach from the station; the car park where there is a proposal to build a hotel (see other threads here) is on the site of what was the old pitch and putt surrounded by its high rusty chicken wire fence.

Google Earth will give you some idea of other changes that have taken place around West Kirby but not, of course, all that our Council has planned!

Peter