Childhood Escapades in Leith during the 1960/70s
Steve Tonner
(Born and bred in Leith, now living in South Queensferry , Steve brings a more up to date slant to the site)
"My earliest memories of Leith were the weekly Friday walks along to my Grans from Bernard Street to Portland Street and remembering that, if the tide was out, the mud would be stinking. I also have early memories of walking along to Starbank Park at Newhaven on Easter Sunday to roll our painted boiled eggs down the hill as it was a bit steeper than the ones in the Links. However most memories come from the time that my younger brother and I were allowed out to play on our own at around 7 or 8. There was never a day when there was nothing to do.
"I was born in Bernard Street on 26th February 1963 and lived there for 29 years before getting married and moving to Newington, and presently to South Queensferry. The area around Bernard Street was mostly commercial, not many children around, about ten at the most.
"Most evenings were spent playing around Timber Bush or getting our names taken by the local `Bobby`, auld Jock Hutton, I think his name was. It seemed that every time you got up to mischief he`d be just round the corner with his little black book open and licking the tip of his pencil. He was a great old character though, he would always come over and talk to all the kids. We likened him to PC Murdoch from Oor Wullie.
"There were three of us in our gang, myself, my brother and Rab who lived across the road, and we did everything together everyday. After school, which was St Mary`s for us and Links Place for our pal, it was home, get your tea and `we`re away oot, ma.`
"Pastimes usually included football at various `pitches` depending on the time of the day. Timber Bush was the favoured one, although Lamb`s House and Hill Thomson`s in Maritime Street were also good pitches.
"During the holidays or at the weekend saw most of our adventures. In Tower Street there was what we called the `fish factory`, which really just froze fish to be transported around the country, and at the end of the street at the junction with Constitution Street there was an area they used to store thousands of wooden palletts. for carrying the boxes of fish.
"This was where we built our gang huts for many years. One would probably last a few months before they moved the palletts around. Each gang hut consisted of a series of tunnels and escape hatches, for we were always being chased by two of the workies, `wee man` on his fork-lift and `beardy`. For six or seven years they tried to catch us but failed. Even chasing us in his car, we`d lose `beardy` among all the little lanes around Timber Bush and the Tunnel.
"Security in those days was very slack, we could get access to most of the warehouses and works in the area (without breaking in) just for another wee adventure. Another good place for gang huts was Hill Thomson`s, a whisky bottling plant up Maritime Street and Water Street. Sometimes we`d spend hours watching the coopers behind Lamb`s House making the whisky barrels and help them roll them onto trucks. We`d also let the workies play with our ball at lunch time if they let us explore in the bottle warehouse. There they had boxes upon boxes of whisky bottles waiting to be filled, some good gang huts were made there.
"One of the chores that we had to do in the holidays was the daily trip up the Kirkgate to Cochranes for milk and bread. This was a `modern` supermarket where you could buy all your food. There was one shop that I remember that seemed to escape this modernisation, Mrs Slade`s on the corner of Maritime Street and Queen Charlotte Street (renamed in the 60s alongwith other Leith streets where the old names duplicated others in Edinburgh and Portobello, viz., Morton Street became Academy Street. canny have the `postie ` wracking his brains). This was an old style grocer/provisions which we loved going to. We would always get our tatties from there `cause we`d go in and ask for the sweetie tray then ask for some tatties. When she was getting them, we`d fill our pockets with some of the sweeties. I can`t remember when she closed down but it was probably the last of its kind.
"Another auld character was Tam Hobbins, the rag and bone man who originally, I think, had his shop at the top of the Shore next to the `broo`, and later moved over to Sandport Street. He`d reluctantly give you two bob for something you`d found in the bin and probably worth a lot more.
"Other characters we never knew too much about were the White brothers, the wineos. You`d often see them wheeling their cart about collecting junk. I`m sure we used to tease them just for a chase.
"Three more great shops were, the old chemists in Bernard Street with all the coloured bottles and old wooden drawers, Hills the toy shop in Queen Charlotte Street that was bursting at the seams with toys. You always got them cheaper than the asking price. Spence and Spence along from Hills on the corner was my favourite. This shop sold absolutely everything. We used to get paraffin for our heaters from them. The shop had the most unusual smell, a mixture of paraffin, polish, and mothballs.
"There were a few other shops that I can remember, sadly now gone, like the fishmonger in Henderson Street who could wrap your fish in newspaper in a blink of an eye. Another was Bobby Barrs the butcher towards the Shore, he would sell anything when he was sober enough to open. Cheese, easter eggs at Christmas, and aye, even shirts.
"Sadly for me, and I`m sure many others, all these things are gone now except the oldest, Lamb`s House. I don`t live there anymore so I can`t say whether all the changes are for the better or worse, but I can`t help feeling like a stranger when I pass through Bernard Street now.
"I don`t think the Shore will ever have the same kind of character that it used to have. I guess the old saying fits though, `you can take people out of Leith but you can`t take Leith out of the people."
Stever Tonner
