|
|
oldleedsman
User
Location:
Joined on:
06-Jul-2007 12:27:51
Posted:
151 posts
|
There have been a few threads that have mentioned Schofields, but none that I can see that are specifically about the shop.
Does anyone have any recollections about the place?
What I remember most is from when it was on the Headrow and as a child my mother would take me to the cafe. You entered the lift from the front, but exited it from a door at the back to go into the cafe! I thought this really exciting (I was easily pleased).
|
|
|
Brandy
User
Location:
Joined on:
21-Feb-2007 12:33:58
Posted:
1462 posts
|
remember the doorway from the headrow side that had that constant stream of warm air blowing from large fans below??
|
|
|
Si
User
Location:
Otley
Joined on:
10-Oct-2007 11:52:40
Posted:
3381 posts
|
Why was the toy department always on the top floor? This applied to Schofield's and Lewis's I seem to remember.
|
|
|
Dalehelms
User
Location:
Joined on:
10-Mar-2007 21:30:48
Posted:
116 posts
|
Buying my children "Ladybird" clothes in their sales and also buying my first dinner service, "Wedgwood Blue Pacific", in their January sale. The quality of their goods was second to none. I remember the mural depicting the old Red Hall on the stairway. The tearoom was another treat and also a good bribe!
|
|
|
LS1
User
Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
23-Jul-2007 13:00:30
Posted:
1307 posts
|
Wonder what happened to the Red Hall mural... That would have looked good in the new Headrow Centre!
|
|
|
kierentc
User
Location:
leeds
Joined on:
13-Jan-2008 14:31:20
Posted:
157 posts
|
was the store in two halves which were connected someway in the middle, or did i dream that?
i remember the toy floor too, the walls at the side of the esculator had cartoony pictures of toys and orange walls or something. it made it dead exciting as you went up. i too was easily pleased 
|
|
|
oldleedsman
User
Location:
Joined on:
06-Jul-2007 12:27:51
Posted:
151 posts
|
| kierentc wrote: |
was the store in two halves which were connected someway in the middle, or did i dream that?
i remember the toy floor too, the walls at the side of the esculator had cartoony pictures of toys and orange walls or something. it made it dead exciting as you went up. i too was easily pleased |
Yes, I remember the 2 bits as well - there was some sort of high bridge/link to the newer section off the back by Lands Lane.
|
|
|
Geordie-exile
User
Location:
Tyneside
Joined on:
06-Feb-2008 22:39:43
Posted:
538 posts
|
| kierentc wrote: |
was the store in two halves which were connected someway in the middle, or did i dream that?
|
Yeah, there was a bridge at the back to the separate food hall. Which always smelt of strong, fresh coffee.
Wonder what happened to Sir Peter Schofield?
|
|
|
slw
User
Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
13-Jun-2007 22:25:05
Posted:
199 posts
|
Was there a record department in Schofields possibly on the Lands Lane side ?
|
|
|
fevlad
User
Location:
leeds
Joined on:
07-Feb-2008 10:17:24
Posted:
455 posts
|
the toy depertment had a railway set running right round trhe room
one of those big duplo ones that had little men to go with it.
I bought my sone one of these for his fifth christmas-I was as excited as him when he opened it and we set it up.
|
|
|
chameleon
User
Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
29-Mar-2007 22:46:49
Posted:
3598 posts
|
| oldleedsman wrote: |
| kierentc wrote: |
was the store in two halves which were connected someway in the middle, or did i dream that?
i remember the toy floor too, the walls at the side of the esculator had cartoony pictures of toys and orange walls or something. it made it dead exciting as you went up. i too was easily pleased |
Yes, I remember the 2 bits as well - there was some sort of high bridge/link to the newer section off the back by Lands Lane.
|
And what you may not know is that there was a basement tunnel conecting the two for staff to travel too an fro.
|
|
|
Trojan
User
Location:
Joined on:
22-Dec-2007 20:24:37
Posted:
1875 posts
|
I remember Schofields being rebuilt in the sixties, on the site of the old Theatre Royal - the cafe was called Cafe Royal as a memorial to what had stood on the site previously.
|
|
|
liits
User
Location:
Hampstead, London
Joined on:
25-Mar-2007 15:54:49
Posted:
412 posts
|
| Brandy wrote: |
remember the doorway from the headrow side that had that constant stream of warm air blowing from large fans below??
|
The constant stream of hot air was a "Sulzer Air Curtain". It blew hot air from above and below. Apart from that, my two memories of Schofields were [very vaguely] my parents buying a carpet from Schofields which they paid off weekly, and me, rubbing boot polish into said carpet while my Dad was polishing his shoes in the kitchen. I still bear the scars of that little miss-hap! and a punter in the pub [Manston] who was working on the Schofields Centre, recording a message to be played on the fire evacuation alarm "Fire! Run for your lives". Apparently, it didnt matter to the fire officer what the message was, so long as there was a message played when the alarm went off.
|
|
|
Brandy
User
Location:
Joined on:
21-Feb-2007 12:33:58
Posted:
1462 posts
|
| liits wrote: |
| Brandy wrote: |
remember the doorway from the headrow side that had that constant stream of warm air blowing from large fans below??
|
The constant stream of hot air was a "Sulzer Air Curtain". It blew hot air from above and below. Apart from that, my two memories of Schofields were [very vaguely] my parents buying a carpet from Schofields which they paid off weekly, and me, rubbing boot polish into said carpet while my Dad was polishing his shoes in the kitchen. I still bear the scars of that little miss-hap! and a punter in the pub [Manston] who was working on the Schofields Centre, recording a message to be played on the fire evacuation alarm "Fire! Run for your lives". Apparently, it didnt matter to the fire officer what the message was, so long as there was a message played when the alarm went off.
|
i could always imagine women's dresses getting blown up 'Marilyn Monroe style lol
i remember having my very first serious crush on a beautiful girl from the perfume dept in there aaaaaaaaaaaaahh happy days!
id remember coming home smelling like a hookers handbag(according to our mother lol )personally i think that 'thing' built to replace it is nothing more than a soul-less blott on the landscape.
|
|
|
Leeds Lass
User
Location:
Farsley
Joined on:
28-Feb-2007 00:00:31
Posted:
202 posts
|
I agree with the souless blot, Brandy!
I used to go to Schofields a lot in the 70's with my mum. I remember the assistants in the ladies hoisery dept and thinking they were like Are You Being Served characters! I remember all the dummy hands, displaying leather gloves! They used to fascinate me as a kid!
I used to love the "box column" window displays too; those columns had character!
We used to get treated to a meal, by my grandmother, quite regularly at the A La Carte restaurant. All silver service, waitresses in black and white uniforms, with little frilly white hats. The mixed grill was gorgeous! You got kidneys - the lot! Oh happy days!
|
|
|
Bramley4woods
User
Location:
Morley
Joined on:
08-Dec-2007 19:42:27
Posted:
199 posts
|
| kierentc wrote: |
was the store in two halves which were connected someway in the middle, or did i dream that?
i remember the toy floor too, the walls at the side of the esculator had cartoony pictures of toys and orange walls or something. it made it dead exciting as you went up. i too was easily pleased |
As I recall the floors on the two halves of the building didn't "tally up" on every floor. There were floors where you couldn't get to the rear half from the front, and if I am correct, one floor in the rear half where to get down to ground level you had first to go up and cross over to the front half.
I also remember the coffee shop where you bought a coffee in cup with either blue or brown decoration, one of them cost tuppence or so more but got everlasting refills at your table !
|
|
|
BLAKEY
User
Location:
HEADINGLEY, LEEDS
Joined on:
24-Mar-2008 09:12:09
Posted:
1204 posts
|
Schofields a la Carte restaurant was the last word in refinement - beautiful light green carpet, fine quality linen, cutlery and china, and wonderful food and service - and not unduly expensive at all. It was reached by the most fascinating aged lift with manual gates (Lifts have always been yet another of my transportation fascinations) operated as always by an elderly "driver" with a fair degree of skill in "landing" level with the floor at the first attempt.
You were then greeted by a most dignified mature lady, elegant and silver haired, who would ask how many seats required and would then by equally elegant "tic tac" relay this information to an immaculate lounge suit clad chap at the far end of the room - he was a war veteran with an artificial arm and leather glove - who would miraculously find a place where there appeared to be none. Not surprisingly he later became one of those impeccably uniformed messengers who could be seen around the City as they did their work.
|
|
|
Reginal Perrin
User
Location:
Joined on:
23-Feb-2007 15:22:12
Posted:
593 posts
|
Something has definately been lost when the likes of Lewis' and Schofields closed. We have 5 shopping malls int he city centre at present and all of them are pretty grim and sadly the Merrion Centre is probably the best behind Victoria Quarter / County Arcade.
Are department stores lost forever to out of town retail parks? Is proper service lost forever to self service and fasr food?
I think Marks & Sparks and BHS canreverse this trent especially in the cafe's. They are already paying slovenly girls to slouch around and ignore customersthey might as well train them to do a job properly.
Harvey Nicholls food floor is pretty good but certianly not for those with a light pocket.
|
|
|
BLAKEY
User
Location:
HEADINGLEY, LEEDS
Joined on:
24-Mar-2008 09:12:09
Posted:
1204 posts
|
| Reginal Perrin wrote: |
Something has definately been lost when the likes of Lewis' and Schofields closed. We have 5 shopping malls int he city centre at present and all of them are pretty grim and sadly the Merrion Centre is probably the best behind Victoria Quarter / County Arcade.
Harvey Nicholls food floor is pretty good but certianly not for those with a light pocket. |
I couldn't sgree more - I quite often go in the Victoria Quarter and I just can't credit why anyone would pay nigh on £5 for a bowl of soup - to be consumed behind scant glass screens with all the passers by "gawping" over the top.
Just to divert sllightly from Leeds, but by way of illustration, I was in Doncaster yesterday and looked around the new Frenchgate Centre.
The place is immaculately clean and well maintained BUT quite simply "bitty" and "disconnected" and entirely without an iota of atmosphere or character - just row after row of the familiar High street names which we see everywhere. At least to be fair most of the major Leeds malls do have an integrated feel about them if nothing else.
|
|
|
wiggy
User
Location:
essex
Joined on:
26-Jun-2007 14:09:49
Posted:
1068 posts
|
i would of liked to have seen the cafe,with the cannon balls embeded in the timbers,from the civil war.
|
|
|
buffaloskinner
User
Location:
Middleton
Joined on:
01-Apr-2007 22:32:45
Posted:
197 posts
|
My missus worked there in the offices for 5 years 40 years ago, her biggest memory is of the Paternoster which is an elevator which consists of a chain of open cabins. It moves slowly without stopping and you had to jump on and off at your floor.
She is still friends with two of her old colleagues from that office.
|
|
|
arry awk
User
Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
30-May-2007 15:52:56
Posted:
826 posts
|
Found this photo of Schofield's Restaurant's
'Magnificent Balcony' in 1930!
Hope I can crOp it to size!
|
|
|
arry awk
User
Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
30-May-2007 15:52:56
Posted:
826 posts
|
Try agen! Schofield's restaurant balcony 1930
|
|
|
arry awk
User
Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
30-May-2007 15:52:56
Posted:
826 posts
|
Try agen! Schofield's restaurant balcony 1930
Looks like a resize sorry
back in a flash !
|
|
|
arry awk
User
Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
30-May-2007 15:52:56
Posted:
826 posts
|
was mon visage rouge!
Sorry but the resize facility didn't show up onhere
so I'll have to revert to my Epson instructions!
|
|
|