To Mrs L. Ansell, 73 Foundry Rd, Yapton, Arundel, Sussex (1964)...

Dear Pat & Jan.

 Just to let you know that we are on our way home, I am writing this at Burnley on Friday. We have had a fairly good journey except for a few showers today.

Hope all are well. Love Mum & Dad.

A view that's little changed since this postcard was sent almost 50 years ago, although many of the businesses have changed hands since then. It's a reminder that Botchergate, now lined with pubs and clubs, was once a thriving shopping street with awnings lining the road as far as the eye can see. At the top of the street both The Cumberland Tailors and the Midland Bank (where I had my first bank account) are now both bars, Bar Solo and The Griffin (named after their predecessor's famous logo). The Red Lion Hotel is now the County Hotel and you can just make out the Army Recruiting Office (below the hotel's flagpole). In the centre, a mainstay of so many 1960s images, the ubiquitous Morris Minor!

Published by Millar & Lang Ltd., Glasgow

Postmarked: Rochdale, 7th August 1965

To Mr & Mrs Battle, 380 Blandford Road, Efford, Plymouth, Devon (1965)...

Dear Mrs Battle and family,

Having a nice time here, but wet weather now. Hope you had a nice time in Ireland.

Cheerio, Mr & Mrs Williams

PS HOW'S JULIE?

Any city will, naturally, change with the times, new buildings will emerge in place of old and so-called 'modernisation' will take place. Carlisle has had it's fair share of this with many of it's older buildings and streets 'updated' or demolished but, despite some doom-laden accounts of the city's descent into 21st century homogenisation, the city still teems with history. Probably the most recognisable change that has taken place over the last century was the building of The Lanes Shopping Centre in 1984 (and the later expansion) but a close second are the massive changes made to the town centre around the same time.

The pedestrianisation of Carlisle city centre is possibly the largest and most dramatic change to the landscape of the city in my lifetime. Although I'm a nostalgic at heart I'm old enough to remember dodging the buses on English Street and the city centre shops being choked up with exhaust fumes. In this card, from 1965, you can see just how busy it could get, with the historic Guildhall and Town Hall looking out onto a glorified bus station! Bring back the Routemasters...but don't let them into the town centre again!

Also in the picture you can see the entrances to the Victorian subterranean toilets, something which is sadly missing, not just in Carlisle but across the country: public lavatories. I'm led to believe these toilets are still in existence but now bricked in - wouldn't it be great if they could be opened up again? There is some criticism that Carlisle has descended into a 'clone town' and the pedestrianistion seems to be the start of a slippery slope to many, but I believe that high rents and lack of local shops is responsible, not the paving. The town centre is now much more open and much more likely to be a place for shoppers and diners to stay rather than just a junction of three or four busy thoroughfares and is so much nicer for it.

One more thing... who is that schoolboy and where is he running to? Or is he being chased by that copper?

Postcard info:

Publisher: Valentine and Sons Ltd., Dundee & London

Postmark: 28th July 1965

To The Manager and Staff of WH Smith & Son, Bradford (1957)

Dear All, Well I'm still surviving despite the "barbaric" north. Actually things are going OK in the record dept, the backlog of work is being cleared slowly but surely. I've got an audit this week - just to add a bit of variety.

All the best for Easter, Leslie.

PS How do you like the photo of my digs?

A little slice of WHSmith history this time, with this card sent to the Bradford branch from Leslie, who was helping out up in Carlisle. I'm sure that the Carlisle branch has been around for much longer than 52 years so perhaps they were expanding? Leslie, where are you now...? Any comments are welcome. WHSmith still stands in the same spot on English Street and has recently, controversially, take over the duties of the Post Office, whose grand main building on Warwick Road has now closed down.

It's interesting to remember that WHSmith was once a record shop. These days, with the demise of Virgin / Zavvi there's only HMV left as a high street retailer for music, with it's Carlisle branch in The Lanes shopping centre. In some of our bigger cities there are still some independent record shops doing good business, but times are changing. I remember well going into Woolworths for my seven inch singles every Saturday morning at the beginning of the 1980s to spend my pocket money; my first record....Don't Stand So Close To Me by The Police. Then there was WHSmith, Boots and Our Price who had their record departments; for secondhand and collectables it was Vinyl Vaults halfway down Botchergate. When we're talking about record shops in Carlisle we mustn't forget the Pink Panther on Rosemary Lane (and later on Chapel Street). From the late 80s it was the only place I went for my new records and I remember buying up Stock Aitken Waterman records amongst the indie and thrash metal! I was lucky enough to work in the Pink Panther during the 1990s and it was an exciting time. There's now a facebook group for anyone who wants to reminisce about it!

The card itself shows Leslie's digs....or the Citadel as it's better known. These impressive oval towers mark the original site of the Botcher Gate, or English Gate, the entrance to the city from the south. The current layout was based on a design by Thomas Telford and built in 1810-11 and completed by Sir Robert Smirke. They were rebuilt in the 1840s spported by the Earl of Lonsdale, whose statue can be seen in front of the right tower; it still stands there to this day. Until recently the Citadel housed the civil and criminal courts and jail cells.

This is often the first view many visitors see of historic Carlisle, as it stands directly opposite the train station. In the foreground is the busy station car park with a family on their way for a trip, cases in hand. This view has changed little in 50 years, although the car park attendant's hut is no longer there. A final mention must go to the split-screen Morris Minor parked up in the extreme bottom left corner. A classic!