Just before Christmas 1953, I started work at the Grosvenor Restaurant, Castleford. Intending it to be just a brief stay to make a bit of extra money for Christmas. I remained there until 1958. Fred and Fanny Kirby ran the business. Previously they had managed the Co-operative Café above the parade of shops at the top of Carlton Street. After the café closed and the buildings were demolished, the Pioneer, also a Co-op concern, took its place. This was followed by Wilkinson’s Store. During the war years the Kirby’s had managed the catering at London Airport. Fanny had a small scar on her face to prove it – made by a fragment of shrapnel from a flying bomb.
It was a large impressive building on Station Road consisting of a cinema, the restaurant and ballroom and several small shops on the ground floor. The owners of the complex were Mr Rowley, Mr Townsend and Mr Atkinson. High up on the façade are the initials R.T.A. Opened in 1921 the cinema had 1,200 seats. The restaurant was situated on the first floor on a level with the circle. At ground level one of the shops belonged to Mr Millington, a gentleman’s outfitter. Another was a hairdresser’s belonging to Annie Wright.
The entrance to the restaurant was from Station Road. Leading off from the curving staircase was the restaurant to the right and the ballroom to the left. During the Second World War the ballroom had been requisitioned for a while as a dormitory for soldiers. The stillroom adjoining the restaurant was equipped with a hotplate, a large table, a dumb waiter, shelving and a range of deep wooden sinks. A narrow spiral staircase led up to the kitchen. There was a small office overlooking the ballroom and along the corridor the usual facilities. On the upper floor was a small storage room. A side door led from the restaurant to the cinema and sometimes the usherettes would tell us about a particularly good film and we would unlock the door when we had finished work and sit in the circle.
At this period a large town house on the corner of Ferrybridge Road and Healdfield Road that had been the home of Sir John Austin M.P., was being used in lieu of a Town Hall. On occasions we would take our equipment there and cater for small functions. Larger functions were held in the ballroom and so were the council meetings.
Sometimes the Festival Hall in Florence Street was used. During the Summer months the flooring was removed and the building reverted to its original use as a public baths. When we catered there we used the slipper baths as a stillroom. For the pensioners parties’ long trestle tables were erected on the dance floor. Three to four hundred people would be catered for and it was a marathon job moving all the necessary equipment from the Grosvenor to Florence Street. The man who drove his small van made many trips back and forth. Then when we returned to base everything had to be tidied away.
In 1955 a marbles contest was arranged. Lady Docker, whose husband, Sir Bernard Docker was the Chairman and Company Director of the British Small Arms Company (B.S.A.), came to the Festival Hall with a team from the works and played marbles against a team of girls from a local factory. The contest was advertised as ‘A REIGHT NEET AHT! Sid Colclough, a local photographer, arranged the contest. Mr Colclough had been arranging similar events since 1936 and they were always popular.
In 1955 Castleford became a borough and the first Mayor was Ezra Taylor. Mr Taylor was involved with many things in Castleford. At one time he was the proprietor of The Ship Inn at Bridge Foot. For the Mayor Making Ceremony, Lady Harewood, the Princess Royal, accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, Earl Scarborough, came to officiate. The ceremony was held in the Picture House and followed by a reception in the Grosvenor. A great deal of preparation took place and crowds gathered in the street.
In 1974 the town was switched into Wakefield Metropolitan District. Castleford’s Mayors had lasted for only 19 years.
When the Ferry Fryston housing estate was officially opened in the mid-fifties we catered for the ceremony in a large marquee. Once again everything had to be transported back and forth. Once again we could congratulate ourselves on a job well done.
Being the only reasonably sized place in Castleford many of the local firms and offices held their annual functions there.
Funerals and weddings were also catered for. One funeral tea which I will never forget was when an old man stood up on his chair, waved his arms about and shouted, ‘She’s gone! she’s gone! several times. There was great hilarity from his companions.
I went to children’s Christmas parties in the mid forties at the Grosvenor
An interesting history. I’m trying to recollect the time line of Cas Cinamas particular, The Star on Bridge street. This is now DR Group , but am I wrong in seeing Top Gun at The Star ? in 1986.
When did the Grosvenor become a chines restaurant? it must have been after 1958.
Hi The Grosvenor Restaurant became Chinese in 1958 or 1959. They were not there very long. It burnt down with the former Picture House A couple of years ago. BARBARA