T'owd Locals focuses on historic pubs of Sheffield and area.
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‘T’owd Locals’ contains more than 80 photographs of public houses taken during the late 1800s and early 1900s. These pubs were once at the centre of Sheffield life. Some of the pubs featured in the book still remain but many of these public houses of yesteryear are long forgotten.

The photos do not just show the architecture of the pubs but more interestingly, captures snapshots of the atmosphere and living conditions of the time. It also shows how dramatically Sheffield has changed and developed.

As well as the public houses, the pictures show us horse drawn coaches, adverts for rag, bone and skin merchants and the launch of the new tramway system in 1901. We also see scenes of life before the First World War, with a Whitsuntide procession going past the George and Dragon on Bank Street.

This collection shows a Sheffield that is unrecognisable today. For example, it shows the Gale and Hullet’s Commercial Hotel as it stood at the corner of Haymarket Street and King Street in the 1890s. This building disappeared forever on December 8 1940 when it was directly hit during the Blitz.

The Tontine Inn, Haymarket, which was Sheffield’s main coaching inn, is also featured. The Wilkinsons store now occupies the site where this important building once stood.

Back then, public houses had a much more important role in society and were at the heart of many communities. The book shows us the Banner Cross Hotel on Ecclesall Road in 1920, where the inquest of murderer Charlie Peacelat was held. We also see the Fox and Grapes Inn on Meadowhall Road where miners used to collect their wages under the ‘Butty System’.

The book includes photos of The Ashopton Inn, Derbyshire, which was a popular resort away from the grime of Sheffield. The Ashopton Inn disappeared in the 1930s with the construction of the Ladybower reservoir.

Similarly, we see the Angel Inn on Button Lane. The site where this once popular local stood is now somewhere under Furnival Gate.

The pictures show a completely different way of life, with people standing outside the public houses dressed in Edwardian and Victorian clothing. They show coach holidays setting off from the pubs and groups of children playing outside the establishments.

“I was minded to show not only the buildings but also some of the atmosphere of the period,” J.R Wrigley says of his collection.

The photos record an era that is long gone, “After most of our theatres and cinemas went we now see the disappearance of many of our pubs. One by one the shutters are going up. Our Victorian heritage has either been demolished or gutted,” Wrigley adds

Many of the photos come from the collection of the late Horace Clayton who was a voracious collector of old Sheffield photographs and postcards and a great friend of the author.

ISBN 9781905278220