marsh lane slipper baths

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WatsonTommy
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:48 pm

well again I beg to differ joe :roll: when you went in the baths in :) MARSH LANE next to the Salisbury hotel you paid your two bob you were given a ticket with a number on it a 2inch piece of soap a two foot red and white striped hessian towel dead rough :roll: with Bootle corporation on it still got mine :D the waiting room had two long benches and the whole place was painted dark green and a off white and stunk of chlorine between the solly and the baths was a little road ANVIL ROAD as there was a blacksmiths shop there then :wink:
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filsgreen
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Good grief, Tommy two shillings to have a bath? No wonder you stole the towel :D
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filsgreen
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I thought your figure was a bit high for a bath, Tommy, so I did a search. Here is an account from a Mr Peter Johnson. Of Edmonton.
This is the link.

http://www.1900s.org.uk/public-baths.htm

Thanks for posting your memories anyway. :D


At the side of the Town Hall in Edmonton was a door with Slipper Baths carved into its stone lintel. This was the entrance to our public baths, but I have no idea why it had that name.

When I went, I would take clean vest, pants and socks with me to change into after my bath, and take the dirty ones home with me to be washed. It was common practice in those day to change one's underwear only once a week.

Through the main door was a pay kiosk where you could buy a first class ticket for ninepence or a second class ticket for sixpence. The tickets had a number on. The differences were that the first class cubicles were separate from the second class ones and you got two towels instead of one plus a scoop of bath salts. The second classes were given only one towel. I paid sixpence.

Both classes were given a small piece of soap which was green and hard, and which produced very few bubbles. You could see that it had been cut from a large block. That's all there was during the war. There was no such thing as toilet soap.

This green soap was also used to wash hair as there was no shampoo available during rationing years. If you got this soap in your eyes it made you cry with the pain. It was only after rationing ended that fancy smelling soaps came back into the shops. A little later shampoo appeared, but many people continued to use ordinary soap as I did up to 1954 in the army.

The attendant would collect any small pieces of soap that were left in the cubicles. It was common knowledge that these pieces were melted down in a pan over a gas ring and re-cycled into 'new soap'. Most people took these pieces of soap home with them. My mother would melt them down, pour the liquid soap into a fairy cake tray and then use this soap to wash our clothes. The common saying at that time was "waste not want not".

Up the stairs were separate benches for the first and second classes. There you sat and waited for the number on your ticket to be called.

The bath was a giant rolled top iron one that you could float in. The water was piping hot and the whole building was filled with steam and the sounds of men singing.

There were no plugs in the bath. The attendant turned a knob on the outside wall to empty it. This prevented anyone from continually running in fresh hot water. When you had finished, you called out your cubicle number and the attendant opened the tap to let out the water.

When you came out afterwards into the fresh air, you felt on top of the world and about 5 lbs lighter.
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efc46
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Brings back memories we had a bath in balfour road But me dad painted it green if you had a bath the green bits of paint would be all over you so we used to go to the baths on the lane the attendant would fill the bath and take the spindle with him used to see me mates in there all the Rileys Davey&matty Brady to name a few when we were younger we would play in the swimming baths (bombed in the war) behind the slipper baths the coppers would come and we would leg it along the wall into Chestnut grove never got caught what a laugh no telly then
Davey Rowlands Bootle
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fatboyjoe90
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I lived on Irlam Road and went to St Jimmy’s school. Aged 11, I went to the senior school it was in the prefabs on Salsbury Road. Most of our lessons were in the main school in Chestnut Grove, we would cut through the jigger at the back of the Salsbury pub and through the playground. I remember the bookie and the fish man with his van in that in that dead-end street we used to play in the bombed baths also. So can anyone tell me were the slipper baths was? It’s three of you saying it was there Tom Tommy, and Davey, so i have to take notice of you. I’ll be the first to hold my hands up and acknowledge your superior memories. :wink:
Cheers Joe.
WatsonTommy
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that dead end st was the slipper baths it was like a prefab the main library was demolished as it was bombed in the may blitz and used as a temporary mortuary and that was part of the baths st James girls school was behind it then the boys in chestnut grove you only got 20 minutes for a bath by the way :roll: across the road was IRLAM ROAD and H ROBERTS had a chemist shop on the corner then a couple of houses :?: coal yard Lawsons Mrs lagans chippy Mr mars sweet shop were we would get a penny fanta liquorish sticks and sticky light ( looked like a tree twig the holy shop another chippy Minnie o neils then Bangor st :?: but I didn't come from MARSH LANE I lived off MARSH LANE in a street called AUDLEY ST :D
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fatboyjoe90
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Well, Tommy, I don’t remember it, when did it close? Please accept apologies, Tom and Tommy.
I remember all the shops you mentioned but the coal yard are you sure it wasn't Tony Houghton’s yard was on Marsh Lane. :wink:
Last edited by fatboyjoe90 on Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers Joe.
WatsonTommy
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well at least you have come clean :D
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efc46
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Your right Joe the baths on marsh lane was never called the slipper baths (i dont remember anyone going there in slippers we could not afford slippers ) to my recollection it was Marsh Lane baths I rememember the coppers used to leave the police bike in the entrance we would climb thru the back window Matty used to say i will get that bike never did anyway Charlie Daulby raggy was next the blacksmiths Charlie was a good skin he would always save the bikes we would push the ancarts in the yard each night hence we were never short of a bike
Davey Rowlands Bootle
WatsonTommy
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joe there was a doctor who type police box outside :D
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efc46
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I have been in the doctor who box once or twice
Davey Rowlands Bootle
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fatboyjoe90
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I was in it once after getting caught getting a legger off one of Person’s wagons i must've been about 7or 8 years old at the time. :oops: :lol:
Cheers Joe.
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efc46
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as a kid if it wasnt nailed down well ? hence the police box Joe I can thank Terry Rileys Ma she told me an terry to forget getting into trouble start playing your guitars which we did we turned the corner god bless her
Davey Rowlands Bootle
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BOBHAMO
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bobhamo
towel and soap 3 old pence :D :D :D
bootle born altcar road
WatsonTommy
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well never told me mother that hence MARS sweetshop
sausage dog
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The air raid siren tower at the baths should jog anyones memory , I can remember it going off late fifties maybe even later , we used to throw bricks up at it to try set it off.
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fatboyjoe90
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This map is pre-war. :wink:

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Cheers Joe.
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efc46
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great photo Joe I remember those street off irlam road (me dad was welsh) the ews was opposite Rhyl street I believe it was a school before the war .the continuation of the map would have shown the church in balfour road the gainy facinating thanks Joe
Davey Rowlands Bootle
WatsonTommy
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the rileys was my mothers and fathers best friend they drank in the solly as they worked on the docks my dads Knick name was hickey and Mr riley was hackey :D
WatsonTommy
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BUT why was it called the slipper baths :?: was it because you only got 20 minutes you slipped in and out :D
WatsonTommy
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well you smart alexs it was 2 and six and you had to also take jam jars to Dalby's scrap yard no such thing has pocket money then to go and see the matinée cowwies tom mix Roy rogers the Durango kid the lone ranger George gabby Hayes Randolph Scott etc the marsh lane palace sat morning night time take one in mister we would say :( 8 out of the kind ones who knew the score they wouldn't take your money off you then :) when got in we opened the fire door and me mates piled in Fred astir and Judy garland wasn't happy about that shut that door cried Frankie Howard who was the posh commissioner in a blue uniform and military cap well sorry girls you could not bunk passed him with a hard :roll: we kids called him swively eyes
WatsonTommy
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talking about old cowboy movies did you see JAMES CAGNEY in the 1940s DURANGO KID this morning :roll: he wore a great big Stetson hat he looked like a mushroom
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efc46
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luved the Palace it was a mad house Saturday afternoons
Davey Rowlands Bootle
WatsonTommy
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it sure was :D the noise was deafening the manager would come on the speakers (any more missile thrown at the screen the culprits will be ejected from the cinema a big cheer would go up and the screen got plastered more :D
lynne99
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Slipper baths, from victoria plumb
Traditionally, the bath has one end deeper than the other, with the taps located at the shallower end to give the bather space to relax at the other. This also affords them a certain amount of privacy, which was very useful when they were found in public washhouses, and kept the water warmer for longer.

Unlike most modern bath units, slipper baths tend to be designed as freestanding units and look good placed in the centre of a bathroom. The edge of the bath usually has a rolled top to make getting in and out easier and the unit stands upon feet to raise it from the floor.
WatsonTommy
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there was another police box by the old strand :roll:
Bill fawcett
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Sorry if this has been posted before.


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Dan
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Cheers Bill.

Enlarged.

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Regards

Dan
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efc46
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great photo must be before the war
Davey Rowlands Bootle
lynne99
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Again, another good photo. It doesn't matter if has been posted before (I don't know if it has) can't have too many good pics.
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