WHEN Stuart Manning saw our recent photograph of Market Street it brought back happy memories, he says, of weekend treats at Tognarellis ice cream parlour.

Stuart, aged 65, who lives in Smithills , said that an added excitement was that you had to use the lift to get up to the parlour "and of course in those days lifts were very much manual and you had too pull two doors, an inner and outer, to secure you safely in the lift before you started your ascent.

"There was a set of stairs to take you up, but young children always wanted to experience the thrill of riding in the lift," he says.

Also on Market Street, explains Stuart, was a boys' outfitters called John Manners "where your parents took you to get your Sunday best attire from.

"I loved going to Manners due to the fact that on the first floor there was a huge rocking horse which children could ride on and I hope people can recall how much pleasure this gave to lots of youngsters during the 1950s and early 1960s," he says.

Our features on Bolton Town Centre have certainly attracted readers and given you all something to think about. It is lovely to hear your memories.

Mrs May Andrews contacted us to ask what the building was at the bottom of Market Street as seen in our Then and Now feature. Today it is BHS but in the 1960s it was a different store altogether and we can reveal it was Timothy Whites as you can see on the image here in the 1960s before it was pedestrianised and traffic banned.

Bolton Town Centre has changed considerably over the last 50 years but imagine just how much it has changed since the early part of the 20th century.

Just before World War One — in 1911 to be exact —Market Street had a full range of shops and businesses to offer the discerning town centre shopper.

There was an incredible range of shops in this small street from a gent's outfitters — Livesey's — to the Singer Sewing Machine Company and Maypole Dairy Company who were tea and butter merchants.

Here at The Bolton News we have a fascinating book entitled the Post Office Bolton Directory, produced by Tillotson and Son who owned The Bolton Evening News which lists all the businesses in Bolton Town Centre and includes the names of many of their managers. It also contains information about streets in the town and the name of the head of the household of each home.

In 1911, in Market Street, was a shop described as John Brown fancy draper The Trimming Shop. Would that be the same shop we can see on the right of our image from the 1960s and if so did it remain in the same family for all those years?

We would love to hear from anyone who remembers mantle manufacturer Fedora or, perhaps, milliner Miss Sarah Sargent both based in Market Street in 1911.

Many of the businesses would disappear as their wares went out of fashion but one name that certainly means something to us, and perhaps will to you, is Robert Kenyon printer and stationer. We feel sure this was a family business that still exists today. Is it still run by the same family?

Do get in touch if you have any information about long-standing Bolton shops and stores as we would love to hear about them.

Ring Gayle McBain on 01204 537269 or email gayle.mcbain@nqnw.co.uk