How Christmas looked on South Tyneside 65 years ago - and some of the gifts you could buy in 1960
It was the era of Barbie, Meccano and Elvis hitting the top of the charts.
Christmas in South Tyneside in 1960 was a grand time and I have memories galore to share with you.
Getting busy at Christmas in South Tyneside
For example, Masons the chemists was the place to be if you wanted to buy after shave. The chain of shops in King Street, Ocean Road, Mile End Road and Westoe Road sold the Busy Man’s Bar which was yours for 22/6.
It contained after shave lotion, hair dressing cream and cologne in dispenser bottles.
For the younger generation, it was an era when the Barbie doll was getting into full swing. Etch a Sketch was another big winner and so were train sets.
And for all the family, although admittedly it was a lot more expensive, the Slimline 17-inch was on sale at A.H. Cowey’s in Fowler Street with prices from 63 guineas.
Elsewhere in town, Christmas stock worth more than £2,000 was destroyed when fire broke out in a South Shields bicycle shop.
Then there’s the Christmas table. Blackcurrant jelly was 1s 3d at Alex Bruce the grocer’s in numerous streets throughout the borough.
Firemen worked around the clock to get the blaze under control at John Hornsby’s shop, on the corner of Westoe Road and Alfred Street.
And while one business was closed for repair, another was preparing for its debut. The town’s first nightclub, La Strada, was about to open its doors in Commercial Road.
You could dance the night away to the latest hits including chart topper It’s Now or Never by Elvis Presley, Save The Last Dance For Me by The Drifters or Little Donkey by Nina and Frederick.
Tell us what you remember about Christmas in South Tyneside at the start of the 1960s.
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