mollag

It is a curious area, I worked at Manx Ices on the Lake road and we prepped for high spring tides with sandbagging.

The Peel Road factory was along the river also but raised and the river canalised as John Wright says so no problem

Across on the Old Castletown Road side, Qualtroughs, a shipbuilder converted to a Mineral Water manufacturer, there being opposite a well souce of quality water quite unlike the rest on the Island, I recall the pump field as we called it,from there they pumped under the road and bottled.

The pump enclosure can be seen low right.

13 hours ago, John Wright said:

Except it’s not just that area. The flood plain extends up to Cronkbourne Road and Kirby Meadow.

If you look a the map Roger has posted, one page back, the area marked Ropewalk is on the flood plain. There are cliffs marked, escarpment. The area marked lake. I mentioned the meandering branches of the Glass. That’s shown. The area marked with field numbers 2930/2/3/4 was in effect an island, with the river on each side. It was a marshy swamp. As was The Lake.

Small river, small flood plain. Big river, etc.

There was a stream running behind the Garages in Hills Meadow, behind where Robinsons was, parallel to the main road, a scrap yard I think now, it ran under the access ramp. Those units below Peel road would flood up to 2 foot, I was involved raising the height of the electrical outlets to 3 feet in my brothers welding shop. [late 70's]

2 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

Flood plain?

Hence the name Lake Road, in the right conditions it would flood up as far as the Quarter bridge, big tides meet melt watet / heavy rainfall, it still occurs to a degree.

34 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Did Shoprite object to the mezzanine planning? Did they get party status? It was refused on purely planning grounds, is my recollection.

I sort of agree about Lake Road, however a lot of it was owned by government ( Railway land ) as well as ex Quiggins/Timber Yard, and it was a brown field site. Whereas at the time Cooil Road wasn’t zoned for retail, and was controlled by IOM Industrial Development Co Ltd and nothing was zoned on Ballapaddag side. I’m still surprised at what has been allowed south of Cooil Road. 

Im uncertain about building anything on a flood plain. May not be the best place for housing long term.

Coop put the deal and plans together for Lake Road and then sold out to Tesco.

At the end of the day we are moving to the 15 minute city concept. I don’t think we will get any more large out of town retail built.

It would needs be raised  John, not impossible, the milestone area section was raised quite a bit.

WC Wilson's, Shoprites warehouse opposite the Power station, contains a huge freezer and oodles of shelf goods storage.

I spoke with a Tesco staff member earlier in the year, he was under the impression Tesco were very frustrated with the struggle for expansion permissions, Shoprite being a serial objecter, they sought permission to add another floor to Lake road, but no. 

Personally I always thought The Lake road a poor position, the Cooil road area would have been better, particularly for non Douglas residents wanting a Tesco shop. The Lake road was a great oppo to bring residenial accomodation back into the heart of the  town.

1 hour ago, CrazyDave said:

Erm, maybe by being a good business with great value products and a significant trade customer base, in addition to the always busy walk ins who have a good handle on their costs and margins.

Might that be it?

When it was Smylies, retail was not allowed on the Estate, trade only, you applied  to Smylies for a number , supplying headed paper/ invoices as proof and the number used for checkout, seems very antwacky nowadays 😕

5 hours ago, John Wright said:

The canned meat, stewed steak, was excellent.

The best and i have never had better pork sausage 😋

If I remember well, Agrimark was established to use up the surplus product from the Fatstock combine and Milk marketing Association, it made Ice cream, sausage and canned and fresh  meat [Prima Donna marque] It also shifted produce from the farms generally, potaoes etc With the demise of tourism, it's market dried up so it became just a wholesaler by taking over Smylies. Surplus milk products and meats were then exported with very nice Export subsidies to make up profit.Their manufactured products were V good quality as i recall. 😋

On 10/15/2023 at 6:27 PM, John Wright said:

Did the smylies place eventually become securicor ?

Initially next door..

2 hours ago, Expat. said:

UK flour has been fortified with four vitamins and minerals since WW2 when it was introduced to stave off some of the nutritional deficits of rationing. The additives are iron, calcium, thiamine (vitamin B1) and niacin (vitamin B3). Nicotine has never been added to UK flour. Manx flour isn't fortified. However, many years ago I ate brownies in Onchan that were fortified with something pretty spectacular.

27 minutes ago, John Wright said:

I don’t remember TE Lowey Cash & Carry. I knew a TE Lowey - retired police sergeant. Think his office was up there. He ran an enquiry agency. Sitting in his car outside houses overnight to gather evidence of comings and goings and over night staying as corroboration in adultery cases.

Often it was contrived, husband and wife agreed and he was tipped off.

My memory failing as usual, it was  maybe TD Lowey.

6 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Did the smylies place eventually become securicor ?

The unit next to it did as i recall.

Smylies was  the same unit Agrimark have now, a Mr Heath was Smylies manager, he retired and opened the Dolly Tub launderette Rex Boyd, warehouse manager. bought Russels provisions shop on Circular road.[ I worked on the refrigeration plant in these places]

TE Loweys son was the late Martin Lowey of estate agent fame, Lowey Snr was also a partner in Frozen Foods, Hills meadow with Marge and Tom Kelly [Manx Ices]

7 hours ago, Omobono said:

smylies but thet were mainly wholesale 

Smylies were in the unit on the diagonal corner to Loweys, backing on to Marina Lane, they moved to the Cooil road and were taken over by Agrimark. Edmunson electrical took on the Derby square unit.

10 hours ago, John Wright said:

Was that where JJ Bell had it’s depot and paint store?

The same John 👍

5 hours ago, Kopek said:

Who's was the basic food store at the top of Derby Sq? About where Talbot blinds are now?

Was that a John North outlet?

I remember that but not a lot of the others mentioned here!

Late 60's.

TE Loweys, wholesale provisions and a Cash and Carry [big trend in the 70's] fronting where Talbot is now, the main warehouse was back to back on Green Lane.

10 minutes ago, finlo said:

Shoprite was never in there it was Whitestone garage briefly in 1983 as Mercedes got sniffy about sharing showroom space with VW. 

They gave it up when VW went to Corkills.

10 minutes ago, finlo said:

Shoprite was never in there it was Whitestone garage briefly in 1983 as Mercedes got sniffy about sharing showroom space with VW. 

They gave it up when VW went to Corkills.

That's it, memory recitfied 👍

1 hour ago, John Wright said:

Celtic Trader was a convenience store with branches around the island, including the upper floor of the building in Onchan Precinct where Norths were downstairs. They were also in what is now the Spar in Anagh Coar. Owned by Alan Burman. Only Shoprite connection was that Shoprite were their landlord in Onchan.

When CT moved out Shoprite moved in. When Norths moved out Shoprite moved in downstairs with non grocery clubmann products.

I seem to remember a short lived Shoprite, in Market st, under the playground for St Thomas school, where Mac & Co were, they also  had an  Iceland style freezer store on Prospect Terrace.

2 hours ago, Kopek said:

Manx flour is '' free from the additives'' required by UK flour, chalk thiamin iron and nicotine!!! and is 100% pure, according to the packet.

As alluded to above the raising is easily attained with the white flours and reasonably with the wholemeal and stone ground. The rye flour when it was available was a bit more dense.

Kneading is indeed therapeutic  especially if done by a window overlooking a garden!

Do Noa still use Manx flour? Some bags of German in their window, may be the grains.

The Isle of Man Provenance label indicates produce that is grown, reared, caught and/or processed in the Isle of Man and/or contains mostly Manx ingredients.

Its creation forms part of the Food Matters strategy to grow the value of Isle of Man Food & Drink to the economy.

• Due to the current need to import UK wheat to supplement locally grown wheat flour the following products marked with * should be considered as ‘Made in Isle of Man’ i.e not 100% Manx flour. Please check the product labels or contact the manufacturer/bakery directly for further information.
• *Flavo Plain flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• Manx Granary flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• Manx King premium white bread flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• Manx Mixed Seed bread flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• *Manx Queen strong white flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• Manx Pioneer bread – Laxey Glen Mills
• Manx Rye flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• Manx Soda bread flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• Strong Stone- ground wholemeal flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• *Sunrise Self raising flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• *Manx Wholemeal flour – Laxey Glen Mills
• Meat and Potato Pie – Morgan’s Pies
• Cheese and Onion Pie – Morgan’s Pies
• Lamb and Onion Pie – Morgan’s Pies
• Beef Curry Pie – Morgan’s Pies
• *Super soft white Med sliced 800g – Marks & Spencer (Ramsey Bakery)
• *Super soft white Thick sliced 800g– Marks & Spencer (Ramsey Bakery)
• *Soft white farmhouse 800g & 400g– Marks & Spencer (Ramsey Bakery)
• Soft golden wholemeal farmhouse 800g & 400g– Marks & Spencer (Ramsey Bakery)
• Super soft wholemeal Med sliced 800g & 400g– Marks & Spencer (Ramsey Bakery)
• Super soft wholemeal Thick sliced 800g– Marks & Spencer (Ramsey Bakery)
• *White breakfast rolls x 4– Marks & Spencer (Ramsey Bakery)
• Bagels – Ross Bakery
• White Tin loaf – Ross Bakery
• Brown Tin loaf – Ross Bakery
• Granary Tin loaf – Ross Bakery
• Seeded Sourdough – Ross Bakery
• *Brioche loaf – Ross Bakery
• Pasteis de Nata – Ross Bakery
• *Challah loaf – Ross Bakery
• Savoury Tarts – Ross Bakery
• *Ciabatta – Ross Bakery
• *Foccacia – Ross Bakery
• Deli Rye – Ross Bakery
• Rye – Ross Bakery 
• Seeded Rye – Ross Bakery
• Walnut Sourdough – Ross Bakery
• Potato Sourdough – Ross Bakery
• Island Loaf – Ross Bakery 

There is no infrastucture here now, no guttygirls,/ machinery, salt / barrel stores, space to process etc and not enough product to make it viable. In the klondike time, the Dutchmen came to the Island to process their own, imagine the red tape, post Brexit now 😒

There is no infrastucture here now, no guttygirls,/ machinery, salt / barrel stores, space to process etc and not enough product to make it viable. In the klondike time, the Dutchmen came to the Island to process their own, imagine the red tape, post Brexit now 😒

I have carried out work for the Horsthuis family over the years, good folk, their word good and a pleasure to work for, just my personal op of course.

A potted history of the Business here.

https://www.robinsons.im/page_275920.html

On 10/10/2023 at 10:45 PM, Ringy Rose said:

Laxey Flour isn’t pumped full of the additives and chemicals that are mandatory across, so there is that.

I’d not say the local flour was a rip off.

I wonder if the lack of chemicals and additives affects how it rises? Not that I’ve ever had an issue, but I knead by hand. Great stress relief.

They call them "Flour improvers" over here, it's lack of rise is due to our growing enviroment, we are not best suited for wheat , so, "improvers" are needed, this far north is heading toward  best for barley/ oats,.

15 hours ago, Andy Onchan said:

Mollag will be along in a few minutes with a photo to remind everyone exactly where it was! 😁

As if by magic,--Gladys, spot on as ever, some fine 70's [1975?] signwork, they moved futther up Strand st to where WH Smith is presently..  Conibears had a fine shop on Market hill and a warehouse/depot opposite the Town Hall.

Dale and Colvin, greengrocers, they morphed into Motor body repair.

Is this a bigger "end of the world " than Ramsey Bakery closing I ponder  🤔