The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime

Getting a Timpsons was a common expression getting a good kicking in Longsight in the 50s and 60s. There were lots of shoe shops but the one I remember was on Stockport Rd opposite a big pub called the Church or the Mitre. It had a reputation for quality and mums would boast of taking their kids there to be fitted properly.
There was a factory in Baguley which like those in Northampton couldt compete with cheap imports. Rags might have had shoes repaired by them but it's all been scaled down.
They brought up 97 kids l think including 3 or 4 of their own. A tremendous couple who are very modest but of course you will not get them mentioned as City fans by a dumbed down media more interested in Ollie Fucking Murs and the like.
I remember that Timpsons. Always wanted the shoes with the compass inside, dont know why you could not see it, your foot covered it. The pub was the Church it later became a hang out for substance users (even by Longsight standards) When they closed the English Sewing factory across the way in the eighties, my mate had to take the IT away, he went to find those that had been made redundant and guessed (wrongly) they were in the Church. He failed to notice the shaved head heavies on the door and went in looking for them. It was all small alcoves and he had clocked a few people when the truth dawned on him. He was in the drug centre of Longsight wearing a suit and giving loads of punters the eye. He might has well of had a warrant card in his hand. He shat himself and in the panic could not find his way out. Happy days.
 
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I remember that Timpsons. Always wanted the shoes with the compass inside, dont know why you could not see it, your foot covered it. The pub was the Church it later became a hang out for substance users (even by Longsight standards) When they closed the English Sewing factory across the way in the eighties, my mate had to take the IT away, he went to find those that had been made redundant and guessed (wrongly) they were in the Church. He failed to notice the shaved head heavies on the door and went in looking for them. It was all small alcoves and he had clocked a few people when the truth dawned on him. He was the drug centre of Longsight wearing a suit and giving loads of punters the eye. He might has well of had a warrant card in his hand. He shat himself and in the panic could not find his way out. Happy days.

That mention of pubs reminds me of when I got chatting to this big lump at my favourite bar in Tenerife. He was from Salford and his mother ran the Winston pub near Salford precinct affectionately known as the Fraggle by the locals for obvious reasons.

He was a decent lad and as he was propped up at the end of the bar I used to stand at I got to know him quite well. He drank that much Budweiser that the bar ran out and had to get more from other bars until their delivery came in lol. I used to drink in the old Salford, the Clowes, Trafford and Salisbury so knew the area but I wasn't overly familiar with the Winston and it had been a few years since I'd been down there. He told me to pop in if I was down there and have a drink with him.

Fast forward a few months and I was on this bus passing through Salford on my way to somewhere when looking through the window I spotted the Winston. It was like the pub from Shameless and being a bit older and wiser than my reckless youth I decided to pass up the invitation to pop in for a drink lol!
 
That mention of pubs reminds me of when I got chatting to this big lump at my favourite bar in Tenerife. He was from Salford and his mother ran the Winston pub near Salford precinct affectionately known as the Fraggle by the locals for obvious reasons.

He was a decent lad and as he was propped up at the end of the bar I used to stand at I got to know him quite well. He drank that much Budweiser that the bar ran out and had to get more from other bars until their delivery came in lol. I used to drink in the old Salford, the Clowes, Trafford and Salisbury so knew the area but I wasn't overly familiar with the Winston and it had been a few years since I'd been down there. He told me to pop in if I was down there and have a drink with him.

Fast forward a few months and I was on this bus passing through Salford on my way to somewhere when looking through the window I spotted the Winston. It was like the pub from Shameless and being a bit older and wiser than my reckless youth I decided to pass up the invitation to pop in for a drink lol!
Now gone I think...albeit quite recently...there was one just along from it called The Woodman(?) which was rougher...years ago a large boozer on the corner ...on the way to the docks...name escapes me...had its own bookies at one end of the bar..
 
Now gone I think...albeit quite recently...there was one just along from it called The Woodman(?) which was rougher...years ago a large boozer on the corner ...on the way to the docks...name escapes me...had its own bookies at one end of the bar..

It could be with the pandemic I guess a few have folded.
 
I remember that Timpsons. Always wanted the shoes with the compass inside, dont know why you could not see it, your foot covered it. The pub was the Church it later became a hang out for substance users (even by Longsight standards) When they closed the English Sewing factory across the way in the eighties, my mate had to take the IT away, he went to find those that had been made redundant and guessed (wrongly) they were in the Church. He failed to notice the shaved head heavies on the door and went in looking for them. It was all small alcoves and he had clocked a few people when the truth dawned on him. He was in the drug centre of Longsight wearing a suit and giving loads of punters the eye. He might has well of had a warrant card in his hand. He shat himself and in the panic could not find his way out. Happy days.
Wayfinders made by tuf got kicked in the mouth at junior school off a guy wearing a pair. Animal footprints on his sole.
 
Wayfinders made by tuf got kicked in the mouth at junior school off a guy wearing a pair. Animal footprints on his sole.
That's them, sorry to hear that, hope you have recovered and you have no animal footprint scars:-) I used to stare longingly at them in the window but all I ever got was my cousins cast offs and they weren't new when he had them
 
Surely it was Clarks Wayfinders. Like most others I could only window shop for them.
So if a Grizzly bear came down your street one night you would never know. Me on the other hand would simply take my shoe off and look at the sole, hey presto I would be able to identify it from the foot prints on the bottom. I was once able to alert the street that a leopard was on the prowl.
 
And that's why they should be legalised, regulated and taxed. Drugs are never going away, it's a war that can not be won.

Lots of ex police officers agree . I have no idea how many murders and how much crime is attributed to the drug trade but it must be very high. Some part of the States and Canada are legalising cannabis so we'll see how it goes. It will take a brave government here to do it but the present format isn't working.
 
Lots of ex police officers agree . I have no idea how many murders and how much crime is attributed to the drug trade but it must be very high. Some part of the States and Canada are legalising cannabis so we'll see how it goes. It will take a brave government here to do it but the present format isn't working.
Until the 60s when we joined the war on drugs there were only 3 or 4 thousands heroin addicts in the UK and they got their heroin from their doctor along with help to quit the drug. Burglary and crimes against property were very small in number compared to now.
Within 20 years of declaring war on people in desperate need we had hundreds of thousands of heroin addicts and crime against property as well as violent crime had exploded.
Not to mention we handed over a business worth 8bn per year in this country alone to gangsters and thugs.

All because the Americans demanded we do so in order that they could subjugate their immigrant population. They used the war debt on us and other western nations as leverage.

Is was a craven and shameful decision by the British government that we are all paying for every single day.
 
Until the 60s when we joined the war on drugs there were only 3 or 4 thousands heroin addicts in the UK and they got their heroin from their doctor along with help to quit the drug. Burglary and crimes against property were very small in number compared to now.
Within 20 years of declaring war on people in desperate need we had hundreds of thousands of heroin addicts and crime against property as well as violent crime had exploded.
Not to mention we handed over a business worth 8bn per year in this country alone to gangsters and thugs.

All because the Americans demanded we do so in order that they could subjugate their immigrant population. They used the war debt on us and other western nations as leverage.

Is was a craven and shameful decision by the British government that we are all paying for every single day.

Well said and written. I have watched interviews with ex drug squad officers, some who were undercover and they are pretty unanimous in agreeing. Shaun Attwood who served time in Arizona for supplying ecstacy has researched it in a lot more detail and written a couple of books on the war on drugs. Some are quite controversial and name Bush and Clinton but who knows? One thing I do know is a lot of money is made in the American prison system and drug arrests fuel that profit.
 
I remember that Timpsons. Always wanted the shoes with the compass inside, dont know why you could not see it, your foot covered it. The pub was the Church it later became a hang out for substance users (even by Longsight standards) When they closed the English Sewing factory across the way in the eighties, my mate had to take the IT away, he went to find those that had been made redundant and guessed (wrongly) they were in the Church. He failed to notice the shaved head heavies on the door and went in looking for them. It was all small alcoves and he had clocked a few people when the truth dawned on him. He was in the drug centre of Longsight wearing a suit and giving loads of punters the eye. He might has well of had a warrant card in his hand. He shat himself and in the panic could not find his way out. Happy days.
Yeah the Church was known for dealing even back in the early 80s, it was also known as Longsight’s main Jamaican pub whereas most of the others on the main road were more Irish. The Bay Horse, the Mad Hatter and the Garrett had a mixture
 

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