Way we were

100 years ago

In the course of a year every druggist was called upon to supply drugs for hundreds of domestic recipes. One of the most common mixtures for children was composed of rhubarb, magnesia, peppermint, and laudanum. As laudanum was a standard preparation it followed that for a penny at a cheap shop the purchaser could obtain enough to make the mixture powerfully narcotic, whereas at another drug store the supply would be so small as to make it comparatively safe. As laudanum was present in other domestic recipes it was plain that the only safe method was to use only prescriptions that stated the definite quantities by weight. Failing this it was well for the purchaser to take the chemist into his or her confidence.

50 years ago

Traffic through the city of York was so heavy that cars were discouraged from entering Piccadilly near Castle Mills Bridge. This temporary "one-way" system had been brought into use so that the bumper-to-bumper stream of traffic using the diversion could be kept moving. It did not affect traffic coming from Merchantgate into Piccadilly. A motorcycle, which could sometimes move at four times the speed of a car in heavy traffic, took nearly 30 minutes to travel from Knavesmire to Coney Street during the morning. A cyclist made the same journey 10 minutes more quickly. Often too, bus passengers found it quicker to walk than to use the bus.

25 years ago

Hunter and Smallpage applied to convert its warehouse, off Foss Islands Road, into a retail furniture shop and warehouse. York City Council refused the application because it went against the policy in the county structure plan of keeping new retail development within the city centre. A county council spokesman said: "We want to ensure shopping is available for all the residents, whether they have cars or not. York was a conservation area, the aim being a living centre rather than "a decaying museum." If more retail warehouses were set up outside the city centre it could lead, in the long run, "to the precise consequences the policy was designed to prevent." But Mr G H Cox, for the firm, replied: "To bury one's head in the sand and pretend York was going to do without this sort of development was unthinkable." There were really no other suitable sites in the centre and it would be impracticable for the firm to extend its Goodramgate premises. Single-storey retail furniture warehouses would account for 40 per cent of the furniture market in four years' time.

Updated: 16:07 Friday, August 12, 2005