Memories of Castleford Market

Our latest display at Castleford Museum explores Castleford’s market history. The display will be opening soon in May.

Castleford Market first opened in 1880. In 1927 a fire destroyed the market hall but it was quickly rebuilt. In 1934 a purpose-built meat and fish hall opened to keep up with improving standards. There was also an outdoor market, with another 100 stalls.

The hall was in use until 1991 when the market moved to the old Co-Op.

"A magical place"

People shared their recollections of the old indoor market with us. They had happy memories of the market and its strong sense of community:

“The market hall had stalls on a first-floor level at each side as well.” 

“I remember the heaters and the balcony round the top – office and cafe upstairs, and old and new jewellers.”

“Spent more time in there than I did at school. Keeping warm under the gas heaters. Great place."

“Loved the indoor market. Spent my pocket money there as a child and continued to shop there until it closed.”

“Loved the old market, it seemed to be the beating heart of the town when I was younger.”

Former stallholders and workers also remembered the market fondly:

“I remember it as if it were yesterday. Me and my best friend and her sister used to work on Davison & Robinson's fruit stalls. I started after them in 1971. What a brilliant grounding it was for a career in business. It was a magical place back then.”

“I worked at Moody’s sweet stall for a little while and I loved it. The other stall holders were mostly very friendly and our regular customers too. The atmosphere was much nicer than the new market although much colder.” 

“Smells and sounds”

Lots of people remember the sights, sounds and smells in the market hall, which they said was a hive of activity.

“I remember the busy hustle and bustle of the old market, and the smells and sounds.” 

“Castleford Market was always so busy! I can walk round it in my head 40 years on.”

“There were guys outside on a Monday who would do all the showmanship – actively shouting what they had and how much they could sell it for. One sold crockery and he would throw stuff to his partner, and then every now and again deliberately drop some so it would make a crash, and everybody would crowd round to see what was going on.”  

“You couldn’t move in Castleford Market on a Friday. They were really happy days. Friday and Saturday we finished at 6pm but we often couldn’t shut for the number of customers we still had. Everybody bought a joint for the weekend. You could smell it on a Sunday coming back from the pub – everybody was cooking their Sunday dinner.”  

“Playing amongst the rolls of carpet, going to look at the puppies in the pet stall, the smell that hit you when you walked through those plastic strips when you went into the meat and fish market.” 

"Very exotic"

Many people recalled the scents coming from the much-loved herbalist stall.

“I remember the lovely smell from the herbalist. My mum would go in and chat to Miss Ellen and then we’d go to the wool shop and chat there. That’s why I love smells and knitting!”  

“Loved going in the herbalist for the smell. I never knew what all the medications were for but it was just magical.”

“Miss Ellen the herbalist was the first vegetarian I knew!” 

“I regularly went in on behalf of someone I knew who lived in Hemsworth to pick up dandelion roots for him. I thought it was very exotic.”   

“I bought dried chamomile flowers to lighten my hair.”

“We knew where our food was coming from”

We heard lots of stories about people buying their groceries at the market to feed the family.

“In the fruit and veg part, the stallholders would give kids treats like grapes or strawberries.” 

“People would come and buy a load of corned beef, and a bag of spuds from the fruit and veg stall, enough to make corned beef hash all week to feed their kids.”

“On a Saturday Newbould’s would sell cooked chickens and hot pork pies. The pork pies in the 1960s were 7p in old money. We couldn’t bake them fast enough, so people would order them in advance and then come back with their order slip. Men would also come straight from the pub, drunk, and order a pie. It would be piping hot, so they’d make a mess of eating it and often get hot jelly down their front, but they were great for business, because they’d be saying to everybody ‘this is a reight pie this – you wanna try one of these.”  

“Dad used to go Christmas Eve to get our turkey.”

“Seeing the rabbits and pigeons hung at the meat section meant we knew where our food was coming from.”

“One woman used to bring cod fish in a pram to sell to the fish stall. Her sons used to go fishing up at Whitby, and she’d bring the cod in on a Monday morning in the pram. We used to have to help her carry it up the steps. She fetched them from Lock Lane. Sometimes she’d have two pram-fulls.”  

Schofield's tripe shop

Lots of people told us about Schofield’s tripe shop.

“I also remember the tripe stall. My grandma used to love offal, in particular tripe. I used to hate the smell and look of it all.”  

“They had little paper dishes to taste the ready cooked tripe, as well as selling stuff to take and cook at home.” 

“My aunty worked at Schofield’s Tripe stall (it belonged to her dad and grandad before him). Her hands were always cold and slimy and she used to grab my face to give me a kiss.” 

“Under the market clock”

The market was also a great place to meet up with family and friends.

“I remember meeting friends under the market clock!” 

“It was a really nice meeting place especially for young mums with prams, happy days.” 

“It was lively. You’d go with your parents and they’d always be stopping and talking to someone they knew.”

“I first started courting in 1983. I’d come to Castleford after night shifts and would look round on a Monday with my girlfriend. I worked at Dearne Valley and Kellingley Pit.” 

“Used to spend all Saturday in the market as a teenager and loved the Mucky Market for ex jukebox records and gawping at Cas lads. Blue Cup Cafe afterwards for a frothy coffee.”

"The best cheese scufflers ever"

There were plenty of options for shoppers to have a sit down and chat over a cup of tea at the market.

“Battye’s Cafe – it was a square stall with high seats. People would stop and talk to you whilst you were seated.”  

“Battye’s Cafe with his paper every morning to work his bets out for the day. We used to go every Monday and buy broken biscuits and then have a walk round and eat them as we went.” 

“Ronnie's cafe was brilliant- the best cheese scufflers ever.” 

“Mum says the cafe used to do the best egg mayo and spring onion sandwiches.”