THIS week we are continuing our trip down Winsford's old High Street.

In the first photograph, the thoroughfare in view will be recognised instantly by older townsfolk, but it might take some figuring out to the newcomer.

The shop to the right was Kennerley's caf, grocers and confectioners standing on the corner of Grange Lane.

This 1951 police photo was taken after a fatal accident on the junction.

The opposite side of the road to the shop was a post office on the corner of Dene Drive at the end of a row of terraced houses in view.

Many Winsfordians, myself included, were brought up in terraced homes, which added to the camaraderie of daily life.

Further up on the left were Dean Street, Well Street, John Street, Geneva Road and rows of terraces close to the cotton mill, which burnt down in 1874.

The second photograph, courtesy of Pete Royle, was taken in 1948 and shows three German officers walking out of John Street onto High Street.

They are behind the hearse of Werner Hans Kolln, the ex-German prisoner of war who died in the Winsford rail crash that year.

It happened on April 17 and 24 people died, the temporary mortuary was in John Street.

Directories during this period show us that 25 businesses were crammed into this small area of High Street, including Hartley's clothing factory, which most people recollect having the fire escape outside.

There was also the Bulls Head pub, closed in 1974, Skellons shoe shop and the Co-Op next to the Central Methodist Church opposite the police station.

No mention of this row of shops would be complete without a word about George Dodd's gents' hairdressers.

Along with Palfreyman's and Stoneley's in Wharton and Ike Robinson on High Street, he held the monopoly on men's hairdressing in the town during the '50s and '60s.

George Dodd's was upmarket and every young man would go there to have the latest style.

He wore a clean white coat and his full salon would reflect his popularity.

It was rather dear to have a haircut there as I remember though, it cost half a crown.

On the other side of the coin was Ike Robinson's further down the hill.

He was a character and his price for a haircut never seemed to go up from four old pence.

Ike started up in 1930 and it has been said that youngsters would walk on the opposite side of the road rather than pass under his barber's pole.

You could spot a '4d Ike' at 100 yards, but that didn't stop mother's dragging their children to his shop for the pre school crop.

He was well loved and, like all characters, never forgotten.