remember Coopers Church St Liverpool

[slewis]

Hi
 Do you remember Coopers shop it was in Church St, as soon as you went in the smell of coffee hit you.
That is all i remember is the smell, it was next door to were WH Smiths is now.
I am looking for any history or info about the place, My husbands grandad Albert Kelly worked their and other member's of the family did, and we think their was a connection, another name that keeps coming up is Sir Bertram Grimes, who ever he is ? can any one tell me.
We know they had Coopers store's in Scotland, as Albert went to work up their somtimes.
Can anyone tell me who owned Coopers ?
Any info  or History about the store would be very much appreciated.
          Sue

[liverpool annie]

Hi Sue !!

Mmmmm the smell !!  - it was too posh a shop for us to shop there - but it was a great meeting place - we always met outside Coopers - much better than Lewis's !! .... stand over the grates in the winter time  .......... !
I found this - not the answer to your question - but thought it might be something of interest !!

May Blitz During May and the first two weeks of June, bombing took place practically every night - about half the dead and injured due to bombing in the entire war occurred during this period. This is commonly reported as being some sort of final action before the invasion of the USSR. The first week of May seems to have been the really bad time. Altogether 79 raids took place. 11.000 houses were destroyed.


Thursday May 1. Low Hill and Cazeneau Street hit badly but it appears the bad weather hindered the Luftwaffe's plans

Friday May 2. Four / five hours of bombing

Saturday May 3. Bombing from 22.30 until 0500. Lewis's and Blacklers department stores destroyed. The music section of the William Brown Library was totally wiped out, along with an estimated 150,000 volumes throughout the entire City Library. The fire in the Library spread to the neighboring Art Gallery and Museum. The Central Post Office in Victoria Street was put out of action and all the records held by the Tax Offices in the India Buildings were destroyed by fire. The major area of devastation was to south of Lord Street - this area seems never to have recovered and become a 'part' of the city again (talking subjectively). In Huskisson Dock, incendiaries set fire to an ammunition ship, the S.S. Malakand, which blew up the entire dock and ripped a section out of the Overhead Railway. Despite this, only four people seem to have been killed by it - two crew who were trying to scuttle the ship and, tragically, a newly-married couple whose car was hit by debris. A stray bomb caught a munitions train parked seemingly out of the way in Clubmoor, in the Forfar Road area. Despite the tragedy of this incident there appears to have been a slightly comic outcome - when the emergency crews realized they couldn't do much about the ammunition trucks, they went about saving a large cargo of Spam and corned beef. Mill Road Infirmary was hit, demolishing several of its buildings.

Sunday May 4. Bombing started at midnight and lasted until 04.30

Monday May 5. Bombing again started about midnight. Bold Street/Berry Street area was particularly hard hit. The bombed-out remains of St. Luke's church remains to this day as a memorial. A high-explosive bomb appears to have fallen through the roof of the Anglican Cathedral but was deflected back by a beam. The resulting explosion caused severe damage to the windows.

Tuesday May 6. Bombing again from midnight. Extensive damage, including Cooper's shop in Church Street

Wednesday May 7. Considered to be the worst night after Saturday May 3.. For Bootle, this was their worst night.

Raids continued but not with the same intensity.

Annie 

[slewis]

Hi Annie
 Thanks for your help, a lot of intresting bits of info. I dont remember if i ever went in the shop i just remember that smell.
        Thanks again Sue 
           

[Stormin]

Just a slight correction to your memory .WH. Smith now occupies the old Coopers building.Next to it used to be C&A's which is now Next(no pun intended).Do you remember at easter time coopers used to have live chicks in the window
Ah nostalgia is not what it used to be
Regards Norman

[Liverpoolgirl]

I'm interested in any information on Coopers on Church Street as my parents held their wedding reception there in 1945.  Does anyone know if it was a restaurant and was this above a shop?
thanks
Diane

[garstonite]

I remember Coopers very well...I remember the chicks in the window too.The basement was where they had the delicatessant - roll mop pickled herring stick out in my memory. The top floor was a Tea room and was hired out for private functions and if I remember correctly Coopers had their own Jazz style band - all workers at Coopers, which played at the private functions...I remember my wife feeling the tomatoes and the assistant telling her off...lol...
allan

[JOHNNIE]

Hi, I worked at F.W. Woolworths head office, across the road above the Mariners Restaurant, some nice uniforms in there at lunctime!  Coopers was always open early mornings and it was there I bought a Granny Smith each day!

J - 

[ginny44]

Here's a link to Liverpool Museums archives about Coopers Cafe:-

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/conservation/exhibitions/metropolis/leisure/coopers.aspx

Regards

[Humphpaul]

Some bits re all above. There was a Coopers in Glasgow. I bought a Haggis there about 1956 for a Scot in Liverpool. They also had a branch in the shops opposite the Carlton cinema in Tuebrook.
We used to get our groceries delivered from the main shop and one day the delivery man said he would not be coming next week as he had won £16000 on the Irish Sweep.
We lived in Montrose Rd. next to Forfar and were under the stairs as all 31 trucks of the ammunition train went up from 9pm Saturday to 9am Sunday. I think the only death was the train driver who stayed on to position the train between the Clubmoor and Tuebrook bridges to save them. They were very important as a route from the north end docks. I hope he got a medal.
They did have a restaurant/cafe on the first floor.
Some people who worked there said their first job in the morning before opening was to bang around a lot to scare the rats back to the basement store where they lived. I think any place with a basement in that area had rats. My mother worked in School Lane in the 1940s and saw many.
Humphpaul