This is just one of the arresting images capturing life around Yorkshire during the early 50s.
This retro photo gallery transports us back three-quarters of a century, taking us on a tour of God’s Own County as it looked then.
While Father Time has barely laid a finger on some of Yorkshire’s most charming, immaculately preserved towns and villages, these images show how freely he has swung his scythe elsewhere.
Many of the landmarks featured in these nostalgic pictures have disappeared, from the hulking cooling towers of a coal-fired power station to the much-loved department stores that once drew shoppers in their droves.
The old trams, popular cinemas and the excitement of a soap box derby are among the sights featured that will take many readers back.
Less mourned will be the bizarre-looking gas-powered car on which it was said you ‘finished the ride smelling of kippers’.
These photos show how major streets in towns, villages and cities around Yorkshire looked during the 50s, as the nation continued to rebuild following the devastation of the Second World War.
They also capture the clothes we wore, the cars we drove and the very different working conditions we experienced all those years ago.
Some of the biggest events of the era are depicted, including the ascension to the throne of Queen Elizabeth II, following her father’s death in 1952, the Festival of Britain in 1951 and a major train crash the year before.
Famous visitors to Yorkshire are pictured meeting the locals, too, from Pablo Picasso, who was in town for the World Peace Congress, to Winston Churchill.
And the extraordinary Yorkshire folk featured range from heroic NHS staff finishing a gruelling night shift to the postal workers tirelessly sorting mountains of Christmas parcels.
Do these photos bring back any memories for you? What do you think of how Yorkshire has changed since the early 50s?
43. Commercial Street
Commercial Street, Leeds, on a Saturday morning in November 1952 | YPN
46. Homecoming parade
Featherstone, April 1952 The Featherstone Rugby League team ride home in triumph in April 1952, despite their Wembley defeat to Workington Town in the Challenge Cup Final. They were given a great reception by the little Yorkshire mining town when they returned. | YPN
47. Royal proclamation
Centuries-old pageantry was witnessed outside Sheffield Town Hall on February 8, 1952, when the Lord Mayor, Ald. T.W. Bridgland, read the proclamation for Queen Elizabeth II, heard by a silent 5,000 crowd. She was proclaimed sovereign throughout her realms after the death of her father, King George VI, who died in the night between February 5 and 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya. | Sheffield Newspapers
