STATION ROAD - Shops & Business Premises
History of the Victoria Cafe aka the Cheshire Cat, Station Road, Burley in Wharfedale
Text & most of the images courtesy of Graham Cockell.
My Grandfather was Fred Sharp born Feb 10th 1887 died in 1979, he had two sisters that were spinsters and a lot older than him.
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The sisters also bought some land on Stirling Road from the Trustees of Burley in Wharfedale Freehold Gardens Society on the 27th of March 1911.
In 1910 the gardens society had purchased two fields from Wm Fison & Co Ltd., part of the Greenholme Estate, that were used as allotments for the village families, again I have the deeds for both the purchases.
A house was built on the site which was then lived in by my grandparents.
In 1910 the gardens society had purchased two fields from Wm Fison & Co Ltd., part of the Greenholme Estate, that were used as allotments for the village families, again I have the deeds for both the purchases.
A house was built on the site which was then lived in by my grandparents.
1910 Conveyance between Wm Fisons Co Ltd directors & Burley in Wharfedale Freehold Gardens Society.
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1911 Conveyance between Burley in Wharfedale Freehold Gardens Society and the Misses E and L Sharp.
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My grandfather Fred Sharp married Annie Eliza Otty, born 29th July 1881 died 18th Dec 1972, on the 15th Nov 1909 and had a daughter Lily born 28th March 1911, who was my mother.
The Otty's and the Sharp's were both Burley families.
The Otty's and the Sharp's were both Burley families.
Going back to the shop my grandfather became a master baker and worked in and inherited the shop after both sisters died, he fought in the trenches during the First World War. My mother and grandmother lived in the shop as Stirling Road was deemed too isolated.
He returned from the war unscathed physically, but perhaps not mentally, and continued to run the shop through the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s when it was known as the Victoria Cafe.
Family gossip says that grandfather used the mission hall at the top of the passage (now Joe's Little Gym) as a bakery but I have no firm evidence of this.
["When I delivered groceries for Tom Bower's grocery shop at the corner of Aireville Terrace and Station Road from about 1960 to when I left school Joe's Little Gym was the bakery for Tom Bower's shop and Brian "Skip" Pedley, the scoutmaster was the baker." - Info courtesy of Les Winder Aug 2021]
They had a tea house upstairs and also did outside catering and tea parties for the wealthier people in Burley. The food and the crockery were delivered to the houses by a rented horse and cart. My mother used to tell the tale of when she and Fred were delivering to an address at the top of Woodhead Hill when the crockery and food fell from the back of the cart half way up the hill.
The tea house was for people visiting Burley from Leeds or Bradford by train or trolleybus to walk on the moors.
He returned from the war unscathed physically, but perhaps not mentally, and continued to run the shop through the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s when it was known as the Victoria Cafe.
Family gossip says that grandfather used the mission hall at the top of the passage (now Joe's Little Gym) as a bakery but I have no firm evidence of this.
["When I delivered groceries for Tom Bower's grocery shop at the corner of Aireville Terrace and Station Road from about 1960 to when I left school Joe's Little Gym was the bakery for Tom Bower's shop and Brian "Skip" Pedley, the scoutmaster was the baker." - Info courtesy of Les Winder Aug 2021]
They had a tea house upstairs and also did outside catering and tea parties for the wealthier people in Burley. The food and the crockery were delivered to the houses by a rented horse and cart. My mother used to tell the tale of when she and Fred were delivering to an address at the top of Woodhead Hill when the crockery and food fell from the back of the cart half way up the hill.
The tea house was for people visiting Burley from Leeds or Bradford by train or trolleybus to walk on the moors.
I don't know when he retired, but the family rented it out as a sweet shop and it became the Cheshire Cat.
My mother inherited it after grandmother died and owned it until the early 2000's when it was sold and converted into an office for a computer hardware company before becoming a dental surgery.
Guide to shops & business premises on Station Road, Burley in Wharfedale.
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Burley Archive & Local History Group: Drop-In Sessions Friday 2.30pm to 4.30pm. For other times please contact us