Whitby

In Living Memory

1990

The main development in this year was the construction of the North-Eastern Co-operative Supermarket, which was due to open in Spring 1991. It was to create 120 jobs & use bar code scanners to speed up the checkout process. However, in October of this year, the contractors hit set backs after finding a 'soft spot', which had to be in filled.

Above left; New Quay Road at the pelican crossing which still stands in the same place today, with the station behind. The wooden building & buildings in front of the station are soon to be demolished. Above right; Langborne Road now runs along where the car park is in the photo. Below; The green building we can see is the side view of the building on the photo above right. This was all demolished very shortly after this photo was taken to make way for the Co-op store & Langborne Road.

For more photos of the Town Centre from 1990/91, please click here

Also in this year, Coastal & Country Coaches moved from their previous site on Crescent Avenue to Fairfield Way, into the premises formerly occupied by a meat packing factory. The United bus depot on Upgang Lane closed it's doors for the last time, with the buses being stored temporarily at a fish merchants on Fairfield Way, with all servicing being switched to Loftus. It happened at a time when Tees & District took over from United. When the depot first closed, Co-op Creameries wanted to use this as a dairy store, but it faced strong opposition from local residents, who were worried about noise and delivery vehicles. Later Arriva took over from Tees around 1998, and they acquired a compound on Fairfield Way to store the buses. In 2009, the Loftus depot shut down & all operations moved to Stockton.

The old bus depot on Upgang Lane, out of use for a number of years before being demolished, this photo was probably taken a few years later before demolition.

Also in this year, Botham's shop moved from next to Boots on Baxtergate to their present site, which was then Barratts of Whitby electrical shop. The move allowed them to have a cafe and Boots took advantage by extending. In early 2012, Botham's cafe was renovated. The old Botham's, next to Boots, was demolished & a modern shop built. Boots then knocked through to acquire that building as well.

Boots as it is today, the building to the left of the photo is the newer extension, which housed Bothams prior to their 1990 move to 30 Baxtergate, also pictured above

Part of Ruswarp Mill was demolished in early 1990 & flats built on the site, and the rest of the Mill building was turned into apartments. Later in the year, the old concrete silo was demolished & cottages & houses were built, near to the end of The Carrs. Moving on to Sleights, another small residential development was in the making around this time. Yew Tree close, a development of 14 houses was built on land off the top of Iburndale Lane, stretching behind the old Village Hall.

2 comparative photos, one from 1990 & the one on the right from 2012, 22 years after this area changed for ever

For more photos of Ruswarp Mill from this era, please click here

Yew Tree Close, Sleights

Also early in this year, the Spa Ladder had to be extended due to cliff erosion. January 15th marked the official opening of the £900,000 Spring Vale Medical Centre, with work starting in the previous March at the site off Rievaux Road. Previous to this, Whitby surgery ran out of Whitby Hospital, but due to the growing size of the town, the surgery needed larger premises, and this was not possible at Whitby Hospital. In 2008, the Medical Centre was extended to include it's own pharmacy, which was soon to become "Rowlands Pharmacy". In late spring 1990, work was complete at Whitby Spa, where it was extended after the old salon was demolished in the previous year and a confectionary shop and children's rides removed. Minor teething problems were experienced however, as six weeks after opening, the dance floor had lifted, but was sorted ready for the official opening.

Spa at various stages of getting its extension added, from the old part being demolished in 1989

Also in the early part of this year, sea defences were being installed between White Point & Upgang in the form of a sea wall & rock armour. In the late part of 1989, the wooden groins on the West Beach were removed, after them becoming worn & not serving much purpose. Also on the West Beach, a ship-wreck, named "Skane", which was wrecked in 1915, had to be removed after it became more exposed to people, with differing tides & falling beach levels to blame. Also on the shipping front, a Norwegian cargo ship "Teano", hit the end of the West Pier. This took some time and was still on-going into 1991. Prior to April, work on replacing flag stones at Salt Pan Well Steps, Loggerhead Yard & McLachlans Yard was undertaken as part of the Environmental Regeneration Initiative by a liaison of English Heritage & Scarborough Borough Council. After the work was complete, the county council were to adopt the areas. Help was also available to Tate Hill & Royal Crescent.

Spring Vale Surgery as it is today. The right side of the building as we look here is the extension, with the original building behind the black railings

BATA's warehouse, built in 1990

In Robin Hood's Bay, the Bank Top Car Park area was re-designed and left some parkers infuriated, after they thought the spaces were too narrow.

In July, the bell buoy was converted from gas power to solar power after a solar panel was installed on it. Previously, someone had to recharge the gas. Also fitted was a light sensor, so the light only comes on during hours of darkness, where previously it was on constantly. Also around this time, the weight limit on Whitby's Swing Bridge was increased when the signs were changed from imperial to metric. The old imperial weight limit of 15 tons was changed to 17 metric tonnes, which actually converts as 16.73 old tons. The bridge also had it's pavements widened. In September, work started on Bobbies Bank, next to the bus station. This included new buildings to house the Job Centre with office above and 2 other shops with offices above. Also in September, the whalebone arch got a looking at. It was taken down and taken away, which took until Spring '91 at a cost of £8,000 - £3,000 more than estimated. Wilf Noble had a purpose-built showroom built. 2 cottages were built in Black Horse Yard. BATA was given the go ahead to build a warehouse on land of the former Station Yard, Ruswarp, which replaced old tatty buildings & remains of a road haulage business. Bagdale Old Hall opened as a Hotel in the Autumn after renovation, the restaurant being open since April. In October, a new water main was fitted in Spring Hill, which left Spring Hill closed to traffic, meaning 2-way traffic was necessary from the Police Station to the bottom of Spring Hill Terrace. Temporary traffic lights were required in Victoria square & Bagdale in conjunction with these works. At this time also, the works on the current supermarket & approach roads were well underway, but the roads were left as they were until these water works had finished, to try to keep disruption to a minimum. During these works, a house suffered a partial collapse on the railway after digging had disrupted foundations. Work began on demolishing and re-building the wall. After the works in Bagdale had finished, Dock End Car Park was closed for re-development. After this had been completed, the traffic was diverted onto the new car park, and the road was worked on, which included installing a new roundabout in New Quay Road at it's junction with the new road to the supermarket, to be called Langborne Road. The New Quay Road public toilets were given a major face lift, which gained them 'superloo' standard. This meant they now had an attendant on-site during the day, and at night the main toilets were closed and a smaller block opened.

Left: Whitby Bell Buoy as it is today, with the solar panel clearly visible. Right: The SuperLoos in Whitby as they are today

Also in this year, a pavement at Sandsend was installed. There was no room at the side of the road on the seaward side, so instead of building up from the beach, which would have cost a considerable amount of money & forfeited some of the beach, the decision was taken to make the footpath over the beach, so it hung over. In April 1989, a plot of land measuring 10x4M at the rear of what was then the public conveniences off Skinner Street, to the East of Clarence Place was put up for sale to be built on. It is almost certain that it was on this piece of land that a film processing laboratory was built on in 1990. Also in 1990, the go ahead was given for 8 houses & 12 one-bedroom flats to be built off Holly Tree Court. Also approved was a bungalow next to Eskdale Stores & 2 houses were to be built next to 11 Stakesby Vale. In December, work on the demolition of Hawsker Bridge was started, at first concentrating on re-laying of the water main & telephone cables. Also in this year, the Harts Abattoir in Stakesby Road, near West Cliff Station, was closed. Also permission was given to extend a ground floor flat of 1-2 Langdale Terrace. It was in this year that the southern end of the business park was officially named "Enterprise Way", as more units were being added to it.

Houses built next to 11 Stakesby Vale in this year

Left: Newly built in this year, the bottom part of Holly Tree Court. Right: Yard off Stakesby Road where Hart's Abattoir was housed