I worked at the South works of British Steel (office block) and my late dad at AEI (GEC) (Siemans) and I miss all of these but personally i think a large part of Hartlepool died when the Steetley's chimmney was scat down. I also miss the fire haz ard Clarence Road "main stand" and the rusty rickety town end stand which showered you with rust when the ball hit it but for me and obvious by my Bunker Boredom premier league team, I have to say STEETLEY'S CHIMNEY. What else is sadly missed in Hartlepool?

Most people won't remember the wooden hut cafe next to the old mail office - my dad used to take me there on the way to the match in the 50's for a pork pie and oxo
The policeman on point duty at Binns corner.
The pies have it !

Most people won't remember the wooden hut cafe next to the old mail office - my dad used to take me there on the way to the match in the 50's for a pork pie and oxo
The policeman on point duty at Binns corner.
The pies have it !

I have very vague but warm and fuzzy memories of shopping as a small child down Lynn Street with my Mam. I think it was around Christmas time . This must have been the late 60's. I can't think of many better landmarks and it sure as hell beats the concrete monstrosity that they replaced it with.

Come to think of it, a lot of the above seem to centralise in the same part of town.

Steetley , living in Blackhall, It was a distinctive landmark looking South from the beach , I was gutted when it came down. Looking North you could see the headgear of Horden, Easington and Dawdon collieries , now you can see nowt, if it wasn't for the dirty beach you can imagine on a sunny day , you are in West Wales.

Steetley chimney I still remember the Durham Paper Mills chimney in Burn Rd.

not exactly a landmark, but being a bit of a bus nut as a kid, the United bus garage.

Worked at steetley for 5 years and went there through the tunnel at the Brus approx 2300 times and the sight of the chimney was awesome when close up.
Steetley chimney has it for me.

The hut outside the baths at seaton baths selling pies oxo etc would come second for me.

The Greyhound stadium held fond memories for me, it was becoming an eyesore but had some character about it. I had many happy Sunday afternoons at the stock cars and the odd evening at the dogs. The Boilermakers out the back too seemed huge to me, used to pop in there pre match and that pub next to the waterworks but can't remember it's name?

The Indoor Market Lynn street, Comic stalls and Bretts two sweet shops.

wasn,t there a cafe in there as well or am i getting mixed up with somewhere else.

On the old changing rooms on Rift House Rec can you still make out the graffiti which says "__, ___, and ___ are all bewers"?

Steetley chimney was iconic. It shouted "you'll be in Hartlepool in 5 minutes, mate".
There were plenty of magnificent buildings, including the Central Stores and the weird and wonderful Christ Church, but they are still standing.
Just to introduce something different, I'll go for the swing bridge, or rather both of them.
Unfortunately I'm way, way too young to remember Elephant Rock.

It was a lion but not sure what colour. Probably just "the Lion".

Frankie Wainman , remember him?

The Lion

Yes Bretts with Rileys chocolate toffee rolls and toffee apples (with or without coconut) with a huge bit of toffee on top!!!

Yep! The indoor cafe which served some great plain down to earth grub!

Plus the Tripe stall

Look at the crowds at this 'meet' https://youtu.be/qMkW0x6rEYo

Must be 4 or 5000 there , that was a big meeting though, still I seem to remember when we used to go in the late 70s similar size crowds. What happened to Stock Cars? went the same way as Whippet racing and billiards

That was the original Windsor Restaurant

Civic restaurant was the exact name I believe.

The New Happy on Chatham Road.

I miss the tubes in Binns that sucked the money away and returned with the receipt and change.

If I was still living there I'd miss the hospitals and other health nonsense.

Currys Cafe in Lynn Street, The Woodpecker cafe over the road from Seaton baths.

The pitch and put over seaton and the death trap slide over the sandy car park

wish i was. just could not understand it as a kid. one minute it was there and the next time it was gone. always expected it to reappear and day soon and never understood my dad saying i,d never see it again. glad i was much older when the fairground went from seaton my young mind would not have taken that.

Masons restaurant next door to Binns
Presbertyrien church and hall in Park Road
The coffee bar next to post office in Whitby Street
Empire theatre, and the Northerns flea pit cinema
The Rink ballroom and the car saleroom beside it.
the cinema that never opened on corner ib old Hartlepool.

You must be cracking on a bit Mr Accrington if Wikipedia is to be believed. They claim it fell in 1891.

The Mouse at Seaton ... has to be the most dangerous fairground ride ever... or at least it seemed that way to me at the time.

Strangely around 20 years ago I too was convinced that I had seen the elephant rock as a boy before it was destroyed in a storm. It was then that I saw a photo of it saying it fell in 1891. Was a small proportion of it left into the 1960s that could have made me and others think they had seen it?
Probably it was pointed out to me that that's were it was and my imagination did the rest.
I don't think I am alone in this thought.

No you're not Mr Streak. I too sincerely thought I could remember it.
I think there must have probably been some vestiges.

If you look on the Web there are shed loads of elephant rocks worldwide, and gravity often ends up getting the better of them.
The Hartlepool one stands up to the best of them in elephantness.

The question is why are rocks so fond of elephants that they mimic them all the time. Why not Badger Rock or Three-Toed Sloth Rock?

We had one at Blackhall Rocks, was blew up in the 90s , as it was unsafe , limestone was crumbling, which was probably what did for the Hartlepool Elephant Rock, at least ours was on the beach and rarely got engulfed by the sea.

Massive enormous piles of scrap metal on the dock side waiting to be loaded on to ships and great big stacks of timber, paper pulp bales and roles of paper coming in to the busy docks.
Really miss the thriving docks.

Is Blackhall "Rocks" a statement of the musical prowess of the place?

Its bizarre..... could it be that a group of children were transported back in time by visiting aliens?

It used to rock back in the day, not so sure of its musical prowess , in fact I don't know anyone In Blackhall who can play a musical instrument

During the summer in the late 60s, 70s large queues of holidaymakers ( mostly Jocks ) would form outside the various workingmens clubs , waiting for them to open , much to the annoyance of the club men , who upon finally gaining entry would find their own personal seats and tables taken by those holidaying in nearby Crimdon Dene.

i,m convinced i saw it in the 1950,s as well. thought that was when it was destroyed. didn,t go up to old hartlepool that much but remember going on the trolleybus which was a big event at the time.

We might be on to something here. Maybe we should call it the pink elephant rock.

There is a white one in Darlington

This 'was' the one at Blackhall Rocks..

This could be why i thought i had seen the elephant rock.

Unless you could see the Blackhall one from Crimdon, that wasn't my imaginary one.

It was the British Restaurant, used to go in from school instead of school dinners. Corned beef slice and chips and pudding and custard. Lovely, beat the horse and ‘veg’ at school.

Used to go down with my gran and got a surprise one Monday morning when my lady teacher (who thought she was Audrey feckin Hepburn) stood me up in front of the class of 7 year olds and gave me the ruler on the back of the legs for brushing past her with an ice cream cornet and ‘soiling’ her new coat. Vengeance was mine when my nana found out.

when i went to big school that would have been a treat. never has so much good food been knackered by so few. had a mate whose mum was a dinner lady. was asked for tea one night but i quickly declined. always wondered why he was so skinny.

The first ‘meal’ I had at school dinners was in the Juniors and it was ‘meat’ mash and ‘veg’. The meat looked like it had been hacked from the carcass of an otter and boiled for days. I had my kid brother next to me who was the year below me and after we had ‘eaten’ including the rice pudding, he asked me in the yard if he could spit the piece of meat out he was still chewing.