Bargains galore for the discerning 1978 Hartlepool shopper

From Fine Fare to Delta Cash n Carry, there were plenty of options for the shopper who was on the hunt for a good deal.

We thought we’d take a spot of retail therapy in today’s Memory Lane and have a look at some of the stores which were doing a roaring trade almost 40 years ago.

Let’s start with a look at the great deals for DIY enthusiasts in 1978. How about Carpenters in the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre where you could get brilliant white emulsion paint for £1.28.

At Scorers in York Road, step ladders were £8.95 and a clothes airer would set you back £9.75.

The York Trade Warehouse in York Road had sink units for £44.90 and there was a “price chop” going on at the Dovecot where heavy duty carpets were £5.99 a square yard.

At the same store, there were gents quartz watches for £6.99 and English dictionaries for 65 pence in the ‘Saletime Specials.’

If you were doing your daily shop, you could get Spanish satsumas for 25 pence and rice pudding for 11 pence at the Fine Fare department store in Peterlee.

Hash browns were 15 pence and a box of 48 beefburgers was £1.65 at the Delta Cash n Carry n Park Road.

Pears were 10 pence a pound and onions were 5 pence for 2 lb at Lowe’s in Hartlepool town centre.

How about something for the garden? A lean-to was £59.95 and wheelbarrows were £9.95, both to be found at the Binns store in Hartlepool.

And if you wanted to get away from it all, how about a holiday? Regent Travel was in York Road or you could get along to Jas McDonald in Stockton Road, Casper Edgar Travel in Church Street or Callers Pegasus which had a branch in the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre.

If you preferred your leisure time closer to home, there was plenty of entertainment in town.

Club Carlton in Surtees Street was hosting the group The New Alians, while the Velvet Opera showgroup were on at The Senate which was in Peterlee.

Or you could rent a telly from Edgar Phillips in the shopping centre to watch the latest programmes such as The Good Old Days on BBC1, the Man Alive Report on BBC2, or Charlie’s Angels on Tyne Tees Television.