Pictures: Superb collection of photographs of old Middlesbrough

A SUPERB collection of photographs of old Middlesbrough has just been published. They are very well captioned, with plenty of information, and although there are obviously lots of industrial scenes, many of them have the people centre stage rather than the machines, so the book provides a fascinating lookback at the life and the times of the Boro.

We are privileged to have a selection of pictures from the book, including today's magnificent front cover which shows a dock gate being heaved into position, by men in flat caps and waistcoats, at Middlesbrough Dock.

AT THE WORKS: Bells Brothers was established in Newcastle in 1844 by Isaac Lowthian Bell and his brothers Thomas and John. In 1852, the new iron ore field on Teesside attracted their attention and they gained a lease on mines at Normanby. Three years later, they opened three blast furnaces at their Clarence Works on the north bank of the Tees, and their empire quickly grew. Memories 384 looked at some of the special homes built by the Bell family in the Tees Valley.

SPIRIT OF THE AGE: A marvellous steam-powered lorry operated by Fred Robinson, haulage contractor, of Stamp Street, Stockton. His vehicle, which is restricted to 8mph, is laden with barrels. He is paying his dues at the Cargo Fleet toll bar. We can't quite make out what the notice to cyclists says above the cabin door.

CONE CREATORS: Given our recent fascination with Italian ice cream makers, we had to include this picture which shows Tony Rovardi with a Greco brothers van in the early 1950s. Liberator Greco came to Middlesbrough in 1920 from Arpino in central Italy – the town which seems to have been the birthplace of practically all the ice cream makers who settled in the North-East. His brothers, Antonio and Tullio, came too, but at the outbreak of the Second World War, all three were sent on the Arandora Star to Canada because they were considered dangerous aliens. But, as Memories 383, the Arandora Star was torpedoed and sank, and Tullio was killed. Yet the company continued, and it still makes ice cream cones in Greta Street.

PEPI'S PALACE: The Middlesbrough Hippodrome in Wilson Street was opened by Signor Rino Pepi in 1908 at a cost of £23,000. The Italian thespian is most famed for opening the Darlington Hippodrome in 1907. He successfully ran the Darlington theatre until his death in 1927, but due to financial difficulties, he was forced to sell the Middlesbrough Hip in 1910 for just £13,000 – a loss of about £1.4m in today's values. The Hip became a cinema and most recently a theme pub. It looked derelict the last time we whizzed over the A66 flyover – although it is still a tantalisingly exotic building.

OUT OF BUSINESS: Before the Transporter Bridge was opened in 1911, paddle steamers carried people across the river. One of the earliest was the Sir Joseph Pease, named after the Darlington Quaker Joseph Whitwell Pease who lived at Hutton Hall, Guisborough, and whose companies did so much to create the iron industry around which Middlesbrough prospered. This is the Camperdown steamer.