TED’S SHED was something of a Bishop Auckland institution. You went through the alleyway through the old Three Bluebells pub – now its rank and slippery with pigeon guano – and emerged amid old outbuildings that may grandly have called themselves the “Kingsway Arcade”.
The alleyway to the Kingsway arcade in 1987 with the sign pointing to the Kingsway Collectables Fleamarket, which was the posh name for Ted's Shed. Can you tell us about Spoor's ironmongery? Picture by John Askwith
“Ted’s was on the left hand side,” says Colin Hurworth. “It was basically a junk shop, selling a huge variety of interesting items.
“When aged about 14, myself and best friend Bobby Cross spotted a mini motorbike in Ted’s. It was only about 15 inches high, but had a proper petrol engine and everything else a full size bike would have, but smaller, painted red. It was just what we wanted.
“Naively, we thought it would be cheap, so we both raided our savings and found we had about £2 between us.
“We were devasted when Ted said that he was looking for about £35, and so we never got it.”
Ted Firth was the Ted in Ted’s Shed. He was originally a French polisher, working in Teesside’s shipyards and for Vaux breweries, but he set up his secondhand shop in 1960 in William Street off Newgate Street, and when the shopping centre was built, he moved to the arcade.
He ran his shop for 24 years, and when he died aged 71 in Byers Green in 1992, his widow, May, told The Northern Echo: "He loved every minute in the shop. He used to say if he had his time to go over he would do exactly the same. He enjoyed meeting people and talking to them he was known for his gift of the gab."
Once there must have been several businesses in the outbuildings that made up the arcade, as the pictures John Askwith took in 1987 in the Three Bluebells alleyway suggest – the Kingsway Collectors Fleamarket must be the posh name for Ted’s Shed.
By the time John took his pictures, we think the outbuildings had been cleared and the land fell derelict. It is now due to become the car park and public green space which is going to be at the heart of the Kingsway Quarter.
READ MORE: THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDINGS MAKING UP THE NEW KINGSWAY QUARTER
If you have any memories of Ted’s Shed or can tell us anything about any of the other businesses in the Kingsway Arcade – Spoor’s ironmongers is a famous Bishop Auckland name – we’d love to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
READ NEXT: 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BUILDING OF THE CO-OP'S LANDMARK STORE IN NEWGATE STREET
MEMORIES 661 got on to Ted’s Shed because we were telling the story of the co-op, which was opposite the Three Bluebells. The first part of the Newgate Street co-op opened on New Year’s Day 1874, and prior to that, from 1860, the co-op store was in somewhere described as “Belvedere in South Church Lane”. We wondered where that might have been, and Michael Burns draws our attention to the Diva hairdressing salon on the junction of Kingsway and South Church Road.
“Just to the left of the hairdresser’s sign is a lintel which I believe is the lintel above the door on the left of the double fronted shop window in your photograph,” says Michael. And we reckon he’s right – this, 164 years ago, is where Bishop Auckland co-op started trading.
READ NEXT: DOGGARTS, THE HARRODS OF SOUTH DURHAM: BISHOP AUCKLAND'S LOST DEPARTMENT STORE
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