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I used to manage the Ladbrokes shop in Sandringham Road in Dalston, which was a very lively spot! Wall to wall Rastafarians with carrier bags of ganga, in the days when betting shops had to have closed front doors, no aircon. I used to walk out feeling distinctly floaty most days! What other great shops are/were there in the UK?
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Ashley Road C0ral shop in St.Pauls in Bristol. All rastas with drug money. Horrid place. Staff are paid danger money and they have two bouncers on the door from open to close
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I used to have regular meeting with the local police. We got in terrible trouble one afternoon when we were instructed by the old bill to close early. When I came in the next morning, I discovered that there had been a big police operation, loads of arrests etc. I was not very popular with the locals!
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Haha quality Rich. This shop shudnt really be open, but a shop with £500,000 net profit cannot be closed
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The Billy Hills shops in Chapeltown Road Leeds were a no go area for outsiders
Both shut down by police for drug dealings in later years. |
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i did a relief day in a bookie shop near the villa ground , was a coral or ladbrokes can't remember which ,because the manager couldn't work, because he had killed himself, when i got there was quite understandable, a most depressing unit, full of afro carribeans / special brew / dope smoking, i said to the cashier, should i say something to them about drinking in the shop, she said good luck, i didn't bother
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Any bookies in the north of Glasgow - seem to get held up once a month
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ladbrokes in moss side was memorable. i don't think i placed a bet as i was too scared to take my hands out of my pockets.
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lozells i think
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funny you mentioning the frogmmor shop, was just thinking about that shop, got took over by corals, another shop were special brew is the drink of choice,,
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Playing No Woman No Cry while I read this fred
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a laddies in new cross on a notorious estate south london , full of rastas about 20 odd years ago ,full of ganja smoke if you had a half decent win you would be wise to collect first thing next morning while the shop was empty ,there used to be a guy there (yardie?) who if he had a horse in with a winning chance used to sit crouched on a stool like a jockey rocking back and forth with a newspaper in his hand using it as a whip shouting the place down riding in a finish ,it was hilairious ,
used to take the odd non betting mate in there to watch this guy ,wish i had a mobile with a camera in those days it would have been a smash on yootoob |
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Towcester I was talking about the old shop,next to the deli ,there was a hair dressers on the other side.
In the yard at the back there were bins full of hair trimmings and food that was definitely not kosher.The rats were quite a size,believe me. |
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Harlesden, Kilburn,Neasden,Commercial Road, Pentonville Road
God i was either Young or Mad then..... |
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I owned a shop in Lozells TJ, and the majority of my customers were Jamaican and asian and although there were a few hairy moments i have to say that on the whole i had a great time there and met some fantastic characters. Had a lot more problems with drunks than any pot smoking rasta!
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Laddies Stockwell probably the worst I have worked in!! Seen crack being smoked using a coke can !!!!
Changed a bit recently but still not a shop I would punt in |
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I worked in the Laddies shop in Kilburn during the Bobby Sands hunger strike.....that was lively as well!!
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Romanpavlyuchenko - you have just described st pauls not just the betting shop!
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paddy no power at wood green has got door staff but is a very pleasant shop compared to the others in the area.
there other shop up at turnpike lane is a beautiful mix of somallians,turks and albanians and you can even witness someone having a line if you dare to venture in there. the billies next to it is probably worse as the somallians try to charge you an entrance fee for trying to enter. |
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Hills near the ordsall estate in Salford. And ladcrookes in between bellvue and Longsight. Or the one near me on the old moat estate in south manchester where a young lad got shot at point blank range whilst playing the fruity last year. All lovely places
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Nice thread
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that naughty estate in new x had a shocking pub called the spanish steps ..was like trenchtown
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lambeth jeez you think that boozer in shameless was bad, the spanish steps made it look like a kindergarten , i wouldnt say it was rough but i went in there once and some of the clientel left a bit to be desirerd ,there were people sitting drinking with tattoos ,stubble and scars on thier faces that kind of thing,........ and the blokes wernt a lot better ...
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Luckily for me,when i owned a shop in Leeds/Bradford we had it in a nice area,and never had any trouble with any customers.
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hey Roman I go in the dentists next door to the Ashley Road shop and it's the pits (the Corals, not the dentists). Got called 'Mr Policeman' last time - just for being a whitey!
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hackney about 25 years ago was an eyeopener ,was working over there for a few days and not familiar with the area ,asked a guy on job if there was a bookies nearby he said theres one about 5 mins away but he was looking at me as tho i was some kind of lunatic ,
anyway walked for about 1/4 of a mile could hear loud music ,thought there must be a pub band playing or something , got round the corner and it was like id been transported to the bronx there were music speakers the size of small cars out ide a few of the houses and barbeques made from half oildrums i caaried on to the bookies and mu"st have been offererd for sale every drug known to man ,as well as being asked" are you police man" i felt like a millwall fan in the west ham end , i thought fook the bet and carried on walking sharpish ,as i got to the top of the street a police van sped down the street it was more like an armoured car with grills on the windows the place was like a war zone . |
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That must have been Sandringham Road!!! I had a very enlightening eighteen months there....
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only a tough pub if Kate Adie is the barmaid....................
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good thread
 foyles did the intended bet win?? |
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Hill's on Vicar Lane in Leeds was "colourful" - not rough but there were a few charachters in there. A guy once came in with 2 black eyes and started "talking" to me. I said to him - "got to go now - don't want to miss my bus". His response - delivered in all seriousness was "I've missed aeroplanes". Another day a tramp tried to sell me a betting slip that he said was a double. The first leg of the bet had won and the second leg was a dead cert. Price? 10p. When Dessie won the King George was in a bookies in Bradford - was going to the City game. As Dessie leaped over the fences the punter next to me remarked "That's not a horse, it's a f*****g kangaroo"!
Great days... |
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dont think it did but to be honest if i did put the bet on and it won i think i would have let lads /hills keep it, anyway the stake i saved came in handy for badly needed new underpants
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ha
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johnbirk7 That Hills shop was around their busiest in the North Of England many moons ago clocking between 10k to 12k slips per week dont know whether it is still the case.
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this is the funniest thread ....keep it going
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I was a Coral relief manager in West London from 1986 (aged 19) to
1989. I found the West Indians great fun. The Irish were good craic too. The Acton shop was famous for drugs and weapons, but I never saw any serious badness. I was held up at gunpoint in Shepherd's Bush but it was not too scary. A girl in a shop a few miles away got her head blown off in a robbery not long after... and that brought home the dangers a bit. I moved to Cardiff in 1989 and got a rude shock. Hundreds of 2.5p yankees the shops were horrible. Ely had kids running around on the roof. Fairwater had a hole in the door that a punter had made with an axe! I got a new job pretty damn soon afterwards. |
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*Hundreds of 2.5p e/w yankees
and the shops were horrible |
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One of my favourite stories came from the Chiswick shop.
This well-known punter came in with £500 for a horse. He'd already had £500 on at Shepherd's Bush and they'd rung me to warn me. I rang raceroom and they offered him (the normal cr@p) £50 at the price he wanted and £450 at SP or somesuch nonsense. The punter went nuts and started screaming and shouting at me. There was a little grey-haired woman standing next to him with her 10p yankee, and he ended by saying, "If this lady wasn't standing here, I'd tell you what I think of you, YOU PHUKN KNT" |
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We were all prime candidates for "passive smoking related diseases".
In the Frogmoor shop one could not see the damned screens some afternoons for the smoke.One particular day the lady doing the till for me started giggling,she couldn't understand why,"Must be my age" she said. Me,I just lay back and said "Yaah maan." ...................... One day a manager from an Arthur Prince shop ,somewhere in Liverpool,rang in to say the shop was on fire. He asked what to do,as we are obviously not allowed to mention names lets say the proprietor,said,"Is the float safe?" |
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funniest one i heard was a max thomas betting shop in east end road east finchley.
the manager and cashier were at it big time and the manager had done his bollox in the shop and at wembley dogs that night as well. he decided he could not pour coca cola down the camera so he decided he would torch the shop so the silly facker goes to the shop and puts the gas on and lights a couple of sporting lives. anyway the shop goes up with an amazing bang and amazingly the people living upstairs are not killed. he was caught running down the road and in his statement to the old bill he said he was out for an early morning jog. the poor sod living upstairs at the time was the actor peter dean aka pete beale from eastenders. i think the only winner out of it was old maxie thomas who kopped a brand new refitted shop |
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Did a favour settling one Saturday on the Woodchurch in the Wirral. Bouncers, 1p win yankees and 5p e/w round robins.
Mid 70s regularly did Coral's around the back of the Midway in Longsight; they'd just bought it from an independent so there was a waist high counter and no screens. Threatened with a knife regularly. Benchill in Wythenshawe for a Manchester independent was another fun gig, but top of the pops was their shop at Hattersley. Got there 9.30am one Boxing Day and there were a couple of dozen queing with their sandwiches to save fuel. |