Staff of the Keighley railway station book stall strike a pose for the camera, probably about 1911.
The caps of the three boys are inscribed ‘W H Smith and Son’, though the younger two may have worked part-time delivering papers before and after school.
Prior to 1937, the book stall was on platform two, staff being accustomed to “the perpetual shuddering of the floor and walls” as trains passed. It also ran a library. Opening hours were from 6am to 7pm, and to 10pm on Saturdays.
At the start of Keighley’s annual Parish Feast, the stall would sell as many as 700 copies of the Keighley News – which used to come out on Saturdays – to early morning townsfolk embarking on holidays. Regular customers included Sir Prince Prince-Smith, Sir Robert Clough and Sir F W L Butterfield, of Cliffe Castle.
Notice the billboard for the Keighley News and Bingley Chronicle, with its headlines of a council meeting, cemetery enquiry and workhouse tragedy.
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