Photographs

Shops

The first installation in Liverpool was at Edward Mahony's in December 1885. This is the earliest I have found for Lancashire.

ACCRINGTON. Cash ball system in use until 1971-2 given to a museum in Glasgow. M.Proctor - could be one of the locations below.

ACCRINGTON. Shop on Union Street. "I loved the whizzy machine in the Union Street shop. It was probably made by a firm called Dart Cash Carriers in Stoke on Trent, still going in the late 60s." Pendy in post to Accrington Web forum, 8/2/06

ACCRINGTON. Baileys. "Baileys was trading in the early sixties... A school friend's mum was the one who used to deal with all the money. She sat up in the elevated position overlooking the shop floor and taking the money out of the canisters and issuing receipts." Margaret Pilkington in Accrington Web forum, 3/5/09. See also ACCRINGTON. Moffits below.

ACCRINGTON. Moffits (haberdashery), Church Street. Overhead wire system. Posting to Accrington Web Forum, 5/10/03. "The payment method in either Baileys/Moffats [sic] in Union Street, Accrington. The shop assistant put your money in this brass tube and it was transported upwards by a method of pulleys to the cashier sitting in a wooden box, a little like the judge in court. Put in your receipt and change and sent it back whizzing down to you. Thought this person very grand, and they, in turn, looked down on you with snooty arrogance." KateX in posting to Accrington Web forum, 6/2/06.
• "Moffitt's [sic] had the wire and cable arrangement; Bailey's the vacuum canister system. Bailey's were on the corner; Moffit's about halfway between there and the junction with Blackburn Road. John45378 in posting to the Forum, 15/3/09

ACCRINGTON. Sauls 'Sell Anything' Shop, Abbey Street. "You gave the assistant your money, she would put it in an overhead container, pull a lever, and it shot up to the cashier sitting in a separate booth overlooking the stalls: it would then be shot back with your change. If you bought anything upstairs, your money was placed in a wooden ball which rolled down a track to the cashier." Memoirs of an uncommon man
• "Saul's in Black Abbey St also had the system of sending your money and purchase order on a cable to the cashier. He got rid of it in the early 1960's." Retlaw in posting to Accrington Web Forum, 11/3/08

ASHTON UNDER LYNE. Co-op, Arcadia. Tube system. David Holt

ASHTON UNDER LYNE. Roebucks. Wire system in 1937. Voices of Ashton under Lyne

ATHERTON. Lowes (drapers). Lamson Ariel system. One line was moved to the bookshop of the Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire. Molly Proctor, John Liffen and David Holt

BLACKBURN. Consumers' Tea Company. "Come and see the New American Cash Railway, now in operation at the Consumers' Tea Company's new premises in Church-street. None like it outside the metropolis." Blackburn Times, 26 May 1888, p. 5

BLACKBURN. Co-op Emporium, Town Hall Street. "The cashiers used the vacuum tube system to send the customers' money up to the office in a little cylindrical gadget, which would be sent back to the counter with the change in it. It used to fascinate the kids when it was in operation. Whoosh!" Brian M in posting to Blackburn Now & Then, 9 Feb. 2010

BLACKPOOL. Blackpool Bazarr. "Who does not remember his [Mr Bannister's] robust and familiar figure at the high cash office in the centre of the Bazaar, busily taking the money that rolled in from the overhead trolleys." Fleetwood Chronicle, 7 Feb. 1911, p. 4

BLACKPOOL. Clark and Heap, Palatine Buildings, facing Central Station. "J. Entwistle and Co. have been favoured with instructions from the joint liquidators to offer for sale by public auction .. Lamson Cash Railway." Lancashire Evening Post, 30 Dec. 1939, p. 2

BLACKPOOL. Hunters. "Working at Hunters was like being a servant in a large Victorian house. The shop was heavy with mahogony and pervaded by rank. It had hardly changed since the nineteenth century, and still had a system of overhead cash containers that winged and swung their way on wires from the counters to a central cash-desk." Gerald Mars. Becoming an anthropologist. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2015) p. 71

BLACKPOOL. James Rigby and Sons, 12-14 Bank Hey Street. "Mr. John Whittle has received instructions from Messrs. James Rigby and Sons to sell by auction the surplus stock-in-trade and valuable shop fixtures, on the above premises... Two 'Swift' Overhead Cash Railways." Lancashire Daily Post, 25 Sep. 1908, p. 6

BLACKPOOL. Stylo. Cash carrier. Brenda Kitchen in posting to Facebook

BLACKPOOL. Sweet and Clarks. "By the time of its demolition, c. 1966, Sweet & Clarke's ladies and children's outfitters at the corner of Abingdon Street and Birley Street was considered old-fashioned and quaint. A system of overhead wires, dating back to 1919, transferred takings from the counters to a central cashier's booth. The corner was redeveloped for shops with the Oyster Catcher Restaurant." Allan Wood. Blackpool through Time (Amberley, 2013)

BOLTON. Browns Trimming Shop. Cash carrier. Sue Bellingham in posting to Facebook.

BOLTON. Great and Little Bolton Co-op Soc. Forty stations of pneumatic tube system supplied by Sturtevant Engineering Company. [Not known whether these were all in one shop.] Sturtevant letter of 13/8/29

BOOTLE. Co-op, Lander Road. "Dot or myself took the day's takings over to our large grocery store across the road on the corner of Lander Road. It had primrose yellow walls and a cash desk with pulley from and to the provision counter. There were wires high up. The assistant put the cash and 'divi' tickets in each container, which was about the size of a tennis ball." Bootle Times, 21 Mar. 1991, p. 5

BOOTLE. Sturla's. "Sturla's on Linacre Road was a large, fascinating store with cash trolleys running along wires from the counter to the cashier." Bootle Times, 13 Oct. 1988, p. 8

BURNLEY. Freeman Hardy Willis (shoes). Cash carrier. Granny Claret in posting to Acrington Web forum, 6/2/06

BURNLEY. Peacocks. "Ever since I was little and occasionally dragged by mum .. into the quite posh Peacock's emporium in the high street of my home town of Bury, I have always found joy inside the high-class grocer... The place had lovely scrubbed plank flooring and those fantastically exciting tube things that grabbed mum's money and whizzed it across the ceiling as fast and noisy as an angry hornet... Peacock's suddenly vanished, just a few months before my 16th birthday." Independent, 3 Apr. 1999. See also Manchester: Kendals.

BURY. E.Redfern (Draper &c), Silver Street. "The shop is seventy-five feet in length, by twenty-five feet wide... This is the only establishment in Bury where the new American cash railway is in use; an invention which greatly facilitates the conveyance of change to and from customers." Bury: a century ago. Reprint of part of a book published in 1889 by Historical Publihing Co. (Nelson: Landy Publishing, 1990)

CHORLEY. Co-op. Corner next to market. Cash carrier. Susan Laithwaite in posting to Facebook

CROSBY. Co-op. "The Co-op in Moon Lane, Crosby, had two overhead pulleys for the cash. I remember it was my brother Alf's job to stand on the boss's shoulders and, with an oil cloth, keep the wires clear of dust." Crosby Herald, 9 Jul. 1922, p. 24

CROSBY. Passmores, South Road. "Memories of Passmore's shop caused me to remember how the cash trolley arrangement fascinated me." Crosby Herald, 9 Jul. 1922, p. 24

COLNE. Co-op, Albert Road. Wire system in 1940s-50s. Jackie Foulds

FARNWORTH. Farnworth & Kearsley Co-op. Wire system in 1950s. Building now pulled down. Harry Hodgkins

FLEETWOOD. Industrial Co-operative Society. "The introduction of the Lamson pneumatic cash taking system gives an efficient touch to the service." Fleetwood Chronicle, 12 Aug. 1927, p. 6
• "About eight feet below the surface of Lord-street metal carriers flash along tubes inlaid in concrete from one department of the Co-operative Stores to another, on each side of the street... At present there are four tubes in commission, three from the central department to the grocery store, and one to the boot and shoe department. Last week over £330 was transferred from one side of the street to the other by this method... The tubes were laid 11 years ago. Sometimes a carrier becomes wedged about half way across, but a few jabs from a long pliable cane soon ends the trouble. The system costs 10s. a week to run." Ibid., 11 Nov. 1938, p. 4. See also Anecdotes
•"The Co-op had an underground vacuum arrangement, which wasn’t as much fun as the overhead system." Life in Fleetwood & Wyre website
• "The Co-op store on Lord St Fleetwood sadly disappeared late 60’s early 70’s they had a vacuum system that took your money up to accounts on the top floor and it returned with change and receipt." Marlene Connolly on Facebook

FLEETWOOD. Priestleys. "The assistant wrapped the money in the bill and reached up to a small metal container suspended above her head, unscrewed it and put the money and the bill inside, screwed it up again and pulled a cord which started the container sailing away over everyones’ head to the cashier who was in a little box at the back of the shop and slightly elevated. The cashier then unscrewed the container, recorded the sale, and put the change and the receipted bill back in the container and returned it to the counter assistant, who then handed the change and the bill back to the customer. The last shops with this kind of change system as far as I know were priestley’s and the Co-op." Life in Fleetwood & Wyre website

GARSTANG. ? "There was one [cash carrier] at Garstang in the 40’s." Vera Redman on Facebook

HAYDOCK. Co-op. Cash carrier. Ann Cafferkey on Facebook

LANCASTER. Reddrops. "I remember Reddrops where your money was put in a capsule which then shot along on overhead wires then returned with the change and the receipt!" Susie Milner in Lancaster Today website. Also Lancaster Online website

LIVERPOOL. Adair and Dawson, 73-77 London Road. "In consequence of expiration of lease. By order of Messrs. Adair and Dawson ... Thomas Whitehead and Sons are instructed to sell by auction the excellent shop fixtures: ... cash railway." Liverpool Mercury, 1 Sep. 1899

LIVERPOOL. Blacklers (shoe shop). "All my memories of Blacklers are the horse, grotto and pneumatic tube system sending money through the shop." Teri Wilson on Twitter

LIVERPOOL. Blanche Lucas, 364-368 Smithdown Road, L15. "Blanche Lucas's small department store had a Lamson (pneumatic tube) System as well, I recall from visits there in the 60s... It was near Penny Lane and after many years as a 'Motor World' is now Hatton's Model Railway shop." 'irishseashipping.com' in posting to Yo! Liverpool Forum 23/2/09.

LIVERPOOL. Bon Marché (merged with G.H.Lee in 1961). Pneumatic tube system in late 1940s. Joyce Kearney in Millennium Memory Bank, National Sound Archive.
• Audrey Edwards remembered working in the basement in the late 1940s, sitting on a chair on rails where she scooted around, taking a cannister from the tube, giving it to the chief cashier, before she put the change and receipt cannister back in the return tube. (Info. from her son.)

LIVERPOOL. F.B. Brown, Clayton Square. "Girl, aged 14, for despatching runners in cash tube-room." Liverpool Echo, 15 Feb. 1943, p. 1

LIVERPOOL. Bunney's Juvenile Shipparies (Liverpool International Exhibition). "Bunney's Juvenile Shipparies increase in popularity, and fresh attractions are being added daily. Lamson's cash railway system has been adopted here for conveying cash from purchasers to the cash desk without the assistants leaving their prescribed positions. Over a thousand purchases were made in the building on Monday, the cash and bills for which passed over the railway with marvellous precision. Those who have not seen this clever contrivance in operation should examine it at Bunney's Shipperies. Liverpool Mercury, 17 June 1886
• "At Messrs. Bunney's Limited .. the cash railway system also facilitates the conduct of the business." Ibid. 18 Dec. 1897, p. 8

LIVERPOOL. Colliers, London Road. "Situations vacant... Full and part time ladies for cash tube room." Liverpool Echo, 1 Nov. 1965, p. 12
• "Colliers.. also had the tube system for payment, a myriad of pipes taking the cash to the upstairs offices." Ged in posting to Yo Liverpool, 24 Feb. 2009

LIVERPOOL. Compton House. Cash ball system remembered ca 1917 by Mrs Ellen Parry. "The assistant would place the bill and cash in a wooden ball (which unscrewed in the middle) and place this in an overhead wooden frame... A cord was pulled which sent the ball up to another frame about 11ft. high. The ball then rolled down a ramp on to wooden rails." Liverpool Echo, 21 Feb. 1987, p. 10

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Aigburth Road. "My mother drilled into us the Co-op or Coey number .. when she sent us to the Co-op on Aigburth Road... I enjoyed going there enormously, especially with the overhead 'railway' system, when money was exchanged between customer and shop assistent and despatched to the cashier." Pamela Russell. Liverpool's children in the 1950s. (History Press, 2012)

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Byrom Street. Wire system. "Wallaby" posting to Liverpool & South West Lancs Genealogy message board, 27/1/10

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Bootle. " They used to have the overhead money carriers, which we all assosciate with the early co-op." Maureen Brown in posting to Bootle Times 8/3/08

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Belle Vale, Gateacre. "I used to stand in there for ages and ages just watching the gizmos travel around the shop with money in them and they'd finish up in the office above." Pete in posting to Gateacre chat 19/3/07

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Great Homer Street. "The famous Co-op at the Kirkdale Road end of Great Homer Street. I would go there with my mother and marvel at the overhead cable system that whisked your money up to to the accounts area before returning a receipt and any change." Photo of exterior. Lost Tribe of Everton website.

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, London Road, L3. "They used to put your money in a tube and send it upstairs to the cash office, then your change came back down another tube." MerseyPride posting to The Scouse House! Froum, 23/3/04

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Wavetree Nook Road, L15. Wire system. Liverpool ndo site

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Heyworth Street, L5. "My mother .. mentioned the Co-op in Heyworth Street L5, and the overhead gadget that took the money." Carol B posting to ENG-Liverpool-L list, 9/6/03

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Lodge Lane, L8. "The Co-op on the corner of Asbridge St where you gave your 'divi' .. number and the assistant put the money into one of those overhead gadgets which whizzed to the cashier." Sylvia Walker posting to ENG-Liverpool-L list, 8/6/03

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Scotland Road. "I remember them as a very young child, shopping waiting in a long queue outside the Co Op at the end of Scotland Road in Liverpool." Ann Burr in posting to Facebook

LIVERPOOL. Co-op, Walton Vale, Aintree. Cash carrier. Kathleen Clow in posting to Facebook.

LIVERPOOL. Cripps (ladies' outfitters), Bold Street. Cash carrier. Susan Brown in posting to Facebook.

LIVERPOOL. W.J. Downey, 71-75 Walton Road. "Tenders are invited for .. that well-known and lucrative Business... The fixtures include .. Lamson's cash railway." Liverpool Daily Post, 24 Jul. 1889, p. 2

LIVERPOOL. Henochsberg & Ellis (tailors and outfitters), University House, Islington/Camden Streets. Messrs. Henochsberg & Ellis will signify .. the opening of their handsome and comfortable premises ... Messrs Henochsberg & Ellis have the cash railway system, and all cash vouchers pass into one cash desk." Liverpool Mercury, 5 Nov. 1891, p.1

LIVERPOOL. T.J.Hughes, London Road, L3. "[In the 1950s] we had those overhead wire thingys where you would put the customers money in and fire it to the nearest elevated cash cubicle. We weren't as modern as the Co-op with their suction ones." Benzroy posting to The Scouse House! Forum, 24/3/04
• "T.J. Hughes employed 1,000 people... Cash registers replaced staff who once operated cash trolleys." Chester Chronicle, 3 Apr. 1998, p. 32

LIVERPOOL. Lewis's, Ranelagh Street. "In the wonderful invention .. which is to be seen at Lewis's .. there is no motive power employed whatever other than that of gravity. The invention is an AUTOMATIC CASHIER, or rather Cash and Change Carrier, and 'goes by itself' so to speak, never requiring winding up or any other attention,but all day long for years together responds to the call of 'Cash', immediately runs off to the desk with the money the purchaser pays over to the assistant, returns as quickly with the change, if any be required." Liverpool Daily Post, 3 Sep. 1881, p. 1
• "Lamson pneumatic tubes for the speedy handling of all cash and credit transactions are installed throughout Messrs. Lewis's stores at Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow." Yorkshire Evening Post, 15 Sep. 1932, p. 10

LIVERPOOL. Edward F. Mahony, The Paragon, 16-20 London Road. "Mechanical triumph and scientific novelty. Lamson's cash railway. Edward F. Mahony has the honour to announce that he is the first in the field in Liverpool with this amazing invention, which is now running throughout the establishment." Liverpool Mercury, 19 Dec. 1885, p.1.
• "Mr Mahony... says he would not do without the cash railway had he to pay three times the sum he pays for its hire." Ibid., 1 Mar. 1886

LIVERPOOL. Millets, Church Street, next to Woolworths. Wire system. "Daggers" posting to Liverpool & South West Lancs Genealogy message board, 12/2/11

LIVERPOOL. Prides (hairdressers), Elliot Street. "Cashier for office cash desk: Lamson tubes: good wages. - Prides. Hairdressers." Liverpool Echo and evening Express, 15 Jul. 1964, p. 12

LIVERPOOL. Sturlas, Great Homer Street. "They had the same system [as at Old Swan]." Samp in posting to Yo Liverpool, 23 Feb. 2009

LIVERPOOL. Sturlas (small dept. store) , Old Swan, next block to the Job Centre. Closed in the early 70s. "They had those money pipe things whereby the assistant wrote out a receipt, took the money and put it in a tube and off it went, presumably to a cash office." Burkhilly in posting to Yo Liverpool, 23 Feb. 2009

LIVERPOOL. Wilkinson Bros., London Road. "Desk cashier - wanted, sharp girl; cash railway - Wilkinson Bros." Liverpool Mercury, 23 Dec. 1891

LIVERPOOL. Woolworths. "You could pinch sweets when they were busy reaching up to retrieve the change from those brass containers that used to zing overhead from cashier's cubicle to counter". Daily Telegraph, 1/9/01, p.22
• "Anyone on here old enough to remember the system of wires which criss-crossed above head height at the old Woolworths store in London Road? The cashiers were in a raised cubicle which overlooked the sales floor and each transaction whizzed overhead with payment and returned again with the change." Anonymouse in posting to Yo Liverpool, 24 Feb. 2009
[This is the only instance I have for a Woolworth's. It seems surprising if it was the only store.]

MANCHESTER. Affleck & Brown (department store). "Some photographs taken at the ladies' underwear counter in 1927 show a barrage of tubes (15 parallel ones) below the ceiling creating an appalling eyesore." (Mrs Proctor). "I also seem to remember that payments were made in an overhead 'bullet' which took your bill and money to an invisible cashier." Times, 13/1/01
• "I remember to this day feeling the vacuum as she opened the little door in the wall." A correspondent

MANCHESTER. Argenta Co. "The largest and .. the best and most attractive [frozen-meat shop] .. is one of sixty-seven owned by the 'Argenta' Co... They have an overhead cash conveyer to pay desk, which must be a great saving of time." The Press (Canterbury, N.Z.), 29 Dec. 1908, p. 9

MANCHESTER. Henry Barrie (high class outfitter and school uniform supplier), St Anne's Square. Pneumatic tube system in late 1960s with seven terminals. Cash office was at the foot of stairwell. A correspondent

MANCHESTER. Blackley Co-op, Blackley. Photograph of the "Bungalow emporium" in Townley, showing a two-wire system - similar to a Gipe.

MANCHESTER. Co-op, Lees Street, Openshaw. "The co-op had one of those aerial catapult wire systems that took the bills and customers’ cash to a central accounting office, and from there a receipt and change came back. It was amazing for a small boy to see these cash carriers whizzing about the store on a sort of overhead rail system, it would have made a great toy." Openshaw Memories website

MANCHESTER. Finnigans (jewelry, leather goods), Deansgate. Pneumatic tube system. Graham Ellis

MANCHESTER. Abel Heywood & Son, 47/61 Lever Stret. "Smart girl wanted, age 15-16, [for] cash tubes and general office." Manchester Evening News, 1 Sep. 1947, p. 4

MANCHESTER. James Hughes. Pneumatic tube system. Photograph in Hammond

MANCHESTER. Jax, 41 Market Street. "Your change comes back in a flash at Jax, thanks to the famous Lamson cash tube system... Jax newest store opening 11 a.m. Friday next." Manchester Evening News, 22 Sep. 1952, p. 3

MANCHESTER. Kendal Milne & Co. The only other "high-class grocer" was to be found in Manchester, at the department store, Kendal Milne & Co... Kendal's .. had an updated version of Peacock's whizzer thing. Instead of the insane ceiling-insect transaction, this hugely swish store had a "shlup-whoosh-fizz-zip" suction tube masterpiece beside each and every pay station. When the change, receipt, etc., arrived back from Kendal's cash central, the tube would land with a great "whop". Even though you knew its arrival was immanent, its final thump would always make everyone - even the familiar Mancunian till operative - jump." Independent 3 Apr. 1999. See also Bury: Peacocks.

MANCHESTER. Lewis's, Market Street. "The wonders of a new city emporium. Messrs. Lewis's enterprise... The firm are rather proud of their pneumatic tube cash-carrying system which brings every one of the sixty odd departments into immediate touch with the immense cashier's office staffed by a score or two of girls." Manchester Evening News, 8 Oct. 1915, p. 6
• Photograph of tube room taken in 1915 in Asa Briggs. Friends of the people: the centenary history of Lewis's (London: Batsford, 1956) p. 58
• "Lamson pneumatic tubes for the speedy handling of all cash and credit transactions are installed throughout Messrs. Lewis's stores at Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow." Yorkshire Evening Post, 15 Sep. 1932, p. 10
• See also Reminiscences

MANCHESTER. Leather Bros, Withington. Wire system. Cash was dealt with in the basement. Information from Mrs Proctor.
• "On the corner of Davenport Avenue was Leather’s, a gent’s outfitters, which had the old system of overhead cash containers which whizzed along on a wire to a cashier’s booth high up on the wall." AA letter to Manchester Evening News 8 Jun. 2011

MANCHESTER. Manchester & Salford Equitable Co-op, 66 Beech Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Opened Jan. 1915 and closed 1967. Wire system. "There was a lady who sat in an elevated box. She was the cashier. The grocer sent the money and grocery list in a metal can which was attached to a pulley and sent across on a wire, where she would check the list and send back the receipt and change. I think there were two of these, one at each end of the shop." Beech Road website

MANCHESTER. Morgansteins, 60 Deansgate. "Sales by auction... at Messrs. Morganstein's, 60 Deansgate, Manchester, all shop fittings... 4-way Dart Cash Carrier." Manchester Guardian, 28 Apr. 1937, p.1

MANCHESTER. Pauldens, All Saints. Pneumatic tube system. Shop burned down. D.Holt

MANCHESTER. Ross and Co., 91 Preston Street, Hulme. "Smart girl for cash railway in grocer's." Manchester Evening News, 25 Jun. 1917, p. 1

OLDHAM. Liptons. "The cash desk was high up behind a glass partition. The money you paid was put in a box and it travelled along wires up to the cash desk, then you had to wait till you got your change by the same process." Oldham Historical Research Group website

PRESTON. Co-op. "To many young people seeing the cash containers overhead on a pulley track rail system, in which the cash received for purchases was inserted into a tube and sent hurtling along to the cashier's office and returned (with change) along the same route, was fascinating to watch." Blackpool Gazette website
• "The Co-op employed a similar, more manual system of cables springs and pulley wheels which was also fascinating to watch." Preston Digital Archive in posting to Flickr website, 2011
• (The Fashion Corner, Lancaster Road/Ormskirk Road). "The preferred cash service. Modern Lamson Pneumatic Tubes have been chosen for better service in their new premises by the Preston Co-operative Society, Ltd., in common with most prominent stores throughout the country." Lancashire Daily Post, 18 Mar. 1926, p.6
• "The formal opening today .. of the New Furnishing Emporium of the Preston Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd., in Lancaster-road, marks an important stage in the development of the Society... This magnificent new building .. has six floors... Another feature, making for efficient service, is the installation throughout the building of the Dart cash carrier system, by means of which all cash and change is conveyed along tubes to and from a central cash office." Lancashire Daily Post, 19 May 1939, p.6

PRESTON. Gooby's (haberdashers), Church Street. "There was an overhead wire with round capsules to send cash and get change from a central cash desk." Betty Stringer in posting to Flickr. Photograph of Exterior.

PRESTON. Hawkins, Friargate. Cash carrier. Kate Akroyd in posting to Facebook

PRESTON. Lingards (clothiers), Fishergate and Mount Street. "They had a fascinating cash system - whilst the purchases were being wrapped for the customer, the cash and sales docket were placed into a small cylinder, which was then fed into a pneumatic tube, to be whisked away into the bowels of the shop, returning a few minutes later with your change and a receipt!" Embon2011 in posting to Flickr website, 2011

ROCHDALE. Equitable Pioneers' Co-operative Society, Drake Street. "At last the gigantic task of converting the old Rochdale Reform Club into a first-class up-to-date drapery emporium, to be known as 'City House', has been completed, and the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers' Co-perative Society are to be congratulated on effecting a really fine improvement in the general appearance of that part of Duke Street... There is the pneumatic cash tube system by means of which money paid by customers is silently and swiftly whisked away to the cashier on the first floor, and any change is returned with equal rapidity... The basement .. also contains .. the room from which the pneumatic cash tube system and the vacuum cleaning apparatus is worked." Rochdale Times, 8 Apr. 1922, p. 10
• "Have you noticed how cash is handled in the new premises of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers' Society? Pneumatic tubes radiate from the Central Cash Desk to fourteen points. Carriers containing cash and docket are transmitted back and forth at a speed of 30 miles per hour. This is the latest type of Lamson Pneumatic Tube System... A special feature is the Lamson Automatic Power Control (fully patented): this effects a saving of 50 to 75% in running cost. Current only is consumed as and when required by the actual demands on the service at any time of the day." Ibid.

ROCHDALE. Provident Co-operative Society (broke away from the Pioneers), Lord Street. "Young lady .. to act as cashier for cash railway cable system... one accustomed to the system preferred." Liverpool Daily Post, 19 Oct. 1909, p. 2

ST HELENS. Boots. Cash carrier. Harry Preston

ST HELENS. Co-op. Higher Parr Street, Fingerpost. Wire system. See Reminiscences

ST HELENS. Co-op, Traverse Street. "Both Anita and Peter refer to the old-fashioned 'wire and pulley' payment system that whizzed around above head height. This device sent canisters of customers' cash and their change whooshing from department to department, all linked up to a cashiers' central position." St Helens Star website

ST HELENS. Harts. "A cash things [sic] that ran on wires overhead." "The Undertaker" in posting to St Helens Connected, 17/8/04

ST HELENS. Hawkins, Naylor Street (men's clothiers). "Flying cash canisters". Jules in posting to St Helens Connected, 18/8/04

ST HELENS. Oxleys. Cash carrier. Lynn Jones in posting to Facebook

ST HELENS. Skelton's, Jubilee Buildings, Horsemarket Street. "Owing to the fire at Messrs. Skelton's premises last May, an almost complete re-construction has been necessary... Among other conveniences [a] Lamson's Cash Railway Rapid Wire system has been fitted up, and communicates with all departments on the shop floor." St Helens Examiner, 1 Feb. 1896, p. 3

ST HELENS. Stringfellows "had those overhead cash canisters as well". Alan in posting to St Helens Connected, 18/8/04

SALFORD. Lands, Regent Road. Overhead wire system. "It even went up and down the open stairway to the second floor and from the basement." Posting to rec.arts.tv.coronation-st newsgroup, 19/9/02.

SOUTHPORT. Co-op. "The best thing about Beacon House was the cash system. The assistant used to put your money into a metal canister placing it in the tubular pipes and send it whizzing through the building to the cash office." Pedoja posting to Southport Forums, 17/10/07. Beacon House was built in 1934 and was the headquarters of Southport & District Co-operative Society. It is now a McDonald's restaurant.

WARRINGTON. Co-op. "There was a great shop in Orford Lane. Does anyone remember when the shop assistant would put your money in a canister, attach it to a cable and pull a lever that would shoot it across the store to the cashier... Later they got an update that was pneumatic and the canister disappeared along pipes. Facebook. Also Warrington Voices. Photographs

WARRINGTON. W. Hodgkinson, Bridge Street. "Each sales department is connected with the counting-house by the Lamson pneumatic tube system which is the first of its kind to be erected in this part of the country. It rapidly conveys the cash from the counter to the lady in charge of the cash desk in the counting-house. St Helens Examiner, 10 Sep. 1904, p. 8

WARRINGTON. Henry Milling & Co. "There was a central cash desk and as customers paid, their money was put into a small container which was then sent on its way via a spring loaded overhead wire contraption." Northern Life Magazine website

WIDNES. Abrahmsons, later Oxleys (dept store). "Had an overhead wire system until well into the 1960s." Steven Pickthall

WIDNES. Skelton's, Jubilee Buildings, Horsemarket Street. "Owing to the fire at Messrs. Skelton's premises last May, an almost complete re-construction has been necessary... Now that the architectural part of the work is complete there is an area of 25,000 square feet... Among other conveniences, Lamson's Cash Railway Rapid Wire system has been fitted up, and communicates with all departments on the shop floor." Widnes Examiner, 1 Feb. 1896, p. 3

WIGAN. Blackamoor Tea Warehouse, 10 Market Street. "S. Laycock begs to announce that in consequence of the great increase of business since opening the new premises, he has found it necessary to adopt the most speedy method known of serving his customers with dispatch. Our numerous friends will now find that we have got the cash railway system in full swing." Wigan Observer and District Advertiser, 17 Sep. 1886, p.1

WIGAN. Cranshaw & Co. "We are indebted to Mr. Poole, of Messrs. Cranshaw and Co., 41 Millgate, for calling our attention to a Lamson Cash Railway which has been fixed in their shop, and which was in complete use on Monday afternoon... At Messrs. Cranshaw & Co.'s establishment the track is 150 feet long, and there are four 'stations'. Wigan Observer and District Advertiser, 25 Aug. 1886, p. 5

WIGAN. Lowes. "I remember Lowe's department store on the Market Place well. It had thick plush carpets laid with brass stair rods on wide wooden stairs. My mother took me to buy my Wigan Girls' High School uniform there ... The cash went whizzing off overhead in a cylinder along a tube system and the receipt and change came back with a whoosh." Carol Coates in posting to WiganWorld

WIGAN. Oxleys. "I remember Oxley's store. I think it had one of those overhead systems where your money for purchases was sent along to a cashier, and your change came whizzing back the other way." Irene Roberts in posting to Wigan World forum, 15/2/15. Formerly Pooles. "Not as posh as Lowes".

WIGAN. Peterkins (high class grocery store). Wire system. Wiganers community website

WITHINGTON. Farnworths, Wilmslow Road. I"I recall Farnworths, the large drapery stores in the centre of the village. Here, when a purchase ws made, the assistant put the money into a round cylinder suspended on an overhead wire, pulled a wooden handle and away went the money and the bill across the shop to a small glassed-in office at the other end... A chair was provided for the customer to sit and wait for the change or to choose from the articles brought to the counter by the assistant." Whittington Civic Society website