A FAMILIAR landmark in Skipton High Street in the not too distant past was Fred Manby’s household store at the top of Sheep Street.

The clock mechanism appears to be missing in this picture so that may be a measure on the date it was taken.

The store held anything to do with ironmongery and fireplaces which were made in nearby Manby’s yard.

The Manby family is understood to have traded for 170 years. The shop closed in the late 1980s. People referred to it as a real Aladdin’s Cave.

Picture reproduced by kind permission of the Ellwood family, Mrs V Rowley, North Yorkshire County Council and Skipton library.

Today the shop is home to Phase Eight ladies wear.

The structure of the building is largely the same except that mannequins and clothing feature in the first floor window, rather than a fireplace.

There is no immediate guidance on who installed the present clock with the inscription ‘Manby’s Corner’.
No doubt Manby’s Corner was regularly referred to as a meeting point for shoppers. Perhaps the older residents still refer to it today.