Nostalgic book is a bestseller

Reporter: Jan Harwood
Date online: 08 January 2010

A book about life in 1950s Rochdale is a bestseller at two local book shops.

'Down the Figure 7', by local author Trevor Hoyle, is the number one title at Touchstones on the Esplanade and Kelsall's bookshop in Littleborough.

The author, who has been writing fiction since the mid-seventies, said the book was even having some global success. "I've lost count of the number of people who said it was a real nostalgia trip, reading about a gang of kids growing up in Rochdale just after the war," he said. "It took them straight back to their childhoods. In fact many of the books have been bought to send off to relatives and old schoolfriends in Canada and Australia."

Down the Figure 7 tells the story of a gang of lads growing up in Rochdale in the Fifties, raiding other gangs for bommie wood and discovering the joys and the lows of their first encounters with the opposite sex.

Packed with nostalgic images, in both text and photos, Down the Figure 7 brings to life the days of the Carlton dancehall, the Regal and Rialto cinemas, Redmans on Yorkshire Street, Burtons the Tailors, and Marshall's Fruit Stores on the outdoor market.

The book was published by Pomona in December and is priced at £7.99.