As a member of Clifton C.C. York in the '60s before emigrating to Nova Scotia in 1966 I used to marvel at the selection of bikes lined up along the stone walls outside the cafes in Knaresborough on a Sunday afternoon.
Knaresborough, Yorkshire is on the outskirts of Harrogate, (then the home of Ron Kitching's The Cycling Centre who along with Holdsworthy were the leading suppliers in the UK at that time.) Knaresborough was a meeting point for racers (TT & mass start ) using the Great North Rd (A1) and CTC & club riders returning from the Dales, or Moors of Yorkshire.
It wasn't unusual to see a few hundred bikes, at times many deep against the walls, while riders drank mugs of tea, ate egg & chips and sank punts on the river that ran through the gorge like setting of Knaresborough.
In the '60s the bike to ride in Clifton was a Wally Hargreaves with many TT records to their credit, in the '50s Arnold Elsegood's Minster was the bike from York, another less known lightweight was a Temple.
Referring to a Ron Kit's 1971price list where to buy section there were many Northern builders, a few are:
Priory, Tower, Whitehead, Mal Rees, Heatons, Lakeland, JRJ ( Bob Jackson ), Woodrup, Merlin, Harry Quinn, Harrison, Harry Hall, Denton, Harris, Jack Taylor, AE Butterworth, Henry Holmes, Ellis Briggs, Mercian,
I wonder how many examples are left ?
Does the bikelist have a list of bikes ?
Cheers Alan Gosley in foggy Cow Bay N.S.