ON this page over recent weeks we have featured pubs from Bradford’s past, prompting lively memories from readers.

As many of you will recall, it was often the custom for pubs to run an annual trip This photograph, sent by reader Vincent Finn, shows regulars at the Barkerend Hotel about to set off on a day trip to Morecambe, in 1938. Note the suits, ties, hats and freshly polished shoes. Difficult to imagine today's day-trippers going to such lengths to dress up for the seaside, but in those days it was a special event that called for a smart turn-out.

"In telling the story of the decline of Bradford's pubs, the Barkerend Hotel in 172 Barkerend Road, Bradford Moor, should feature high on the list," says Mr Finn, who grew up in the area. "The building that housed the pub began life as the Bradford Union Workhouse. City records show that the first workhouse in this district was built in 1738 on what was described as the south side of what became Barkerend Road (Barkers End). It was rebuilt in 1790."

Mr Finn continues: "By 1848 the Bradford Union Workhouse was recorded as housing both men and women. Welfare law reforms in the mid-1800s changed the way the poor were cared for, and the building ceased to be used as a workhouse by the 1860s.

"In 1894 it was converted to a beer house. In 1897 a local brewery, William Whitaker & Co, bought it. I believe their brewery was in Qubec Street in Bradford, located behind the former Odeon cinema, off Thornton Road. Whitakers brewery re-modelled the building in 1912.

"The Barkerend became a Tetley's pub in the 1930s-1940s, the entire interior was re-modelled in the early 1960s; the section with the entrance under the hanging sign became a lounge, complete with new bar and toilets, and the other section, separated by the bar, became a taproom again, complete with indoor toilets.

"As with a number of local pub, the licensee, or the publican as he was sometimes referred to, tended to hold the licence for many years. In the 1960s and through to the late 1980s, three landlords held the tenancy. Danny Brennan, who had been the landlord of the Airedale in Otley Road, was followed by Frank Scott then Brendan Fitzpatrick."

The 1938 day trip photograph was taken by Mr Finn's father, Tom Finn, who was a regular at the pub.

"Note the windows with the Whitakers Yorkshire 'Stingo' ales markings, and the sign over the door. The pub was licensed to sell Fine Ales and Stout, no spirits," says Mr Finn. "The landlord and his wife are standing in the doorway.

"Adjacent to the pub on one side was Harris Street and on the other side a small dead end street, Woodbine Street. One of the occupants was called Delaney and was a 'Lamp man', whose job was to maintain the gas street lamps. we had a lamp outside the back of our house, he would come by once every few weeks and clean the glass windows on the lamp and set the timers. A tradition long gone."