I think the problem of the markets in Bradford would be solved by having them all under one roof.

I remember the days of going to John Street Market and watching the vendors sell their wares. It was wonderful as a child hearing them sell not one set of dishes, but a set for four people. Any colour and size of plate, that’s what sold.

Going to the meat market was just as thrilling. People six deep vying for the six lamb chops for a half a crown.Those were the days of bargaining in the market.

The prices would always start high, but the bargain was waiting for the lowest price on anything.

We could spend hours in town, just visiting those markets. Walking up the stone stairs to get inside Kirkgate Market and smelling all those smells of pie and peas and fish and chips.

My dad would buy those chops and make a big stew with them. My mother used to say that they were mutton, but who cared? Plenty of mashed potatoes and the can of peas, which was ever-present in everyone’s cupboard, combined with this stew was the highlight of a winter day. Of course, we had to have our Yorkshire pudding with it too.

Did anyone question, like they do today, how many calories or how much fat it had? On our plates and then in our tummies, it was great.

Bread was also used to “mop up” the gravy. We would get big loaves of brown bread, ready to carve when we got home. They even sold penny loaves, little individual ones for the youngest ones in the family.

Today it’s all frozen food, quick things to microwave. Gone are the days of making a Sunday dinner and, after eating it, sitting in front of the fire and having a little snooze.

Today, everyone is in a hurry to eat and get other things done. I have a friend who is probably the best baker that there can be. She makes things from scratch and, when I visited her recently, she made the best Cornish pasty. She didn’t get it from the supermarket, she made the pastry herself and it tasted so good.

It is so good to sit quietly and remember the “good old days”. Days when we never closed our doors and found so many things to play at during our long summer holidays.

No flying off to Europe in those days. We made a tent out of the clothes horse and sat inside there out of the sun. We didn’t have a lawn, it was all concrete.

If we wanted to sunbathe, we laid on top of the “middin” roof. Or we played hide and seek in the churchyard. Better yet, we would get old copies of the Telegraph & Argus from the neighbours and sew them all together and make long skirts out of the paper.

Children today never seem to go outside, they stay on their computers, text friends and watch videos. They have missed the excitement of going into town all dressed up and seeing what clothes you can buy cheaply in the market.

I am sure that the market will be resurrected again and I hope it is like past years. The sights and smells of yesteryear can be made again, but you won’t ever be able to buy those chops again!