It was the end of an era in Burnley with the imminent demolition of a landmark building at the Mitre. Barlow and Son pharmacy had been at the apex of Padiham and Accrington Roads for almost a century but had recently closed because the building was directly in the path of a planned access road for the proposed Calder Valley motor route.
It had opened in the days when a strong dose of castor oil was preferred to medical science. That was in 1878 and had been run by Mr J. A. Barlow and then his son until 1946 when Mr Walter Hargreaves took over the business for the remainder of its life.
Another change since the 1970s has been the demise of some of the town's top ice cream makers. In 1973 the regulations on the making of ice cream were not what they are today, and that allowed for a fantastic cone or wafer when the ice cream man came round, mainly from the Italian ice cream makers.
One such ice cream firm was Tanborello's but disaster struck when one of their vans was the victim of a mystery fire. Giovanni Tanborello, the owner of the business, said: "We don't know how the fire started but we think it must have been deliberate. We don't believe it was children because it was so late."
Thankfully, they were able to hire another van and it was business as usual for one of the town's most popular ice creams.
Burnley folk were accused of being moaners by a Mr David Coxon who had moved into town from St. Helens for work purposes. He wrote to the Burnley Express about it.
"Are you a Burnley moaner?" were his claims. "Is it time that Burnley folk took a long cool look at themselves and decided it was time to improve the image they present to outsiders? This moaning is peculiar to Burnley folk. In a large factory with many newcomer you can pick out the Burnley moaners by their attitude," he added.
Then he wrote: "You can see it most clearly with the Clarets. Some locals give the impression they would have been happier to see the club drop to the Third Division instead of winning promotion."
He went on to say he'd worked in Leeds and Leeds folk were much better. He then launched further attacks on the people of Burnley. Responses to the local paper suggested he should go and look for a job in Leeds if he liked it that much or that he should stop moaning.
Burnley's Licensing Sessions had turned down an application from Mr John Barman, a Scarborough restaurateur for a late night restaurant with nightclub facilities. He wanted to open in Chaddesley House but the application had been opposed by Mecca Ltd., owners of the Cat's Whiskers.
He claimed it was not competition, that he would be charging only 60p for entry at weekend unless he had a big name artist appearing. The appropriately named Mr Barman suggested such big names would be the Bachelors and the Barron Knights.
There was news for the old folk regarding bus passes. The qualifying age had come down from 70 to 60 for women and 65 for men but the cost of the pass was increasing from £4 to £6.
This was the days of the buses being run by a joint undertaking between the three local councils. Burnley and Colne agreed but Nelson only wanted an increase to £5 with women also having to reach 65 to qualify.
But £6 it was. The committee decided that the financial losses would be too great at £5 and members pointed out that they were not a social service organisation.
Bus passes today are free, that is if you can calculate exactly when you are entitled to one, but back in 1973 it was just a short walk for me to the Turf, via the Park View which, at the time, was still a small local pub.
Burnley were given a boost ahead of this game against last season's runners-up Queens Park Rangers when manager Jimmy Adamson confirmed that Keith Newton would be fit to return to the side after missing the League Cup game at Cardiff.
With Newton back, Geoff Nulty returned to the midfield with Billy Ingham dropping back to the bench. Without long term injury victims Mick Docherty and Frank Casper, we were otherwise at full strength for a game which saw Dave Thomas play against us at Turf Moor for the first time.
Burnley had continued to come in for criticism over their home performances yet had remained unbeaten at Turf Moor, and after another home win, this time a 2-1 victory against QPR, manager Jimmy Adamson said: "Now we're showing we can play well at home too."
If it wasn't a great game then that was certainly not Burnley's fault. It was a highly efficient and enterprising performance from the Clarets to emphasise exactly why we'd made a better start to the season following promotion than had QPR who, at times, looked devoid of ideas.
Burnley were the better side in every department except goalkeeper where Phil Parkes took the opportunity to show his international credentials with a string of fine saves.
But for the Clarets, Keith Newton was at his best on his return while the pairing of Martin Dobson and Doug Collins were in irresistible form in midfield.
As for Thomas; although he made his mark on the game, he was completely outshone by Leighton James as the home crowd taunted him with chants of Thomas, Thomas runner-up.
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| Geoff Nulty slides in to open the scoring |
James was always the threat for Burnley. He had the better of Dave Clement, the QPR right-back who he considered to be his toughest opponent. He put the visitors under pressure with a series of crosses and also forced Parkes into probably his best save of the day.
Had Parkes not been in such good form then surely Burnley would have led much earlier than the 43rd minute when, with half time approaching, we scored that all important first goal.
Nulty was firstly involved in the move on the right of midfield where he pushed the ball out to James on the left. The Welshman centred the ball for Paul Fletcher to head in back and NULTY was there to lunge in and push a shot over the head of Parkes and into the net.
QPR had been content to play a defensive game but had to come out more from the start of the second half. They looked a better side for it too for a short while and might have equalised when Alan Stevenson dropped a ball under a challenge from Thomas but Peter Noble came to the rescue at the expense of a corner.
Even so, it was a shock when they equalised 18 minutes into the half. It was made with a strong run by Mick Leach down their left. His centre flashed across the face of goal and THOMAS was there to push the ball home from a few yards out.
The ex-Claret ran across to the Longside, shaking his fist at the crowd who had taunted him, but his joy was short lived and it was the home fans who were soon celebrating again and letting Thomas know exactly what the score was.
Just four minutes later the lead was restored with a shot of startling power. From a free kick on the right taken by Colin Waldron, Dobson headed the ball across the area and from about 18-yards Ray HANKIN crashed in a right foot shot which, although only inches away from Parkes, gave the keeper little hope.
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| Phil Parkes is helpless as Ray Hankin hammers in the winner |
There was precious little response from Rangers, even when James was forced off with a hip injury. Dobson just missed with a close range header and Nulty superbly timed a run to meet Noble's cross only to be denied by Parkes.
Rangers did stage a last minute rally, and it caused a few hearts to flutter, but an equaliser would have been a rank injustice.
They had spent too much of the game with an obsession on defence and their tackling was at times questionable. That they only had Gerry Francis and Stan Bowles booked was both remarkable and fortunate.
Francis was booked for an offence against James but when he'd previously committed an equally bad foul on Fletcher, referee Harold Hackney had done nothing. Bowles was cautioned for having a few words with the referee following Burnley's first goal.
The only disappointment on a day when we went within two points of leaders Leeds was that the attendance dropped below 20,000 for the first time in the season. Of that, Peter Higgs wrote in the Burnley Express: "A side second in the First Division - and deservedly so - deserves better than that."
Manager Jimmy Adamson said: "I thought we played well and it was a good game to watch. I was particularly pleased with the performance of Ray Hankin. Apart from his goal, which was excellent, his general play was first class. This was the best we have seen from him in the first team so far."
The teams were;
BURNLEY: Alan Stevenson, Peter Noble, Keith Newton, Martin Dobson, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Geoff Nulty, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher, Doug Collins, Leighton James (Billy Ingham 75).
QUEENS PARK RANGERS: Phil Parkes, Dave Clement, Tony Hazell, Terry Venables, Ian Evans, Frank McLintock, Dave Thomas, Gerry Francis, Mick Leach, Stan Bowles, Don Givens. Sub: Martyn Busby (not used).
REFEREE: Mr H. Hackney (BARNSLEY).
ATTENDANCE: 18,297.
Leicester's home draw against Leeds saw the unbeaten Yorkshire side drop a point for the second successive game leaving us within one win of them at the top of the league. Coventry had started the day behind us on goal average but were now a point behind after drawing 0-0 at Norwich.
The Canaries remained in the bottom three, just one point behind all of Chelsea, Stoke, Man United and Wolves. The two clubs above them were Birmingham and West Ham who had switched places with Birmingham beating Wolves to record their first win of the season.
It left West Ham bottom and the only side without a win after they fell to a seventh defeat of the season at Everton which was where Burnley would play the next league game with the League Cup replay against Cardiff to come before that.
First Division Results
Saturday 13th October 1973
BIRMINGHAM CITY 2 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1
BURNLEY 2 QUEENS PARK RANGERS 1
CHELSEA 2 IPSWICH TOWN 3
EVERTON 1 WEST HAM UNITED 0
LEICESTER CITY 2 LEEDS UNITED 2
MANCHESTER UNITED 0 DERBY COUNTY 1
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 MANCHESTER CITY 0
NORWICH CITY 0 COVENTRY CITY 0
SOUTHAMPTON 1 LIVERPOOL 0
STOKE CITY 1 SHEFFIELD UNITED 2
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 ARSENAL 0
Burnley's Goalscorers (League Only)
3: FRANK CASPER, DOUG COLLINS, MARTIN DOBSON, PAUL FLETCHER, GEOFF NULTY
2: RAY HANKIN, LEIGHTON JAMES, GEOFF NULTY, COLIN WALDRON
First Division Leading Goalscorers
7:
DEREK DOUGAN (WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS)
6:
MICK CHANNON (SOUTHAMPTON)
ROGER DAVIES (DERBY COUNTY)
DAVID JOHNSON (IPSWICH TOWN)
PETER LORIMER (LEEDS UNITED)
MALCOLM MacDONALD (NEWCASTLE UNITED)
5:
TOMMY BALDWIN (CHELSEA)
BILLY BREMNER (LEEDS UNITED)
MARTIN CHIVERS (TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR)
KEVIN HECTOR (DERBY COUNTY)
MICK JONES (LEEDS UNITED
JIM McCALLIOG (WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS)
ALAN WOODWARD (SHEFFIELD UNITED)
4:
ALLAN CLARKE (LEEDS UNITED)
ALAN GREEN (COVENTRY CITY)
BRYAN HAMILTON (IPSWICH TOWN)
JOE HARPER (EVERTON)
GEOFF HURST (STOKE CITY)
RAY KENNEDY (ARSENAL)
MARTIN PETERS (TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR)
BRYAN ROBSON (WEST HAM UNITED)
KEITH WELLER (LEICESTER CITY)
The League Table
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| LEEDS UNITED | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 7 | 19 |
| BURNLEY | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 11 | 17 |
| COVENTRY CITY | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 16 |
| DERBY COUNTY | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 10 | 15 |
| EVERTON | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 14 |
| NEWCASTLE UNITED | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 13 | 13 |
| LIVERPOOL | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 13 |
| LEICESTER CITY | 11 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 11 | 13 |
| SHEFFIELD UNITED | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 12 |
| IPSWICH TOWN | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 19 | 12 |
| ARSENAL | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 14 | 11 |
| MANCHESTER CITY | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 11 |
| SOUTHAMPTON | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 17 | 11 |
| QUEENS PARK RANGERS | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 16 | 10 |
| TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 15 | 10 |
| CHELSEA | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 17 | 8 |
| STOKE CITY | 11 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 8 |
| MANCHESTER UNITED | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 8 |
| WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 8 |
| NORWICH CITY | 11 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 7 |
| BIRMINGHAM CITY | 11 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 23 | 5 |
| WEST HAM UNITED | 11 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 19 | 4 |