The building of the shops on the Hollins Parade was started in 1960. When the builders started digging the footings out they had problems with water from the canal arm which ran into the Hollins Mill following the line of the service road at the back of the shops. If you stand on the land at the back of the Regent cinema you can still see the brick work that formed the bridge over the canal arm into the Memorial Park. The park cottage stood on this site. When it was demolished they built public toilets which were demolished in the 60's.
It was 1962 before the shops started to be built, the whole row was built at that time except Barclays Bank which was added on later. The first shop to open was the supermarket opened by John Williams who moved across from where the Dolce Vita restuarant is now. Then the Wise Way's dry cleaners then the bakers and confectioners (now Greggs) opened, followed by the domestic appliance shop (Bramwell & Singleton Ltd) on the corner before the Barclays Bank was built. At this time all these properties were owned by the Coal Board pension scheme,
