LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.- The Museum of Liverpool Life presents a unique exhibition of over 70 photographs from Stewart Bale Ltd, providing an exclusive visual and oral history of everyday places where Liverpool people worked, shopped and enjoyed themselves.

Museum staff working with volunteers from the Feelgood Factory Reminiscence Group have selected images for this exhibition from NMGM’s collection of 200,000 glass plate and film negatives in its Stewart Bale archive.

The photographs on display record more than 20 years (from the1930s - 50s) of Liverpool history, including local landmarks of yesteryear, the Legs of Man public house, and Owen Owen Clayton Square.

The Feelgood Factory, established in 1999, is a healthy living centre charity based in Netherton. Members of their Reminiscence Group have recorded their memories to bring to life the photographs featured in this exhibition.

" It was the pub you went into for a drink before going to the Empire Theatre. Once I went to see ’Allo’Allo and the pub was full of theatregoers dressed up as characters from the show." (member of the Feelgood Factory Reminiscence Group recalling memories of the Legs of Man public house, Lime Street).

Herbert Stewart Bale founded Stewart Bale Ltd in 1911 primarily as a printing and advertising business. Its client list included famous Liverpool names such as Cunard, Meccano and Coopers.

Joined by his son Edward Stewart Bale, the company earned a reputation for the excellent quality of its commercial pictures, largely due to its use of large format cameras in contrast to other firms who had abandoned these in favour of modern equipment. The company finally closed its doors in the 1980s.