Blog: Midland Red, Spider-man and a few of my favourite things

Answer: Quite a lot actually.

For starters, they all top my 'All-time favourite' lists – all-time favourite bus company, all-time favourite super-hero and all-time favourite newsagents.

And secondly, they were all key components of our Saturday afternoons when my younger brother and I were children, going into town with Mum and Dad.

For me, the thrill of the bus shifting up a gear, the smell of diesel, the drawing pictures with your finger on the steamed-up window, it all kind of merges with memories of the menace of the Green Goblin, Dr Octopus, The Lizard and The Vulture, just some of the super-villains Spider-Man had to deal with on a daily basis. And then all that's kind of mixed up with cherished memories of the newsagents: bags of sticky sweets and fantastic comics that were, seemingly, from another planet.

But more of that later.

First off: the Midland Red.

It won't have missed the attention of eagle-eyed Shrewsbury Matters readers that Midland Red is sadly now very much a name from the past. Where once the red of the Midland dominated our bus station, it is now the aquamarine of Arriva.

Midland Red, established in 1905, was a huge organisation covering the whole region. But 'progress' would eventually consign it to the history books.

Its end was not sudden. It was firstly rebranded into 17 'local area' enterprises (remember Hotspur which covered Shrewsbury and Ludlow; Chaserider for Cannock and Stafford; Mercian for Tamworth and Lichfield; Tellus for Telford; Hunter and Avonbus and Wayfarer?), and then, at last, Midland Red effectively ceased to exist in the early 1980s, following its break-up into six completely new companies which were then, in turn, bought out by others.

Spider-Man and Claremont News, however, are still very much with us!

In fact, they both appear to be thriving.

The former is bigger than ever as, in recent years, Marvel Comics have exploded onto the silver screen with not only the old web-slinger enjoying a cinematic re-birth, but also Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

These characters and storylines, it seems, will (like those of Star Trek and Dr Who) go on forever.

Equally, I trust the mighty Claremont News shop, in the shadow of Shrewsbury's Market Hall, will also go on forever.

To be honest with you, it sometimes strikes me as a little bit strange that this newsagents is still there after all these years.

For a start, this quaint little Victorian building is sandwiched between more modern structures and therefore makes me think about that magical antique diner featured in Steven Spielberg's charming film, Batteries Not Included.

Just like that diner, this newsagents seems to have been left behind somehow.

Anyway, I love it.

I suppose I love it most of all because it reminds me of happy childhood days.

After Mum and Dad had finished their shopping at the Tesco supermarket (Shrewsbury's first supermarket, on the corner of Shoplatch and Market Street), we would all call into Claremont News. Almost always, we lads were able to choose a bag of sweets and an American comic.

And these were truly American comics that were imported into this country and thus contained all kinds of curious references to toys like GI Joe (who would later be relaunched in the UK as Action Man), and, of course, all the adverts were in dollars rather than pounds. It all seemed so exotic.

And they had a special smell to them too. And lovely shiny covers. And the drama of those all-powerful heroes.

In Claremont News, the American comics were always in a tall pile at the end of the counter and you would have to carefully sift through them to find the one you wanted.

My brother tended to go for Daredevil. I always went for Spider-Man.

And then we would all walk round the corner to Barker Street bus station and climb aboard the S12 to return to our home in Castlefields; sweets in our pockets, comics in our hands.