Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, Saturday 22nd October 1938
A Ballymena lady found herself in a peculiar predicament in Belfast on Wednesday.
It was half-holiday in the shops, and the lady just before closing time entered the North Street Arcade to have a look around.
Unnoticed by her, the caretaker closed the entrances at Donegall Street and North Street and disappeared, and when the lady thought of leaving she found herself in a trap.
Her appearance at the North Street grill gathered a crowd, the members of which set themselves to solving the problem of how she was to get out.
Somebody suggested a ladder, but the shops around were all closed, and besides the lady did not fancy the experience.
Then it was suggested that perhaps the city’s handy men – the fire brigade – could help, and someone was about to spring the nearest alarm when the caretaker turned up – inside the Arcade.
He demonstrated that the grill was only closed over and not locked, but nobody had thought of that.
The lady disappeared down North Street just as the first Press photographer was coming in at the other end of the street.
