A plan to convert Port St Mary railway station into a toy museum and a tea room has won the approval of the planning committee.

We went to Strand Street in Douglas to ask members of the public what their favourite toy was while growing up?

’My favourite toys were Barbies, My Little Pony and Polly Pocket when I was under 10,’ said Lisa Linton, 33, from Saddlestone.

Her husband, Olly, also 33, said: ’Mine were a few game consoles, my Game Boy and Walkman.

’They were just the cool things to have when we were young.’

Both agreed that unlike today, there was not as much choice in toys when they were kids.

’Today’s stuff is not as good in quality,’ said Olly. ’You can’t beat the old stuff.’

However, the pair admitted they got on board with the Pokeman GO app which came out in 2016.

’It was a bit of nostalgia and brought back some nice memories from childhood,’ Lisa said.

’We get our children to keep their toys so when they’re older they can talk about them with their children.’

Lorraine Cleasby, from Peel, said: ’I played outside rather than inside, but I did have dolls and a pram to take them outdoors along with a little cooker to make their food.

’Isle of Play is trying to organise more outdoor play. I think it’s coming back.

’It would be interesting to see what people have played with over the years in a toy museum. Maybe they’ll do the history of toys.’

Her granddaughter Amelia Hooper, 10, from Colby, said: ’My favourite toy is a stuffed giraffe called Raffe. I’ve had it since I was born.’

She added: ’I like the idea of having a toy museum.’

Kate Sumner, 32, said: ’Mine were WWE wrestlers figurines. We had a ring and everything!

’I also liked My Little Pony. I think it was the colours, the fairy wings and textures that I liked about them.’

The Douglas resident said she has been watching a documentary series on Netflix called ’Toys That Made Us’, which looks at the rise and fall of popular toy franchises.

She added: ’I went to a toy museum in Germany and saw how Barbies have progressed over the years.

’I would go to a toy museum here, but if it was just about trains then I’m not interested.’

For Steve Carse, 66, of Tromode, it was simply a football that kept him happily entertained as a child.

’A Wembley or a Frido football. That’s all I ever wanted. They were good quality ones compared to the light plastic ones that would fly up into the sky,’ he said.

’I just kicked the ball in the side garden. It didn’t make me any good, but it kept me out of the house.’ He wonders if the new museum would be looking at toys through the ages.

Sulby resident, Peter Smith, 64, said his favourite toy was a Corgi James Bond car.

He said: ’You would push a button and the plastic man inside the car would eject out. Push another button and machine guns came out the front and a bullet proof glass shielf would come out the back.

’At the time it was quite advanced.’

He thinks the toy museum is ’a great idea’. ’All the museums in the island are brilliant.’