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Memories : Essence Of The 50s And 60s

If I had been asked I would have placed Haddock's nearer the Wheatsheaf than Martin's but I wouldn't argue the point as you lived nearby. Indeed that might explain why I could never figure out after Martin's had changed hands and Haddock's had gone where the later was. One of their daughters was in my class at Mapledene so that is why it stuck in my mind. Can't say I remember any greengrocers though. Up until the late 1950s there was a timber yard, Parson's, accessed from Coventry Road. I have a feeling that having gone through the shed with the circular saw it was possible to come out on Old Lode Lane. The way into the timber yard was more or less opposite Coalway Avenue. To the left of that opening was a cafe. Two sisters, one called Rita, that lived on Coalway Avenue, beyond Corville Gardens, worked there. There have been so many changes in that 'island' between Birmingham and Solihull that it is hard to place where things were and when they changed. Abelson's plant hire was in that block, around about Morrison's car park. They had a tall solid fence above which I could see a locomotive funnel and crane jibs. After we moved from Sheldon I remember seeing a small locomotive in the Newhall Street museum that said it had been donated by Abelson's and I wondered if that had been the 'Sheldon' engine. As a student I worked at Arco Rewinds, with the blue neon running men. Around the back they had a small crane consisting of a cast iron column and a girder jib. The jib was on the ground and during a slack period the foreman got us to paint it and he hired an 'iron fairy' to pick it up. We wheeled the jib out on a small wooden truck and one wheel dropped into a puddle hole and the truck tilted, the jib fell off and the cast iron pulley broke. Very much a 'what do we do now' moment!
When I use to travel to Coventry with my parents on the old 159 bus we would pass Arco on the journey , but on the return journey late at night I would always look for that neon sign of the men running , I thought it was fantastic.
 
The days of real personal service. I note it was a Pearks Dairy store.
For most shoppers, who bought the weekly food provisions (usually women), it was essential to be cognisant of the prices and how much you were spending. If the total was over budget - more week left than money - it was so easy to ask the assistant to remove any non essential items. The total amount of your shop was usually written on a bag or piece of paper as was no real problem to make a deduction and alter the amount. Whereas today it is very easy to overspend and would be an embarrassment, I guess, to delete any items. Not only would the checkout be inconvenienced, the queue waiting equally unimpressed. :eek:
People have talked about the different grocery chains. FYI Pearks were owned by Allied Suppliers who also owned Liptons, Maypole and Home & Colonial. I worked for Pearks in 1958/64. All four shops sold the same goods wrapped in four different labels. Folks swore the Liptons tea was the best but I went to the factory once and watched them swap labels mid-stream. Do you remember the boxes of loose biscuits along the front of the counter ?
 
People have talked about the different grocery chains. FYI Pearks were owned by Allied Suppliers who also owned Liptons, Maypole and Home & Colonial. I worked for Pearks in 1958/64. All four shops sold the same goods wrapped in four different labels. Folks swore the Liptons tea was the best but I went to the factory once and watched them swap labels mid-stream. Do you remember the boxes of loose biscuits along the front of the counter ?
Yes, many on here remember those tins of biscuits - especially the broken ones.
 
i remember Biscuit tins with glass lids
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