Pomgolian
Kiwi Brummie
:angel: There has been a lot of talk on the Crompton Rd thread about 'Old Fashioned Grocers'. Well I worked in one on Sutton Rd Erdington, Just going towards Sutton and on the same side and up from the Yenton. It had been Hancox & Dodge, but had change to Moyal & Adams when I was there. The rooms upstairs was a Solicitors office
We used to weigh the butter out in to pats out the back of the shop, 8oz=1/2lb, 16oz=1lb English, Danish and NZ. It was a real pain if anyone only wanted 4oz=1/4lb coz we would have to do it in the shop with everyone watching and, folk would complain if you didn't get it just right (they hated little dabs added on to their nice little pats). The sugar was sold in blue bags, White Granulated, Brown crystals and Soft Brown (Demara) all weighed and packed out the back. We would cut Ham and bacon in the shop with a big Bacon slicer with a swirling blade. Dried fruit was also weighed packed in thick brown bags (Like the blue ones) out the back. Cheese was cut fresh in the shop from big blocks that came in all shapes and sizes; English Cheddar was very large round blocks like a small barrel, with a hard skin, NZ Cheddar was in oblong blocks and came in a plastic wrap, Edam was round like a ball with a flat top and bottom and wrapped in red wax, Caerphilly was round and almost flat like a wheel , this also came in a plastic wrap. The one I hated cutting the most was Blue Vain, it came wrapped in silver paper and made your hands stink for the rest of the day no matter how often you washed them. All fresh fruit and veggies were weighed out in the shop and we would put up boxes and boxes of orders to be delivered by our van driver every day.
The amount of times I swept that frontage and cleaned those windows, only to mess them up again putting "Our This Weeks Specials" on.
(Dollyferret took a photo of how the shop is now for me and here is my Mom's old order book)
View attachment 7199View attachment 7200
We used to weigh the butter out in to pats out the back of the shop, 8oz=1/2lb, 16oz=1lb English, Danish and NZ. It was a real pain if anyone only wanted 4oz=1/4lb coz we would have to do it in the shop with everyone watching and, folk would complain if you didn't get it just right (they hated little dabs added on to their nice little pats). The sugar was sold in blue bags, White Granulated, Brown crystals and Soft Brown (Demara) all weighed and packed out the back. We would cut Ham and bacon in the shop with a big Bacon slicer with a swirling blade. Dried fruit was also weighed packed in thick brown bags (Like the blue ones) out the back. Cheese was cut fresh in the shop from big blocks that came in all shapes and sizes; English Cheddar was very large round blocks like a small barrel, with a hard skin, NZ Cheddar was in oblong blocks and came in a plastic wrap, Edam was round like a ball with a flat top and bottom and wrapped in red wax, Caerphilly was round and almost flat like a wheel , this also came in a plastic wrap. The one I hated cutting the most was Blue Vain, it came wrapped in silver paper and made your hands stink for the rest of the day no matter how often you washed them. All fresh fruit and veggies were weighed out in the shop and we would put up boxes and boxes of orders to be delivered by our van driver every day.
The amount of times I swept that frontage and cleaned those windows, only to mess them up again putting "Our This Weeks Specials" on.
(Dollyferret took a photo of how the shop is now for me and here is my Mom's old order book)
View attachment 7199View attachment 7200
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