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Crompton Rd.Stores

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
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O.C.

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Interesting photo of the stores (and Post Office) on the corner of Church Hill Rd. and Compton Rd.........advertised in the window is Drew's self raising Flour ....sign over the door says Est.1868
 
Brilliant, Crom. I'll show this to mum as she used to live in Crompton Road many moons ago.
 
Thanks Cromwell, I've taken a copy of that, hope you don't mind.
When I lived in Putney Road, we used to go to (I think) The Co-op in Crompton Road. They used to weigh the butter out in big pats and the sugar was sold in blue bags, out of a sack in the corner. There were also shops just round the corner in Putney Road, one sold the most beautiful ham on the bone. My dad used to take doorstep sandwiches of this when he went fishing. A couple of years ago I walked down Putney Road for a 'nose'. My son was working at Thornhill Road nick and used to take his shoes to Buckleys in Putney Road to be repaired. I couldn't believe they were still there after all this time. Jim and Hilda Buckley used to live next door to us before they opened the shop. So in I went - and it was like stepping into a time wharp! Wonderful! Sadly, Jim had died but his look-a-like son Dennis was running the shop and Hilda Buckley was still alive then.
We had a good old chin wag and I caught up with all the gossip! I wish I'd gone back before Hilda died and before they closed the shop. It looks like a private residence now. I s'pose now that everyone wears trainers...........'sigh'.
 
Lovely old photo Crom. I remember the butter pats and the blue sugar bags, Charlie. I was always fascinated by the cheese wire, it was attached to a board with a piece of metal on the end which fitted between the fingers, and was used to measure and then cut the piece of cheese. I also noticed the white coat, every man wore one and quite often tied an apron over the top of it.:)
 
Great pictures frm my neck of the woods Graham I remember the blue sugar bags Di - we aused those empty bags to put slack in - to place at the back of the grate to make the fire last.......
 
Charlie,
If your name wasn't beside your post, my wife reckons she could've written it, apart from her living in Westmin-ister Road.

Di,
As a kid, I was always fascinated by the way they used those cheese wires and the way they could judge 1/2lb within a fraction of an ounce. Being from Winson Green, it was Mason's on the Flat where I used to stand in amazement, watching all that slicing, weighing bagging, wrapping and exchanging coupons. Then while I breathed in the wonderful aroma of the Cheddar on the board or bacon going through the slicer, I'd watch the bill being totted up with an indelible pencil (after the lead had been licked) on one of the brown paper wrappers. :rolleyes:

Why do things have to change? :|
 
Oisin regarding the cheese ....our local shop use to make the weight up with a piece of cake .....wondering now if its because they knew we was always starving ....
Last Pic of Crompton Rd
 
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Thanks for all the wonderful photos Cromwell.
I also remember how the shopkeepers used to tot up the bill (as you say, after they'd licked the pencil - did they get lead poisoning..Nah!). Amazing how everyone could add up without the aid of a calculator in those days.
And how on EARTH did we all manage without a Tesco on every corner? Yes, of course. We used local shops selling fresh(ish) local produce and ate stuff that was either in season or we'd grown ourselves on the allotment.
I expect every shop sold a soapbox as well :D !
 
After the pencil was licked it went back to it's home, behind the ear.:)

The shop I can still smell is Walter Bullocks in Hamstead. He sold every thing, from chewing gum to parrafin. He moved swiftly around his little shop with a crutch tucked under one arm and a trouser leg folded. A lot of what he sold sat outside, so he darted in and out as he served you.
 
Charlie, Thanks for all the memories. I lived in Turville Rd and well remember the Co_op. Loved the broken biscuits......was always hoping for custard creams! Yes I also remember the butter pats and the big sacks in front of the counter. And the iced gems! The smell of the bacon: why doesn't it smell like that these days? Buckleys..a name I had completely forgotten! So many memories!
 
No smell to bacon these days Stargazer, it's all vacuum packed and terribly hygienic. Allegedly!!
 
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