Does anyone have any recollections / photos of the shops in Wellington Road ? My recollections from the 50's & 60's are that the Post Office was by itself and sold alsorts of other things as well. Starting from Silverdale Rd there was a cobbler, a butcher's, Mickleborough's the grocer, a greengocer, alleyway, chemists, milliners, Effingham the baker, a house whose garden was still extant and finally Blakes (?) the dairy. What's there now ?
Yes, I lived there:- Post Office - Mr & Mrs Collings and daughter Ann (in the post office section). They succeeded the "Miss Yates" in 1949 / 50 and gave the place a facelift, transforming the dark shop which originally had a tiny library and sold sweets in addition to selling stamps etc. This closed down a few years ago - one of the Post Office's "cuts". The cobblers name eludes me. Mr Haigh in the butcher's, followed by Mr Roberts. The butcher's and the cobbler's shops have merged into a florists. Mr Jones ran Mickleburghs, the grocer's and the greengrocer's was owned by Mrs Geldard and her long suffering son. These two shops have also been merged and is now owned by Hurst's the bakers. After the cobbled alleyway, the chemist's was originally owned by the Ellerthorns followed by Maurice Harrop. A Miss Macreedy had the haberdashers. Mr and Mrs Effingham as you say had the bakery and Mr Blakeman was in the dairy and delivered the milk with a hand cart. As a child I was fascinated by the fact that Mr Effingham had one leg whilst Mr Blakeman had only one arm!! A little further along on the right was a nursery owned by [I think] Mr Sumner. One character who lived in the house next to the bakers - a Mr Grice - used to come out into the road and start preaching/ranting "The End is Nigh"The block of shops from the alley to the dairy have changed frequently in the last 20+ years and are currently a cafe, a wineshop and a hairdressers! Any help?
Sorry for delaay in replying. It jogged my memory thank you.
Now, as you know the road this could be a teaser. Between the shops and Beresford Rd there were a number of terraced houses. Going back to about 1949 there was a kindergarden in one of them - any recollections of it ? I can just about recall going to it.
