No supermarkets for my mum
Many different shops
I remember a lot of the old shops of Brighton that I visited until I moved away in 1973 aged 27. There was Woolworths with big brass door handles, which was almost opposite Bellmans; of course there was the Home and Colonial, Maypole grocers, Sainsbury’s, and the Post Office in Oxford Street. There was a shop with lots of biscuit boxes on the edge of the pavement somewhere between Oxford Street and Baker Street. Bradshaw’s was the place for toys; do you remember the Dewhurst butchers? I also remember Blackman greengrocers as I worked on their market garden for more than two years at Falmer.
No supermarkets for Mum
Do you remember Collins model shop; Martin’s deli and chip shop in Lewes Road and of course the Co-op. Shopping at Roslings was like going into a ‘Grace Bros’ type shop with its overhead money railway. I can also remember horses being shod in the blacksmiths at the London Road end of the Open Market. I have fond memories of walking around every Saturday with my Mum to fetch the shopping. We went to Lewes Road each week, London Road every fortnight and Western Road for a special shopping trip a few times a year. My mother would never use a supermarket and rarely a bus, and all the shopping, for five, was carried home on foot!
Do you remember going to any of these shops? What about the post office in Oxford Street – did you go there? If you can share your memories with us, please leave a comment below.
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I worked in Curtess Shoes (number 38 I recall) in 1969/1970 mainly as a Saturday job but also full time for a short time. My Mum (Eileen Clarkson) worked there and the manager was Mr Holloway who was very old school and for his sins lived above the Curtess shop in St James Street. Most of the building upstairs at no38 was unusable/unsafe but we use to venture up there anyway. The stock room sprawled all the way out the back to the road behind and was a bit of a maze. How we maintained our stock in numerical order I don’t know but we did. They were fun days but not a career for me even though I was offered a Trainee Manager role after uncovering some misdoings. If any of my former colleagues are on here, please say hello. That also applies to any of the lovely girls who worked at Freeman Hardy Willis a few doors south.
In the ’60s mum shopped at the open market for fruit, veg, cheese, eggs and bacon and in Sydney Street for meats. In Ditchling Road by the market was a sweet shop, the lady was great, everything you looked at she would say “these are nice” and “these are nice”. In the narrow road that was next door there was a cafe, the floor upstairs used to move when walked on. I recall it being knocked down and I think it became part of Oxford Street. In the ’70s I worked in Woolworths.
Blackman Greengrocers was run by my grandparents! John and Ada.
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