My Father's Shops

 

An unexpected conversation with a gentleman at a neighbourhood barbeque about our joint early days in Totley got me thinking about the shops my father managed and finally owned. My posts of the 31st January and 7th February 2012 describe dad's first job being at Arthur Davy and Sons, the big pork butcher and grocer in Sheffield town centre.  

I included a photo of the pig that still adorns the front of what is now WH Smith.

My post of the 7th February 2012 goes on to mention the move in 1950 to Alton in Staffordshire and the shop on the high street. We lived in the house that was attached and where my brother Paul was born.

In 1953 we moved to London and it was on Kensington High Street that dad managed John Buckle, the largest grocers there. Now a Trailfinders. (All on the same post as above).

Then in 1959 we moved to Braintree in Essex. Dad managed large stores for Budgens in Chelmsford, Colchester and Bishops Stortford and became involved in the conversions of other stores to self service. Then finally he manged a store in Stivichall, a nice suburb of Coventry. When Budgens then wanted to dispose of their smaller shops, dad took the opportunity to buy the lease. As the manager, he knew that it was a little goldmine and for the first time in his career, he owned his own shop. It did very well.