One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 30, buying the sardines from Westwell’s on Beech Road

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

Now I have to admit I have no idea whether Mary Ann bought sardines, or if she did she bought them from H. Westwell’s at 119 Beech Road.  But for the sake of the story it would be convenient if she did, because this is another of those posts where I want to try and see Chorlton as they would have seen it.

All of which may seem a little contrived but none the less is about recreating a Chorlton that most of us will have never known.  So back to H. Westwell in the early spring of 1958.  It was a grocer’s shop, one of a number that Mary Ann could have shopped at on Beech Road.

In an age before the home fridge, or the giant supermarkets people still shopped for their food on a daily basis having to rely on people like Mr Westwell to keep the produce fresh in his own commercial refrigerators.

Number 119 had been selling food for a long time.

Back in 1911 it was a green grocer run by George Lunt and in 1929 you could have still got your potatoes, carrots and apples from Arthur Clayton and judging by the bananas in the window there was still fruit for sale in 1958.

I like the picture with its modernised shop front made of that shiny white or cream plastic which hid the old 19th century frontage and which today seems even more old fashioned than the original wood and cast iron.

Then there is the sign for the “JUST ARRIVED” tinned fish which very much sums up that period when tinned food still had the edge over the frozen variety.  But having said that Mr Birdseye is there in the window with even then its promise of “as fresh as the day it was picked.”

Still I am drawn back to the hand painted sign which is not something you see anymore and reminds me of those ghost signs which still linger on the sides of some buildings.

Now If I am not careful this is where I slide into that speculative tosh where I wonder how many people glancing at Mr Westwell’s fish sign with its blues and greens and brilliant white clouds paused to think about where that far away scene might have been.

But more likely it just was one of those things you took for granted, along with Joel House which was set back in its own grounds and can just be glimpsed at the edge of Mr Westwell’s shop.

So there you have it a little bit of Beech Road which would have been very familiar to Joe and Mary Anne and now just a photograph.

Pictures; H. Westwell, 119 Beech Road by R. E. Stanley, 1958, m17667, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council and number 119 today from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%2