Chorlton’s corner shops nu 7, ................. well almost

Wilbraham Road, 1903

Now I am taking a bit of a liberty with the idea of the corner shop so that I can include these memories from someone who commented on an earlier story about those shops running from Manchester Road along Wilbraham Road.

“I vaguely remember this row from when I was a child; a newsagent, a haberdashers and a bookshop in a row. Think the only one left now is the bookshop.

We used to go to see to two lovely old ladies for material and buttons, but when one died the other closed the shop. 

They had the beautiful old fashioned glass and mahogany cabinets, with pull out drawers and fancy cut work. They used to let me play with the tape measures. 

We'd go to the newsagent on the way past and buy a quarter of loose sweets, usually cola cubes or aniseed balls out of the large glass jars. 

It smelt funny and was always full of smoke. 

Think mum said he smoked a pipe.”

That sweet shop in 1903

And in turn this reminds me of the Chorlton historian Cliff Hayes who wrote remembered the stories of an old lady who lived opposite who would
“tell me of her childhood and shopping in Chorlton.  

Her mother would take her to be fitted for boots or clothes, they would look for laces and linen and then take tea in a cafe, either on Barlow Moor Road or in one in this row of shops.

Come 4 o’clock and they would cross to the horse drawn cab rank outside the Lloyd and there as if by magic they were joined by all their purchases for the journey home to the large house on Edge Lane.  I wish I’d taken more notice of Mrs Bewley.”*

Now Mr Hayes’s memories stretch back 37 years but armed with Mrs Bewley’s name I should be able to go back and find out a little more of her life, and in return I shall ask my friend for the date when she visited those shops, something I forgot to do and which is always the first step in writing about the past.

So more on both in the near future.

Picture, Wilbraham Road 1903 from the Lloyd Collection 

*CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY, Cliff Hayes, 1999