On reflection yesterday I was unfair to wool shops.*
I was remembering the one I seemed to spend my life in as a child in New Cross and painted a grim picture.
The Beech Road Wool Shop was a friendly place and I suppose so was the one on Wilbraham Road.
I had completely forgotten the Scotch Wool Shop at 452 Wilbraham Road although I must have passed it loads of times.
And even after it had gone the cream tiles with their brown lettering announcing the Scotch Wool Shop remained in place in front of the entrance, a reminder of a slightly more elegant style of shop signage.
I must go back and look if it is still there at what has become a takeaway, but I fear that it would not sit well with the black, white and yellow sign which announces the Zam Zam Tandori.
In the same way, the neighbouring tobacconist shop of James Colbeck Ltd which also offered “Gents Hairdressing” seems equally out of time with its shop window full of tobacco products and the shiny cigarette dispenser.
Both are a reminder of just what has changed in the last fifty years, not only in what was sold but how .
Picture; Scotch Wool Shop by A E Landers 1960, m18299, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council
*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20shops
The Beech Road Wool Shop was a friendly place and I suppose so was the one on Wilbraham Road.
I had completely forgotten the Scotch Wool Shop at 452 Wilbraham Road although I must have passed it loads of times.
And even after it had gone the cream tiles with their brown lettering announcing the Scotch Wool Shop remained in place in front of the entrance, a reminder of a slightly more elegant style of shop signage.
I must go back and look if it is still there at what has become a takeaway, but I fear that it would not sit well with the black, white and yellow sign which announces the Zam Zam Tandori.
In the same way, the neighbouring tobacconist shop of James Colbeck Ltd which also offered “Gents Hairdressing” seems equally out of time with its shop window full of tobacco products and the shiny cigarette dispenser.
Both are a reminder of just what has changed in the last fifty years, not only in what was sold but how .
Picture; Scotch Wool Shop by A E Landers 1960, m18299, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council
*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20shops
No comments:
Post a Comment