Old time retail in an old time market town …….. Wirksworth’s shopping treasures

I won’t be the only one who bewails the loss of the local corner shop, while at the same time popping into a supermarket or turning to online shopping.

In my case I still visit our local bookshop, as well as the deli, which bakes its own bread, but after that it gets more difficult to buy fresh veg, fruit, and a range of other foods within walking distance.

Of course, it wasn’t always so.  When I first arrived in Chorlton, there were still three butchers, a fishmonger, a grocers’ and green grocer’s along with two bakeries and an iron monger.

And a decade before that there were more, many of them on street corners, or tucked away, known only to those who lived just yards away.

So, it was a surprise to walk down one of the main streets of Wirksworth last week and encounter the shops of my youth, and not to miss out on the opportunity I set about photographing them.

The light was not good, and I fully admit the quality of the pictures is iffy, but Mr. Steve Walker’s butcher’s shop, the neighbouring greengrocer and the Chemist and Druggist deserve to be recorded.

They compete with a local supermarket and compliment some interesting restaurants, touristy shops and of course public houses.

This will probably be the last of the stories from Wirksworth which is a delightful market town in Derbyshire, not far from Matlock Bath.

Location; Wirksworth






Pictures; retail Wirksworth, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson