Hadleigh: A step back in time: sixth and final pace.

Shops, Businesses and related
by Robin Thorn

[This continues from the previous article.]

Aerial photo of Victoria House Corner

Aerial photo of Victoria House Corner, Hadleigh, close view
cc-by-sa/2.0

Adults in Arcadian Gardens

Next door neighbour Mr Bishop.   Another next door neighbour Mr Hopkins.
Miss Howship. (Nursery school teacher).  Mr A V Rogers. (Insurance Broker).
Mr Bridge. (Ford motors).

The Reverent Stamford and his adopted son Ernest. (St. James the Less Church).
Reverent Strip. “Moorings”. (Pastor of Elam Church).
Joe who worked for “Falkus Bros” in their plant yard.

Shops and Businesses in immediate Hadleigh vicinity.

Victoria House Corner Parade of shops.
Workman’s café. (During the war years, tea was rationed so to eke out our supply my mother used to send me to the café with a pint jug and for 1/- the café would fill it and I would quickly rush back so that we could enjoy it at home.

Cook’s confectionary and small everyday goods. As a young boy I used to go to Cook’s and with my pocket money buy Sherbet dabs;  for one penny I could buy a paper coloured Union Jack flag fixed around a dress makers pin. (On retirement, the Cooks had a bungalow built at the end of Victoria House Corner parade of shops).

Deans Greengrocery and adjoining Butchers shop. Perry’s Newsagent.
Haberdashery;    Greens grocery shop;   Mr White gent’s hairdresser.

“Montisdene” A timber framed bungalow on London Road near Hall Crescent
selling second hand furniture etc.

Montisdene in 1908

Parkfields Parade
Norton’s bike shop;   Ladies hairdresser;  Newsagent.

Businesses between Victoria House Corner and Thundersley Glen.
Glansons/Glandfield clothing Manufacturing Factory;
Mummery’s Nurseries;   White Heather Fisheries.

Hadleigh Businesses
Corner of Common Hall Lane and New Road: Stibbards Funeral Parlour and Chapel of Rest.
Loxleys Grocery;  next door to Loxleys:  Yeaxlees.
Drayton Wright. (Newsagent);  Thompsons (Antiques and furniture.)

Of general interest, I should mention that just past the Salvation Army Citadel and timber cottages next to the pathway of Florence Gardens there was a large concrete pond holding hundreds of gallons of water that served as an auxiliary backup for the fire station when needed and also for fire drill practice. (Since demolished and filled in). 

Of note in the London Road on the corner of Chapel Lane was a pleasing looking house that had a long side garden that people could sit in whilst enjoying served teas and snacks. {Ed: a lovely coach house called  Harold House.}

Reynolds Scrap Yard was at the corner of Homestead Gardens.  Next door to Reynolds scrap yard was the sweet shop run by Mr Bambury. During wartime to help the war effort he paid for any bundles of old newspapers that were brought to him so that they could be recycled; he also paid a few pennies for each returned empty mineral bottle so they could be re-used.

In the High Street on the corner of Homestead Road was a small corner shop Brackins Dairy.”

Kingsway Parade Area.
In the London Road opposite Kingsway Parade on the corner was an optician (next to the alleyway) and adjoining this was a jewellery and watch shop. (I’m a bit hazy but think this might have been Pattens”). 

Post and Sorting Office.
Library.
Dossetts Bakery. (We loved their freshly baked square tin loaves from their bakery in Maple Avenue Leigh-on-Sea and their marvellous jam doughnuts).
Chemists.
Lawrence’s Newsagent and confectionary.
Red Rose Poster Company. — High Street.
Gallaghers. Butchers. (corner of Castle Lane).
Webbs Watch repairer.

Co-operative food store.

In Rectory Road
Jones Newsagent;   Delaware Hardware Store;  Fish shop specialising in smoked kippers.

Between Hadleigh Church and Burnt Post (Tattershall Gardens).
Lloyds Bank.
Ross. Boot and shoe repairer.
Nortons Removals. Corner of Oak Road North.
Trevard Manufacturing Clothing factory. (London Road opposite Ash Road).
“Castle Cleaners”, then became “Dane Dye Works” and finally “Sketchley”.
Corner of Meadow Road.

Dane Dye Works, 4 Rectory Road

Owens Greengrocery.
Page and Tapping. Newsagent. London Road on Corner of Castle Road.
A V Rogers Insurance Services.
Hamilton Paints. London Road between Meadow Road and Broughton Road.
Church Road Motors.

On the London Road at the far end of shops opposite Park Chase was a small greengrocers shop; the man serving always wore a long grey protective serving coat.

Mr Bowery ran a grocery shop on the corner of Broughton Road — opposite the Salvation Army farmland.

Looking at the list of shops etc. in Hadleigh at the time;  how many names can you remember from back then?

Should it be of interest, I and my wife wrote in 2013 an “Appraisal of Southend-on-Sea” with our recollections of the town and surrounding area in its 1950s/1960s heyday when we were living there in our early teens and that people may like to read, reminisce and look back on.

May 2020

[We thank Robin for bringing back memories of so many of the above shops. Any subsequent comments about any of the shops will in due course be copied into the articles about the street blocks and individual shops elsewhere on this site. If you are interested in a particular shop, you may like to enter the name of it into the Search area at the top of the page. Just click on the Search button, type in the shop name and press return. This will often give a whole list of articles in which the shop has been mentioned. Happy searching – Ed]

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