Shops of yore

Thanks Primrose. I knew Tony Leedham and his brother, very nice people

Went to Freddie's, used Biggses a lot, remember sweet cigarettes, imps, 4 blackjacks for a penny, Barratts sherbet with the licorice tube to suck it out with, lots of good stuff.

Probably the best place for this one as Anslows has been referenced a few times but also noticeable are the shop fronts just on the right in Earl Street pre-Council House -

We purchased our first 3 piece from Anslows.

Does anyone remember the cheeky theft of furniture many years ago? A furniture van pulled in broad daylight (and virtually within sight of the police station!), and furniture delivery type chaps in overalls carted off valuable furniture. Nobody suspected a thing until afterwards when it was discovered that they had stolen it. If I remember correctly, the store manager was away on his annual holidays at the time. Suspicious.

Anslows was synonymous with furniture in Coventry in those days. No other name sprang to mind. Names like DFS and MFI had not yet been thought up.

Anslows were there in the 1900s, they were acquired by Waring & Gillow 1968, then it became a Yates Wine Lodge (1990s) Locally listed buildings

Thanks for that Cliff it must have been Waring and Gillow when we purchased our furniture in the early 80s. I just remember the shop.

Yes, Janey. Sainsbury had a shop in Trinity Street, opposite side to the supermarket. It was a walk in shop with a cheese and a bacon counter on either side. I think the bacon was on the left and there was a machine turned by handle to slice the bacon. It was considered upmarket in those days, I think 50s and earlier. I believe it was close to Mills and Mills and Barnby's toy shop.

I remember that shop well. Very old fashioned. As a litlle boy, I had to accompany my mum, who was a loyal customer, every week, and dreaded going into the place - I hated the overpowering smell of all the cheese and meat products, which were sold loose. Nothing was pre-packed. I once told my mother "this shops smells" and was swiftly admonished because Sainsbury's was "a nice shop". It was up the hill a bit from Mills and Mills. I believe it became Halfords in later years. It was also boring for a young boy. Instead of getting all your stuff and paying once as you do nowadays, there were separate counters for everything, so you had to queue to purchase say half a pound of butter, then pay for it, then join the bacon queue and so forth. A visit to the shop took ages. What intrigued me was the electric fans which were spread out along the length of the store on high level shelves. They didn't actually cool the place; they merely churned the air around inside the store, and in the process mixed up all the offending smells. Those fans would be banned today now that "elf 'n safety" has gone mad: the fan blades were made of exposed steel which would have had your fingers off! The fans were all of the oscillating type, so that the fan would slowly turn to the left, then pause for a couple of seconds, then slowly turn to the right and so on ad infinitum. I couldn't understand what the purpose of the fans was, or what made them oscillate. Eventually I concluded that there was a little man in each one, whose job it was to turn a handle all day.

Yes, Slim. I too remember Sainsburys and everything being bagged up for the customer. An assistant used to make up the butter with wooden butter pats in the window, she had bright red nail varnish on very long fingernails. Health & Safety would have a field-day! I don't think children today would absorb everything like we did, they're too busy with their iPhones and gadgets!

Here's Lynes when they were on the corner of Cox Street and Gosford Street - June 1964 (C) John Weir And amazingly inside in April '65 - just a couple of months before demolition - again (C) John Weir

Aah, Lynes Stores. I liked that shop. Used to get my mod 'ice cream man' jackets and other modish things there in the mid 60's. Like being in a time warp.

Wish there were photos of Lynes in Well Street as well.

Only in its final days Prof.