Shops of yore

There are quite a few adverts in the CET. The first is 1959 and this last one in 1972

Thanks for the info, Annewiggy. That`s the one. My sis and I would walk up to Hearsall Common when the fair came to town. Thanks again.

Thanks Helen F, very useful and sure enough, that's the one. My father worked at Armstrong Siddeley and left to open this shop. I think he converted a normal house to do so. Thanks again.

Hi again, If you're using a laptop you can right click on the image and it will offer you opportunity to save or copy the image. You can save it to your machine or paste it into other software - eg Powerpoint or Photoshop.

Thanks again, Helen F. I`ve just taken a screenshot of it.

Hi Coventrian, I must have walked past the shop many times. I had a look on Google Maps and the front of the house certainly looks like it's been rebuilt as the bay window lintels and sills don't match the houses on either side. I grew up at the same time in Earlsdon, my parents owned Hyde Stores at 38 Providence Street from the mid 1950's. The store has now been replaced with a new build - 190 Earlsdon Ave N.

I'm sure we've mentioned Robinson's on here before. I used them on Valentine's Day

I've just come across an old print of "Hyde's Stores", 38 Providence Street, Earlsdon. This is the first home I remember in the mid-1950's. The delivery van number plate was "LOG10" I'm pretty sure! The photo was taken sometime between 1953 and 1959.

I don't suppose you could choose your number plate back in the 1950s, but - as a mathematician - I would have enjoyed having "Log10" on my plates!

Here's an interesting one - Precinct development work in 1955. Looking at directories J & F Stone Lighting and Radio were at 4 Market Street but I'm trying to work out the angle this was taken from, in fact if it really is Market Street?

Does this help, Neil?

I don't recognise the area at all but it is looking towards the Lion Foundry on West Orchard/the backs of Cross Cheaping. If you had access to the 1950 map you could see Stone marked on the map. The camera is looking almost due north from Smithford Street.

I don't know about Neil but I'm always confused about the names of the three ways into the market. Not to mention which direction the photo was looking. Without studying the map, the advert still didn't help me visualise where the photo was. To me it could have been Smithford Street looking north or east; Broadgate looking north or west; or West Orchard looking west or south.

That picture is in Alton Douglas's "A Century of News" and the title says "Work goes on in the Precinct, 1955". It shows Stone's which looks like it is on a corner. There is also a picture in the book, Market Street with Woolworths being built with Stones next to Trueform in the buildings that were on the side of Woolworths. Although dated before the other one, this looks more advanced. Did Stones move to different shops during the construction? Looking at the "1955" picture again the windows still standing above Stone's shop look like the windows facing Smithford Street of the old City Arcade - picture on here (the windows are shown clearer in the book!)

Am I right in thinking that the "new shop" in the Woolworth building, referred to as 4 Market Street, is actually in what became Market Way? The image Neil posted is obviously their other shop in the City Arcade building. Update: The Telephone Directories confirm this. Listings for Stone's at 4 Market Street and Trueform at 2 Market Street South in the early 1960s change by 1968 to Market Way. So, the image is of the City Arcade building.