Issue 99 – September 2015
Inside this month
SOUTH LIVERPOOL’S BIGGEST ADVERTISING PAPER
BUY AND SELL by Stephen Guy THEY linger in the memory – shops that we visited when young or at significant times in our lives. Sometimes we remember the people who ran them, the characters behind the counters. Other stores were memorable for the things they sold, perhaps unusual or old-fashioned items. There were also plenty of people who bought things, from old clothes and bikes to jewellery and antiques. I was fascinated by the Wizard’s Den in Moorfields with its wonderful window displaying jokes and novelties. War of the Worlds author H G Wells wrote a memorable 1903 short story called The Magic Shop staffed by a conjurer who performed real magic. Some smells and fragrances evoke the past. This picture of Frank Cannell’s hardware store in Lawrence Road, Wavertree was taken in 1907 but there are similar shops around today. They smell of oil and paraffin. When this photograph was taken motorists often bought their petrol
from such shops. There were few wayside garages and the answer was to fill a big can and lug it to your car. Most motorists had chauffeurs so they usually had this task. Cannell’s advertised as general furnishers and builders’ ironmongers and were also plumbers, gasfitters and locksmiths. Further along the road was family chemist R G Smith which had other branches in Smithdown Road and Earle Road. Established in 1878 it supplied “everything usually stocked by chemists, at lowest possible prices for cash”. This, of course, was long before the NHS and you usually also had to pay the doctor. Over in Picton Road baker and confectioner J J Crowe allowed people to bake their homemade bread in its ovens. The business dealt in corn, flour and provender (dry feed for animals). It stocked “finest scotch oatmeal, marrowfat and split
peas, wheatmeal, rolled oats and Hovis bread”. Horse-drawn vans delivered to customers daily and specialities included lemon buns and milk bread. The first supermarket I visited was in Town Row, West Derby, in the 1950s. This was a new shopping experience but still had elements of personal service. I remember the check-out staff carefully wrapped packs of washing powder or smelly items in old newspapers to prevent other purchases being tainted. Customers were asked to leave their shopping bags on a rack at the entrance. Learn more about the history of Liverpool at the Museum of Liverpool, Pier Head, open 10 am to 5 pm every day, admission free.
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