Does anyone remember the shops in Bartholomew Street from Black Boys Bridge towards town-I can recollect the first shop over the bridge was Deans-a  small supermarket if you like, with a very strong smell of cheese selling a good variety of tinned food, cheeses, veg etc.
I think Etheringtons also had a bakery shop and Paines, the Photographers were also thereabouts.. There was a greengrocer called Pugsleys just before the road that ran around the back of The Nags Head leading to Risbys refrigeration and many other units. Then came The Nags Head with Bannisters, the wool shop in between the Pub and where I was born-Hooper & Ashby..Next door was Henrys the barbers..and there my memory seems to run out..Can anyone add to this?

The bakery shop was Edgingtons. My wife worked there as a teenager. The bread was baked in the shop but the cakes were brought in from the other bakery.
There was a butchers (name?), the greengrocer was Pugsleys but was originally Bamfords.
Paines was a chemist, EC Paine, but the son John turned the northern part into a photo shop. The company still exists in Newbury run by the grandson.

1950:

Quoted from blackdog

1950:

Thanks for that, what a find..where on earth did you find it..my Dad is mentioned!!

Quoted from dodgy

Thanks for that, what a find..where on earth did you find it..my Dad is mentioned!!

It's from the 1950 Kelly's Directory - Newbury library almost certainly has a copy.

Thanks for that page from Kelly's, that saved me a trip to the library, I just had to have the name of the butcher and I had forgotten the Woodlands laundry front counter. Woodlands laundry occupied all the area behind those shops and was a big concern in Newbury in those days.
The library has by the way, a shelf full of those year books going back to the early 1900s. There are a few years either missing or they weren't published.
You might be surprised what the library holds, for instance, all the burial records and headstone inscriptions for the now closed Newtown Rd cemetery which have been labouriously typed out (on a real typewriter) and bound in three books.

1st floor end shelves past all the computers.

Do you remember in another thread we were talking about then and now shopping. Just have a look at the shops listed in what is probably 200 yards. 3 butchers, a greengrocer, a cafe, a laundry, several grocers, a chemist, 2 bakers, a drapers and big knicker shop (Inch), a fishmonger, a coal merchant with a block of coal in the window that must have weighed two hundredweight, a gents hairdresser, a builders merchant, two or three pubs and even an electrical goods shop or two.
That's without the shops opposite.

1940:

Anybody remember the old Sainsbury car park before they moved. Looking across to Bartholomew Street. Ground now covered by Kennet shopping.

I sort of remember it, but I had forgotten about Geo.Ed. Whitehorn the bakers (a very good one) until I saw that picture. I was looking at a list I have of businesses that were in town and I was reminded of C.A.J Crowe, a clothiers that I always thought a bit creepy

Quoted from 133

I sort of remember it, but I had forgotten about Geo.Ed. Whitehorn the bakers (a very good one) until I saw that picture. I was looking at a list I have of businesses that were in town and I was reminded of C.A.J Crowe, a clothiers that I always thought a bit creepy

You might be too young but do you remember all the electric delivery vans that Whitehorn's used to use.

Jimmy Crowe was a strange person who dealt mostly in second hand clothing and army surplus. Used by a lot of locals but they would have a good look round to make sure they weren't being seen by a neighbour before going into his shop. A bit like a visit to Ann Summers.

Quoted from brian

You might be too young but do you remember all the electric delivery vans that Whitehorn's used to use.

Jimmy Crowe was a strange person who dealt mostly in second hand clothing and army surplus. Used by a lot of locals but they would have a good look round to make sure they weren't being seen by a neighbour before going into his shop. A bit like a visit to Ann Summers.

I remember they had vans but I don't know if they were electric. I thought they were Morris or Commer

I seem to remember Harry Prosser's and Beynons were a bit like a visit to Ann Summers too but without the opportunity of buying something exciting  

Did I imagine it or did I see a post by Dig of the Stump that has now disappeared?

Quoted from brian

Jimmy Crowe was a strange person who dealt mostly in second hand clothing and army surplus. Used by a lot of locals but they would have a good look round to make sure they weren't being seen by a neighbour before going into his shop. A bit like a visit to Ann Summers.

Can you get Army surplus in Ann Summers then? - I musy pay a visit

Quoted from Nobby

Can you get Army surplus in Ann Summers then? - I musy pay a visit

Yes, they do a range of four inch shells cunningly disguised. (Oh, so I've been told)

I think that the bakery must have been known as the Newbury Model Bakeries before Whitehorn's. At least that is the livery being carried by the little electric vans as photographed in the 50s at Bartholomew St. They were a maroon colour with gold signwriting if my memory serves me correctly. The vans went inside overnight and were charged up ready for the next day's local deliveries. You can see the entrance to the warehouse to the left of the building.

That lorry in the middle of the road I have just noticed is a well known name in its time. Hughes & Marriot.

Great photo-I,m trying to get my bearings...
What is the building work going on on the right just in front of the lorry.. iI think the Pub on the immediate right is The Bricklayers..If it is I know where i am  My photo isn't that clear..

Quoted from dodgy

Great photo-I,m trying to get my bearings...
What is the building work going on on the right just in front of the lorry.. iI think the Pub on the immediate right is The Bricklayers..If it is I know where i am  My photo isn't that clear..

The pub on the immediate right is the long gone Falkland Arms which was about where the  car park, Bartholomew Street entrance to Kennet Shopping is now. If you look above the top of the little van, you can see a Simond's Hop Leaf sign, later to be Courage at Reading, for the Brickie's. All of what you see on the right hand side of the road as far as that pub has been replaced by KS.
Here is the rest of the Street looking North showing the Regal and of course on the right the Bricklayer's.

Pre bollards but a later photograph.

Quoted from dodgy

Great photo-I,m trying to get my bearings...
What is the building work going on on the right just in front of the lorry.. iI think the Pub on the immediate right is The Bricklayers..If it is I know where i am  My photo isn't that clear..

The pub on the right is (was) the Falkland Arms, the Bricklayers is further up (you can just make out its sign - see zoomed image below).  On the right is the building that was demolished to build B&Q, now the George & Pelican.

Not sure what the building work was - whatever it was it went to make way for the Kennet Centre along with almost all the other buildings on the right.

Quoted from blackdog

  On the right is the building that was demolished to build B&Q, now the George & Pelican.

Do you mean on the left.

The tall three storey building to the left/north of the demolishment (is that a word ?) is the old Trustee Savings Bank.

Just for curiosities sake while we're on the subject, here is a picture of the Bricklayers dated at about 1920 which shows a couple of points of interest. The frontage in this picture by the way is not all that taken up by the current pub. The left side which is now the main pub was actually a couple of shops then.
First is the entrance which led through to the Market place coming out through the side of the Catherine Wheel. The exit is still there but closed off for the smokers?.
The other thing is that alongside the original small pub are shop frontages so the purple painters were not painting, should they have got that far, historic brickwork.

Quoted from brian

Do you mean on the left.

I did indeed.

Quoted from brian

The other thing is that alongside the original small pub are shop frontages so the purple painters were not painting, should they have got that far, historic brickwork.

But they did get that far - just.

Quoted from blackdog

But they did get that far - just.

Mmm, maybe but that is not the original window casement. The earlier picture shows a sandstone lintel above it which looks in better repair than the replacement brick arch which is beginning to sag. No doubt the bricks were salvaged for the 1920ish changed frontage.

Here is another view:

The building on the right was the old Guildhall Club, which eventually became the Trustee Savings Bank, before being demolished to make way for the Kennet Shopping Centre

Do you know what the date of the first picture is in this post. First look suggests it is 1970 by the title, but is several years later - Capri's were not around then, and I think the foreground car is M or N registered, dating after July 1974 or July 1975. My guess is it is a lot nearer 1980 than 1970

It is a pity not more of the pictures are actually dated.

Quoted from LocalRes

Do you know what the date of the first picture is in this post. First look suggests it is 1970 by the title, but is several years later - Capri's were not around then, and I think the foreground car is M or N registered, dating after July 1974 or July 1975. My guess is it is a lot nearer 1980 than 1970 It is a pity not more of the pictures are actually dated.

Capris came out in 1969.  There's no Ford with big rectangular headlights, which might suggest it is on or before 1974, the year they started to do this.  Anyone notice the Ford Escort Mexico, or maybe Lotus Cortina with the blue stripe?

Looks like a Morris Marina to me.

Just to compliment the photo of Bartholomew street above which shows the Regal on the left, this is what it looked like before the Regal. The adjacent shop with the double gabled roof is still there, but has been split into two shops.


The second picture is looking South towards Craven Road, a bit further up the street.

Once again, brilliant nostalgia, and I've just remembered where I parked my car.
But I am still looking for the place I was born, Hooper & Ashbys in Bart Street....all to no avail

This shot of Bart St is a little more difficult to get your bearings but the inevitable clock tower is in the picture

Real old world look - bet there were some complaints when the Regal went up in the first place.  No restrictive planning regulations then.

Interestingly, the advert at the bottom of the 1950's directory for Huntley and Palmers, who moved to Reading sometime just after the second WW, reminded me that Mr & Mrs Palmer were the godparents of my aunt. My grandfather stayed with the Palmers just before the 1st WW for a short while, when serving in the army, then in Hertfordshire, somewhere near Ware I believe. After the war he was a carriage driver and then a London Bus driver, but also done some private chauffeuring, which included the Palmers, who befriended him. They became godparents to one of his two daughters, my aunt, the other being my mother.
Unfortunately I never knew my grandfather, as he died while on holiday in Weymouth, in 1939.

Regarding Hooper & Ashby, there was a builders merchants in Bartholomew Street in the early 60's, which was very close to the Bricklayers Arms. It ceased trading around 1965/6, and on the Monday after Newbury Carnival it went up in flames, taking many dwellings between Bart. St and Cheap St with it. The Bricklayers was damaged, and a launderette in Cheap St., then opposite the P.O. burnt down. It was thought that people (probably youngsters) got into the disused builders merchants, and went upstairs to watch the carnival out of the windows, and probably were smoking and dropped cigarettes on the timber floors.
I do remember that it was a monday afternoon, and there were at least eight appliances fighting the fires, which as I said, spread through to Cheap Street.
That may have been Hooper and Ashby's, although I also remember the name of Edwards & Godding also. I think Bishop's cycle shop was also badly damaged, and possibly never re-opened.

Huntley & Palmers were in Reading long before WWII - they started there in 1822.

Can you remember more about the fire you describe? Especially the date, I'd like to look up newspaper reports.  It would even help to know what month the carnival took place in those days

LocalRes, wrong pub! for Hooper & Ashby, would have been The Nags Head and H & A  is now housing-Bartholemew Court

Quoted from old codger

LocalRes, wrong pub! for Hooper & Ashby, would have been The Nags Head and H & A  is now housing-Bartholemew Court

Absolutely right..I was born in Hooper & Ashby's 'company house' a couple of doors from the Nags Head..At that time Dick and Eliza Elgar had the pub and also a connection with Swansdown Coaches...I grew up with Harry & Jimmy, their two sons.
Only to add-still no photos of Hoopers, as it was then, have emerged!

Quoted from old codger

LocalRes, wrong pub! for Hooper & Ashby, would have been The Nags Head and H & A  is now housing-Bartholemew Court

Not the wrong pub - the wrong builders' merchant.  The fire was, I think, by the Bricklayers' Arms - I'd love to know more about this fire.

Quoted from old codger

LocalRes, wrong pub! for Hooper & Ashby, would have been The Nags Head and H & A  is now housing-Bartholemew Court

Sorry, I didn't make it clear. I know Hooper and Ashby were further down Bart Street, it was not their premises which caught fire, but I cannot remember the name of the one that was near the Bricklayers Arms.
It was the mentioning of a builders merchants that jogged my memory.

There used to be a coal merchant where the Barts St car park is.  My grandad, Monty Walker, worked there.  He also played football and I think he had trials with Spurs.

Quoted from Greenham Common

There used to be a coal merchant where the Barts St car park is.  My grandad, Monty Walker, worked there.  He also played football and I think he had trials with Spurs.

The coal merchants were Baverstocks next to Vockins & Taylor(builders)

Quoted from Greenham Common

There used to be a coal merchant where the Barts St car park is.  My grandad, Monty Walker, worked there.  He also played football and I think he had trials with Spurs.

Monty Walker ran an independent coal delivery service in Newbury from the late thirties up to about the early fifties but his yard was at the top of Craven Rd or Gloucester Rd and he had some space in the railway yard off of Cheap Street. He was never represented in the town centre. As far as I know he only had one coal lorry, a Ford Thames, driven by George Dixon.

Quoted from brian

Monty Walker ran an independent coal delivery service in Newbury from the late thirties up to about the early fifties but his yard was at the top of Craven Rd or Gloucester Rd and he had some space in the railway yard off of Cheap Street. He was never represented in the town centre. As far as I know he only had one coal lorry, a Ford Thames, driven by George Dixon.

And what colour socks did he wear?

Quoted from dodgy

And what colour socks did he wear?

Black, of course!

I am new to this so hope I have done the right thing to get answers. I do not live in Newbury but a cousin did and a few relatives were born in or around Newbury. I was looking at this page and saw the Whitehorns bakery picture. A cousin who lived in Newbury said they thought this bakery was the first in Berkshire maybe England to have a doughnut machine. Also that they had houses for some of their workers to live in. I thought that might have been just something big companies like Ford and Cadburys did. Was it common for smaller companies to do this. Was Whitehorns a big company with more shops? They must have been quite good to their workers. Just wondered as I am interested in social history. My cousin also remembered they had a tearoom and that they made amazing bread. Her family were not well off and their mother would send the children down at the end of the day with pennies to buy unsold bread and cakes cheaply. Are they still around? On another note does anyone know where Woodspeen East was? A distant relative was born there. Thank you.  

Woodspeen East was, unsurprisingly, the eastern part of Woodspeen - now pretty much covered in buildings.  Roughly speaking a triangle east of the Oxford Road, south of the River Lambourn and north of the Kennet and Speenhamland. All absorbed into the Borough of Newbury in 1878 along with Speenhamland and a chunk of Greenham.

Quoted from LocalRes

Regarding Hooper & Ashby, there was a builders merchants in Bartholomew Street in the early 60's, which was very close to the Bricklayers Arms. It ceased trading around 1965/6, and on the Monday after Newbury Carnival it went up in flames, taking many dwellings between Bart. St and Cheap St with it. The Bricklayers was damaged, and a launderette in Cheap St., then opposite the P.O. burnt down. It was thought that people (probably youngsters) got into the disused builders merchants, and went upstairs to watch the carnival out of the windows, and probably were smoking and dropped cigarettes on the timber floors.
I do remember that it was a monday afternoon, and there were at least eight appliances fighting the fires, which as I said, spread through to Cheap Street.
That may have been Hooper and Ashby's, although I also remember the name of Edwards & Godding also. I think Bishop's cycle shop was also badly damaged, and possibly never re-opened.

Came across a report on the fire while looking for something else in the NWN. The fire was in 1969 - on a Tuesday afternoon, Sept 30.  According to the initial NWN report it was arson - three fires being lit in disuses buildings on Cheap St, Bartholomew St and in an outbuilding between the other two.

I know we have done this one almost to death but this picture turned up recently, a slightly different angle in about 1903.