Graham Middleton remembers the setup of the shop

Resource Type: Audio | Posted on 13th October 2014 by Jenny Porter

In order to get into their house on Chatsworth Street, Graham and his family had to pass through a shop. Here, Graham recalls its interior.

Interviewee: Graham Middleton

Interviewee Gender: Male

Date of Interview: 14th August 2014

Interview Transcript

Graham: The shop was on the corner. It was maroon, it was painted maroon, I remember that. And the layout inside: She had counters, obviously; she had a Berkel meat slicer – I’m sure today, the health and environmental agency would have a coronary fit, because – right next door to it was the potatoes. And she had behind the counter – like what you see in an old chemist, or rather a chemist in a museum – she had little draws, little wooden draws, made presumably out of ... I assumed they came out. They could have been originally for that shop, because they used to weigh sugar out and all that sort of things, so probably tea and sugar and all sorts of other condiments were in those draws. In the back, there was a little window which linked the shop with the living room at the back and it had a net curtain on. So, I am not saying they had any problems with shoplifters, because people couldn’t really get at the stock ‘cause it was behind the counter. And we as children used to play with the potatoes, weigh them out and all this. Mostly the milk was sterilized in big tall bottles, you know with the skin on the bottom. As you got down the bottom of the thing nobody wanted that because the skin would come out.

Tagged under: chatsworth street, berkel meat slicer

Categorised under: Shops & Shopping