Issue 130 – April 2017
STOP AND SHOP
WIN, WIN, WIN
By Stephen Guy, West Derby Society
ROAD transport has been transformed in the past century with motors meeting virtually all our needs. Railways dominated national transport but horses shifted most things around locally before the First World War. People moving house loaded their furniture on to a hand cart or, if they were better off, into a pantechnicon – a large horsedrawn van. Most people walked – it was an age of compulsory exercise because there was usually no alternative. Well-off people were known as carriage folk because they kept private conveyances to carry them around. The shopping experience was gradually changed by the arrival of cars although it was hardly noticeable at first. Old street directories give a fascinating picture of the breadth and diversity of local shops before the advent of supermarkets. Businesses in Hall Lane, Huyton Quarry, in 1918 included grocers, hairdressers, potters, sweet shops, a dairy, fruiterer and chip shop. Thomas Haighway ran a laundry, Norman Langley had a butcher’s and John Ellis a bakery.
Two family tickets to be won for Easter panto Sleeping Beauty – page 11
Patricia Pico was landlady of the Seel Arms, Albert Jones repaired boots and Albert Fairclough dealt in old clothes. The only chain store was the Co-op. Eaton Road in West Derby is pictured one sunny day in Edwardian times with not a car in sight. A carriage approaches from the Village – there is a pile of horse muck in the road. A cart stands in Norris Green Road where a shopkeeper stands in the doorway. The sandstone wall vanished long ago but the trees and several of the shops remain. Affordable cars arrived in the 1930s produced by
big manufacturers including Ford. Mass production saw increasing numbers of family saloons on the roads. At first, cars made shopping and other visits comparatively easy for those who could afford them. Until gridlocks started to appear, you simply parked the car outside wherever you were visiting. For a time, even in city centres, drivers just drew up at the kerb. There were no traffic wardens, no parking fees and very few restrictions. All this changed, of course, as more and more vehicles piled on to the roads. The post war years saw the spread of by-passes then the arrival of motorways.
Parking meters and other restrictions were hugely resented – as they still are among some drivers today. n Join the West Derby Society at its next meeting 7.30 pm on Wednesday 19 April at Lowlands, 13 Haymans Green, Liverpool L12 7JG.
Four family tickets to be won for Liverpool Model Railway Exhibiion – page 11
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