FEATURE
MEET A BAJAN
TREVOR “TAFFEE” GRANT SHOPKEEPER
By Sarah Venable
Trevor is famous for his pork cutters which can be enjoyed while watching sports in the back room Photo: Andrew Hulsmeier
here’s a blind corner at the tip of the Garrison Historic Area where Chelsea and Dalkeith roads meet in a hairpin bend. If you’re on foot, you’re in luck, because three steps up from the pavement leads you to the haven of Fredericka’s shop run by Trevor “Taffee” Grant. When Bajans say a shop, they usually mean a rum-shop. They are typically run by small entrepreneurs, and since slavery days, they have functioned not only as a place to “fire one” (drink a rum) but as a social crossroads and place to fill small household needs. A neighbourhood institution for at least 150 years, Fredericka’s is frequented by the horse racing fraternity from the track and stables one minute down the mahogany-shaded road. For others it’s a destination, thanks largely to its renowned pork and ham cutters. Taffee is a third generation shopkeeper. His mother, Fredericka, bought the ongoing business in 1974. His granny, Gwen Workman, was a shopkeeper in Nelson Street, and she too has a culinary claim to fame. She is credited with the invention of the “lead pipe,” an aptly named cylindrical cake full of grated coconut which is very hard to bite into. Taffee’s Monday through Saturday working hours could kill a horse. At six a.m. he lets in his sole employee, a lady who
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Ins & Outs of Barbados
roasts legs of pork and ham, prepares fish cakes and puts together pork patties. By 7, he’s open for business and stays so until 9 p.m. “If people call on a Sunday, I’ll dispatch them,” he adds, meaning that he’ll serve them then too. Most rum shops carry sundries, and Fredericka’s is no different. Besides serving drinks and home-made food, Taffee stocks castor oil, cough medicine, toilet cleaning brushes, disposable rain coats, tins of condensed milk, corned beef and other items. The shop consists of a bar in front and a comfortable room for eating in the back, where patrons can watch sports on TV. If Chelsea is playing, that gets priority ‘by order of management’. “I’m a Chelsea supporter,” explained Taffee. Photographs of his heroes look down from the wall—Nelson Mandela, Errol Barrow, Barack Obama and Michael Jackson. They are joined by his favourite Barbadian jockeys, Venice Richards and Jono Jones, who are legends at the Garrison Savannah racetrack, and Patrick Husbands, who has racked up over 2000 career victories at Woodbine, Canada. Reigning over it all is a cardboard cut-out of his mother, Fredericka. Taffee and his rum shop say a lot about our culture. If you’re exploring the Garrison area why not make a stop at his place and fire one with the locals?