The Kirby Muxloe Local History Group The Kirby Muxloe Local History Group generally meets 6 times a year, and membership is open to all. Visitors are always welcome to all our meetings, which usually take place in St. Bartholomew’s Church Hall, Main St., Kirby Muxloe and start at 7.30 pm. They are normally on either a Thursday or Tuesday. Details of the dates of meetings, together with the topics that will be covered, are shown on the notice board in Kirby Muxloe library. Our next meeting on Thursday 18th May will include a talk by local historian Brian Johnson titled “Made in Leicester – Companies that started in Leicester & became National & International”.
A Walk Down Main Street
animals. Everything was in large sacks which sat on the floor, the goods were put into paper bags and then weighed to calculate the cost; nothing was pre-packed. During WW2, ration books were needed to obtain poultry food. Mr Poyner often collected the coal and coke, which was sold in the shop, from Kirby Wharf. He stored the coal and coke in heaps in the fields behind the shops. At that time, the shops were surrounded by fields full of wild flowers, a great place for children to play. In the 1960’s, Gerry Hurst, who had been working in the agricultural side of the business, moved to Kirby. The shop, now called Hartley’s, was still divided into two parts, with an adjoining door, the left-hand side shop specialising in pet food and hardware. After reducing the amount of hardware on display,
Gerry started to sell groceries. This move proved successful and so the wall between the two shops was knocked down, making one larger and lighter shop. When the Co-op on Castle Road closed in 1972/3, Gerry decided to change the shop into one large grocery store. By this time, he had also become owner, not just manager. Gerry retired in 2005 and the shop changed hands, becoming Wilson’s for about a year. It then stood empty for the next year and finally was taken over in 2007/8 by One–Stop, part of the Tesco Group.
In this series of articles, we take a stroll down Main Street, Kirby Muxloe, and a walk into the past. Each article will feature a shop or business on Main Street. Do you remember it or know anyone who might? If there is anything else about this, or any other business on Main Street, that you can tell us, please email us on kmlhg999@gmail.com or telephone Judith on 0116 2393767 or Mike on 0116 2386026. Battens, Seed and Feed Merchant, 28 Main Street Most of us have used One–Stop at one time or another, but do we know the history of the building starting back in 1932? The building was originally constructed as two semi-detached shops; the one on the left opened as Batten’s (1930) in around 1932. The right-hand side became home to Clarke’s Fruiterers and Greengrocers. Tom Poyner and his new wife were the first people to move in to Batten’s shop. Batten’s also owned three pet shops trading under the name of Hartley’s. Tom became manager of Batten’s Coke and Coal Merchants and they lived above and at the back of the shop. The shop sold many other goods including dog biscuits, bird seed, corn and lots of other things related to
Batten’s shop decorated for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 11- 1953 Photo courtesy of the Will Walker Collection
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