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- Normandy Shops
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The Wren's Nest
The Wren's Nest with Mrs Wakeford c.1910
The Wren's Nest was a small square old brick & tile bungalow at
the junction of Sandy Lane and the Main Road at the corner with one bedroom,
kitchen, the front was used as a shop run by the Wakefords family and owned
by James Collins. Billy Wakeford first sold fish from his barrow. He used
to push the barrow into Guildford to get the fish and sold it on the way
back. Later he sold fruit from his barrow and also rabbits, which his son
in law used to catch in the field behind the Homestead. He used to take
the rabbit skins into Aldershot and sell them - he said he got more for
the skins than the rabbits. He used to hawk vegetables and oranges round
the village from a costermonger's barrow - he was disabled and used the
barrow as a walking aid! 1920s/30s Mrs Wakeford used to sell sweets, not
from jars but in boxes on a big table. She also had a large bottle of peppermint
and made hot drinks from it in the winter or lemonade in summer |
Shop
at Parkview Cottage
- E. Cranstone's Shop at
- Parkview Cottage
c. 1906
Edwin Cranstone built the house and shop in 1903 and by mid 1930 was
listed as a Wardrobe dealer run by Mrs J Smith, it continued as this also
doing secondhand goods until about 1990 when the shop front was replace
with a bay window to match the others of the building. |
Willey Green Stores
Rolph's Store at Willey Green about 1918
This shop was built between 1841 and 1871 and served the Willey Green
community at various times as a butchers, general store, bakery and grocery,
draper and hosier and sweet shop until the 1970s when it became an antique
and bric-a-brac shop, in the 1980s an autoglass shop and most recently
a builders' merchant. In another photograph taken before World War I the
shop has a flat roof but by the time this picture was taken it had been
converted to a pitched roof. Walter Rolph and his wife Ruth, probably seen
here standing in the doorway, occupied the shop, which was owned by Bowyers
flour merchants of Stoke Mill, from 1910 until Walter's death in 1954.
Around 1930 Palmolive had a sales promotion where they gave away 100 sticks
of shaving soap, 100 shaving brushes and 100 tablets of soap to the longest
established business between Aldershot and Guildford and Rolph's shop won
it! |
Normandy's
Original Shop
Normandy's Original Shop about 1906
It still survives as the Motorcycle Shop. It is recorded as being a
grocery and baker's shop as early as 1841. It remained as such until the
1950s but during this time sold many other items including newspapers and
hardware and until about 1900 it was also the village post office. It was
occupied by a succession of shop keepers some of whose names are recalled
today - James Dolley from the 1840s to the 1860s, William Deedman in the
1880s and Horace Holland who was also postmaster in the 1890s. In the early
1900s came J W Bentley and then R J Harvey. During the 1920s and 1930s,
when the shop became known as "The Crib", there were Albert E.
Durbridge and his wife Rosa, Arthur Page and finally Mrs Carpenter who
traded there for nearly 20 years. After standing empty for a while, the
Motorcycle Shop was established in 1959 by Mike and Brian Garbutt. |
Normandy Stores
Was clearly feeling the pressure from the large supermarkets, closing
down twice for extended periods in the 1990s. It was built about 1900 by
John Horne who later went into partnership with Mr Hawes, a shopkeeper
in Ash, and who was succeeded by his son John Horne. The next proprietor
in the 1920s and 1930s, when petrol was also sold from pumps outside the
shop was William J Henry the scoutmaster. In the late 1930s and the 1940s
the shop was run by Edward H Worster, followed by Mr Burton, then Mr Denby
and then Arnold Court who was successful in obtaining permission for a
hairdressers salon at the back of the premises.
About this time it came under the Spar franchise. After several further
occupiers it became a Circle K shop in the late 1980s then briefly reverted
back to the Spar brand before re-opening as Normandy Village Stores in
1999 but was re-closed about a year later and is now a music shop. |
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- Normandy Stores about 1989
- (Circle K)
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- Normandy Stores about 1999
- (Normandy Village Stores)
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Pinewoods
Post Office
Pinewoods Post Office soon after it was opened in about
1906
This shop has had a remarkably consistent history. It was a grocery,
post office and drapery run by J P Pryor and his sister for nearly 30 years.
In the mid 1930s it was taken over by Arthur Bennett, "newsagent and
bookseller" and, although no longer a post office it was a newsagents
until it closed in 1996. |
- Downloads
Map
of locations of shops in Normandy (JPG format)
- Local
shop advertisements - Side 1 (Leaflet 1970) (GIF format)
Local
shop advertisements - Side 2 (Leaflet 1970) (GIF format)
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- Normandy Shops
Introduction
- Normandy Shops
Station Road, Flexford & Westwood Lane
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All Rights Reserved.
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