Service with a smile in the shops of yesteryear

In the early years of the 20th Century, the village of South Normanton (east of Alfreton, Derbyshire) offered its inhabitants a good selection of shops without any need to travel further afield.

Looking at the 1901 Census return, the choice of butchers is amazing. Ladies could choose to shop with William Bailey, George Bramwell, James Bacon, Arthur Daykin, Aaron Jenkins, Arthur Walker or, if a specialist Pork Butcher was required, A. Laughton.

The photograph is still easily identifiable today but, somehow, everywhere looks so much tidier in this picture! No parked cars and certainly no litter. As for horse manure, it was likely to be shovelled up and on someone's garden muckheap before it had time to stop steaming!

These proprietors, standing proudly outside their establishments, ensured that the pavement and gutter fronting their shop was kept in immaculate condition. The same went for the doorstep. In those far off days, the cleanliness of shops and houses too was judged upon the state of the front step. If it wasn't scrubbed and donkey-stoned to perfection, trade would suffer. Look at those snow- white aprons. No cling film, sell by dates or plastic carrier bags, of course, but our ancestors survived, didn't they?

Competition was keen. Aaron Jenkins, the butcher, had a wife, Hannah, and five children to feed and clothe in 1901: Emmeline, Richard, Alice, James and Elsie. No doubt they all had to help with the business. Sarah Ann Branston, a widow with an eight year old son, John Herbert, ran a Grocer's shop. Young John Herbert would have led a very different life compared with an eight year old today, much of it revolving around helping his mother with her work. I wonder whether he had much pocket money to spend with Solomon Ward, the Confectioner?

Although Hunters and Nelsons (shown in the photograph) came after the 1901 Census return, we can see the establishment of Bardill and Baker, Boot and Shoe Makers next door to Nelsons' shop. Herbert Bardill and John James Baker were in business in the Market Place in 1895 but they didn't have a monopoly in the trade. Arthur Shawcroft also traded as a Boot and Shoe dealer.

Shoppers would find Mrs Eliza Brooks, John D. Marsden, Ellen Mart and William Wright among the Grocers; William Alvey and John Patton as General Dealers and Emma Ballard, the Fishmonger. If it was fabric for a new outfit the Chapel Anniversary, perhaps- there'd be a trip to Messrs. William Gibson, William Bircumshaw or William Pritchard, who all ran drapery shops. If it all got too much, there was always The Miner's Arms (proprietor William Bingham) or The Devonshire Arms (proprietor William Haslam) offering liquid sustenance!

At least one South Normanton trader went further afield to do his quaffing, however. Greengrocer Oliver Bramley is still affectionately remembered by octogenarians in South Wingfield for the entertainment he provided when he staggered out of The Horse and Jockey in the Market Place there at closing time during the immediate post-war years. Locals gathered firstly to deposit Mr. Bramley in his pony-drawn trap since, after an evening at the bar, he wasn't capable of getting up there himself! Then the little crowd watched, enthralled, as Mr. Bramley wove dangerously down The Rocks on the wrong side of the road, bound for home. It must have been quite a sight!

Fortunately, the trusty pony knew his way back to Oliver's shop and there are still people in South Normanton today who recall the sight of Mr Bramley's four-legged friend trotting back to their abode with his master blissfully asleep in the back!

Article Written and Researched by Jill Sparrow - Senior Editor, Alfreton History Website