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Rob Searle's reminiscences of walking to school; published in Chobham AD MM. In the late 1950s I and my friends from Alpha Road were allowed to walk to and from Chobham Infants School, unaccompanied by parents. The windows of many local shops and businesses inevitably encouraged us to dawdle, with no adults to urge us on our way. The businesses mentioned below are all long-gone, but remain in my memory of a village which was very much a self-contained community. Harold and Annie Clarkes' comer shop at the junction of Alpha Road and Chertsey Road was a grocers which sold large amounts of Stansfield's fizzy drinks to pupils from the secondary school at the top of the road. Specialities loved by smaller children were frozen Jubblies and Jungle Juice drinks in pyramid-shaped cartons. On the other side of the road was a high hedge and an old barn, as the Watts Farm Parade shops and Barn Mead houses were not built until the 1960s. Serious young cyclists aspired to a bike hand-built by Ted Pritchard, whose shop was in Chertsey Road where J. Baker Secretarial Services now has its office. Ted sold Raleigh cycles and accessories and did repairs in an extension at the back with a hardened dirt floor. He also sold fishing equipment to aspiring small anglers. A couple of doors down was Tanner's butchers. It was ruled by the fearsome Grace Tanner, remembered locally for her slow driving and long lines of cars stuck behind her van. Her butcher for many years was my great uncle Alf Collyer, who once slaughtered beasts behind the doors next to the shop. We would see him in the back of the shop busily dealing with carcasses hung from huge hooks. Where the disabled supplies business now trades was Joe Littler's electrical shop, with dummy Ever Ready batteries in the windows and a glimpse of radios, lamps and other appliances on display. The strings of colourful fairy lights at Christmas seemed particularly magical, as my house had no mains electricity - we had candles on our tree. Seeney's hairdressing salons - men on the right and ladies on the left - were at the end of Chertsey Road. Mum insisted I wore a woollen balaclava helmet after getting a short back and sides there, "to avoid catching a chill". The road junction was named after the business, although few people now call it Seeney's Corner. Along upper High Street, where the saddlers now have their shops, was Causeway Interiors, run by the Lamp family, who sold carpets, curtains and fabrics. I also have vague memories of the building formerly being another hairdressers and of the coal merchant which once operated between the shop and Cannon Cottage. The now-closed Jillifar's clothes shop at the start of the High Street proper was a traditional greengrocers, originally run by the Benham family then the Hogans. It had vast displays of fruit and veg and exotic smells coming through the doors. 'The main Benhams/Hogan shop next door - later W.H. Cullen and now What Not Antiques - was where a shop assistant once smacked my hand as I pinched some sultanas when Mum's back was turned. Boxes of loose goods, from biscuits to seeds, and large brass scales were features which I remember well. I worked at Cullens on leaving school, myself keeping an eye out for youngsters tempted to take things without paying. The next shop was a cobblers where you could purchase good, stout shoes and later get them properly repaired. They sold the old-fashioned dubbing which Dad bought to rub into my ankle-high football boots. The best smells in the street came from Mick's Cafe next door - chips and a strong cuppa with everything, and a pinball machine with bright flashing fights as entertainment. Proprietor Mick Baleham declined to provide takeaway chips, although he did sell us some of the best ice creams in Chobham, Eldorado brand if I remember correctly. Boshers the jewellers are now in the premises. A big asset to the village were the joint gas and electrical showrooms between the cafe and the chemists. Bills could be paid and appliances of all types bought there. Jummy Medhurst, who once ran a newsagents where Lloyds the chemists now trades, seemed to be a permanent fixture in the High Street. He often stood leaning on the wall at the opening of the courtyard alongside his former shop, hands in pockets, watching the world go by and grunting greetings to friends and acquaintances. Past the church was Grimditch the butchers, in the listed building which is soon to become the offices of a firm which recruits information technology staff. The shop always had far more meat on display than rival Tanner's and the floor was liberally covered in sawdust which spilled on to the pavement. The most-fascinating "shop" was further down the street, I think in what is now "Fleurs Chinoise". It was Chobham's telephone exchange, with a window full of tangled wiring at the back of the switchboard. We could peer through to see an operator at work, manipulating large plugs on thick leads. The Four Seasons restaurant premises was then Chobham Dairy, selling milk and dairy products, with an array of sweets which sometimes attracted my pocket money. The shop always smelled of slightly stale milk. Around in Station Road, The Ridgeway was the village's main source of newspapers, magazines and children's comics, as well as having the best selection of sweets in jars. The shop - now Frascati restaurant - had a large, illuminated tree at Christmas and I remember my brother and sisters being photographed in front of it with a visiting Santa. Next door was the Aladdin's cave of Southern Appliances, which not only sold electrical equipment - including still-rare televisions - but carried out repairs in its workshop at the rear. I bought a little Marconi transistor radio there in the 1960s, using money earned doing paper rounds for The Ridgeway. Coming back to High Street, Chobham Motors - now Chobham Service Station - was a good source of Esso promotional badges and key rings if you asked the owners nicely. It was one of five petrol stations in the village. The Old King's Head, on the site of John's hairdressing salons and Pyramid, introduced me to the smell of pubs. We lingered near the high steps, sniffing the mixture of beer fumes and cigarette smoke wafting out while glimpsing men drinking and chatting in the gloomy interior. Many years later, I discovered that beer tasted every bit as good as it smelt sadly not in that particular pub. Alldays was Belcher's Stores, with extensive banks of polished wooden shelves and cupboards behind the counters, brass labels and an impressive provisions department. The shop assistants wore chest high, stripy aprons and looked sternly at small children. In what is now Gemini Gems, the small shop run by the Burrows family was a magnet which often attracted my 3d a day pocket money. The "thrup'ny joey" bought a "lucky bag", containing sweets and a plastic toy, or a sherbet dip. As well as sweets, the shop also sold bread and cakes. Next door was yet another general grocers, now the Melita Boutique. We knew the shop as Blackstones, although older people still called it Lascelles after the family which previously ran it for many years. As a special treat, I sometimes spent my 3d on half a small white loaf still warm from their oven. My friends and I would eat the bread with great enjoyment on the way to school. Adamsons the jewellers and watchmakers had their shop opposite the church in the ornately-decorated Terracotta Cottage. A cacophony of chimes from the many clocks on sale could be heard if you passed by on the hour. Brothers Bert and Reg Adamson were respected local craftsmen. Hill's the bakers next door filled its window with chocolate eggs and animals at Easter and beautifully-iced cakes at Christmas. The smell of baking bread and the sight of the large display of cakes and huge variety of loaves inside was a spur to a hungry child to hurry home for lunch. Being restricted to our route to school and its short diversions, my tour has not included many other shops and useful businesses which have disappeared since the 1950s. They include New Era Stores in Windsor Road, small general stores in Red Lion Road and Scotts Grove Road, Chobham Mill and Chews Garage at Burrow Hill. Did anyone ever go outside Chobham for goods and services? |