OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth
Webpage created: June 11, 2018
Webpage updated: February 10, 2022

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ABOUT THE SITE  |  KEYHAM MEMORIES - INTRODUCTION

KEYHAM MEMORIES

2 - SHOPS IN STATION ROAD

 

SOUTH SIDE

NORTH SIDE

 

Here is Tamar Avenue

1 - The first property on the south side was a shop but it was empty in the 1950s and 1960s, having presumably stopped trading after Station Road ceased to be a through road into Goschen Street. 2 - The first property on the north side was a house.
13 - This was one of Solomon Stephens' bakeries but was taken on by Alfred J Jewell by 1955.  In the 1960s it was the GUPA-P tyre shop, although I think it was a store rather than a retail shop.  It looked very strange seeing the tyres stacked on shelves like any other commodity.  The last bus stop on the 19 was on the lamp-post outside the shop but the buses usually stopped before it, then dropped down Warleigh Avenue and reversed back to the terminus on the other side of Station Road. 12 - Number 12 was first occupied by   Reginald W Helliwell, draper.  This was one of two in the Road and sold all the usual wools, ribbons and cotton on wooden spools, ideal for use on Dinky Toy lorries.  The terminus of the 19 bus route was outside the shop.

Here is Warleigh Avenue

Warleigh Avenue

15 - Reginald F Gordon was described as a decorator but we would call it a Do it Yourself shop these days.  He sold paint and tools and I particularly remember his wallpaper pattern books, which he let you take home to look at. 14 - Jack Edward Holman's (1921-1997) general store at the bottom of our road was a particular favourite because he owned a bus which he used as a mobile shop.  Painted cream and brown, it was an old  Bedford WTB.  The business was taken over in the 1960s by Messrs C and D Bonser.
27 - I do not remember this shop at all in use as a fruiterers by Thomas Birchall.  The premises were empty in the 1960s. 26 - Thomas A Wilson was a proper grocer.   He sold cold meats and had a meat slicer on the counter.

Here is Beatrice Avenue

Beatrice Avenue

41 - Montague Clark, boot & shoe repairer, which I largely remember for the smell of the leather and polish and the luggage labels he used to put on the shoes taken in for repair. 28 - This shop must have been  empty for much of the fifties but was occupied by Eric Maunder Rundle in the 1960s as an electrical shop.  Here you could buy radios, torches and batteries, for example.
  40 - One of my favourite shops belonged to R C & J Stephens, newsagents, although I am conscious that I never explored all its dark corners.  Comics were the thing here and Cowboy stories.

Here is Barton Avenue

Barton Avenue

43 - G Kenshole, ladies' hairdresser.   I had no experience of this shop as Mother never used them. 42/44 - Keyham Barton Conservative Club.   It never struck me at the time, being too young for politics, but what was the Conservative Club doing in such a Dockyard, working men's neighbourhood?  The entrance was in Barton Avenue.
  46 - I am sure this shop was empty in the 1960s but had been a second-hand clothes shop in 1952/53 belonging to a Mrs M A Underhill.
  48 - This general store belonged to Sarah Coombes in the early 1950s and to John White in 1955.  This was  one of our regular shops, "Mrs White's", and most of our vegetables came from here.
  50 - First Mrs G E Morshead's and then Mrs G A Jones's, another general store.  I do not recall going in here at all.
  52 - Hicks & Congdon, confectioners, known as the Red Circle.  A misleading shop because alongside the sweets and chocolate it also sold interesting things like Matchbox toys and what later went on to become N gauge model railways.  A fascinating window for a little boy with very little pocket money!  It also had a circulating library in the back room, where upon payment of a subscription you could borrow a book.
55 - Yes, Keyham really did have a Mr Bean.  Mr E J Bean, toy dealer.  A lovely old man, the sort you imagine running a toy shop.  Many of my Dinky Toys came from here and probably quite a bit of the old 3-rail model railway, too.  There was lots on display in glass cabinets, including fireworks during October, but you had to ask to handle the goods, as was common in those days.  He later moved premises to Number 79. 54 - J E McClewer, shopkeeper.   Another general store that I mostly remember for its display of fruit and vegetables along the left-hand wall.  Not much used by the Moseley family.

Here is Townshend Avenue

Townshend Avenue

57 - A W Ware, ironmonger.  Full to the brim with all things hardware. 56 - This was the grocery department of the Plymouth Co-operative Society.  Two long counters up each side of the shop from front to back.  Chairs to sit on and assistants in the uniform of brown lightweight coat.  Remember the little tickets you were given when quoting your Co-op divvy number?  We never lost them, though.
65 - Doctor's surgery.  
67 - T B Harvey Ltd, chemists.  Next door to the Doctor's (J B Stauffer), Mr Thomas Boon Harvey was the poshest person in the road: he wore a bow-tie.  He was a local Councillor, that's why! 66 - The butchery department of the Plymouth Co-operative Society was located here but I have no clear recollections of the inside.  The butchery closed on August 29th 1987.

Here is Cotehele Avenue

Cotehele Avenue

69 - I have never understood the difference between a shopkeeper, grocer and provision merchant, but Frederick M Potter's was definitely listed as the last-named.  Previously owned by G V Williamson.   The request bus stop for the 19 outside on the lamp-standard was referred to by us boys as Potters Bar. 68 - Henry Thomas Whitbread, Keyham Barton Post Office and stationery store.  Mind you there wasn't much stationery to keep in a shop like this in those days, just basic Basildon Bond No. 2 writing pads and envelopes, manila envelopes, rulers and pencils.  The postmaster and his daughter, Ena, arrived for work on a huge motorcycle.  The rather utilitarian interior contained the original telephone call office from before the advent of call-boxes.  Ena retired on January 28th 2004 at the age of 78 and the post office is now closed.  The Whitbread's had run it for 55 years.
  68A  - Peter Thomas McArthur, watch repairer.  A very small shop adjoining the post office where you could buy a watch as well as having one repaired.

There was a request bus stop for the 19 between this shop and Miss Moist's.

79 - Eric Maunder Rundle, shopkeeper.   I don't know what Mr Rundle stocked while he was here as the premises were taken over by Mr Bean, the toy dealer, and Mr Rundle moved down to Number 28, where he stocked electrical goods.  See the reference to Mr Bean at Number 55 above.  This is the shop I most remember and most visited.  Chris Bollard recalls the chewing gum slot machine by the end of the left-hand window: the screw holes are still there.  Paul Hobbs recalls the fireworks displayed in a glass display cabinet and that Mr & Mrs Bean lived at 3 Epworth Terrace, just over the railway bridge at the top of Moor View. 78 - Miss L Moist, draper, the second shop in Station Road for wools, ribbons, cotton and knitting-needles.

Here is Maristow Avenue

Maristow Avenue

81 - William J J Clemow, hairdresser.   When hairdressing was a "short back and sides" instead of by numbers.   There was a small sort of lobby where he sold hair cream, etc., and the barbers was inside another door.  You sat with your back to the window and facing a mirror so I could always see when the 19 bus went by. 80 - Eastmans Ltd, butchers.  Part of the national chain of butchers.
  92 - Frederick John Cater, fried fish dealer.  This meant he sold fish and chips and a cod and two pennyworth were very much enjoyed, wrapped in the ubiquitous newspaper, of course  He sold fresh fish, too, I seem to remember.
 

Here is Moor View