Part One dealt with Sport and Leisure, Part Two concerned homes and employment and Part Three dealt with Transport and Childhood.
Introduction
During the 1950s great concern was felt by Marlow shopkeepers about the frequency with which Marlow residents chose to shop elsewhere. The long favourite "big town" destination Maidenhead and nearby High Wycombe had been joined by Slough as an easy option for those traveling by car (it had already been accessible though not quite so conveniently by train). The Marlow Chamber of Trade tried to encourage Marlovians to spend their money primarily in the town. In response to such pleas one unnamed Marlow woman wrote to them in 1959 saying that shoppers were forced to go elsewhere because Marlow shops carried too narrow a range of stock and only very low levels of what they did carry. Another woman wrote to the Bucks Free Press in a similar vein.
It should be noted that allegations that Marlow people ignored their own shops had been made almost yearly since at least the 1880s, and yet the occupancy level for business premises was high at all times until a slump came in the 1960s.
Sunday opening of shops came to Marlow in the 1950s. Only book, toy, fancy goods, souvenir and stationary shops could open (up to 8pm in 1959) or those selling postcards, or souvenir photographs. Marlow was deemed eligible as it was "a holiday resort". Not all eligible retailers chose to exercise this new freedom however and for some shoppers Sunday trading was still seen as very much the wrong thing to do.
Many shopkeepers no longer lived in their premises in the 1950s, though there were exceptions. Herbert Haley the High Street chemist had a flat above his shop as did the proprietors of the chemists at 14 Spittal Street for instance.
Non-Food Shopping
The long standing drapers, outfitters and clothiers, Morgan's, in Market Square still existed in name in the early 1950s though it then sold McIlroy brand clothing from High Wycombe. Later in the decade it became W.J Daniels, famed for it's big sales. A little further down the High Street earlier in the decade was Helen Whateley, dressmaker and tailor. If you were lucky that is- she didn't open weekends or Wednesday afternoons.
Miss D Wiggham ran the Dawn Boutique at 1 Station Road. For men Hewetts in the High Street was an outfitter who also sold sports clothing and school uniforms.
Farrier's Wool Shop at no 48 High Street sold hosiery and underwear as well as embroidery and knitting supplies and finished pieces of embroidery art to decorate the home.
Making their own clothes remained quite common for women. Men's clothes except for knitted items such as scarves and socks, had long since been generally considered too risky for the average domestic tailoress to attempt, due to the skill level necessary and also because of the less forgiving and more expensive fabrics involved in suits and trousers. Some housewives were still sufficiently skilled to make shirts, though by this period it wasn't the norm for them to make rather than buy them.
Knitting machines could be bought from A.E King drapers in Spittal Street, which also sold hosiery, women's underclothing, blankets and household linens.
Those wanting to accessorise with a walking stick or similar could head to "fancy goods", tobacco, confectionery and grocery retailer Coster and Sons, also in the High Street. A small shop -how they packed all that in I'll never know!
Walking sticks were also sold by John Harleigh and Sons the sports goods / sportswear shop in Spittal Street as were ladies handbags, luggage, and umbrellas. This was still an era infused with the "make do and mend" ethos and in that spirit Harleighs both sold and repaired all those items. Similarly you could make use of shoe repairers Ted Neighbour, who also operated in Bourne End, or Mr Palmer in Station Road. New shoes were sold by Millwards in the High Street and old ones repaired there.
A jeweller and watchmaker with decades of experience behind him, Lawrence Mundy, operated in Chapel Street. Ronald Bailey was a jeweller and silversmith at 37 West Street.
Home furnishings suppliers in Marlow were described in Part One "Homes" of the life in 1950s Marlow posts.
Food
"High class" groceries could be bought from the two High Street premises of Barksfield Brothers grocers and wine merchants. The "family grocer" R Browns was also in the High Street while Dorsetts was in Market Square. Mr Dorsett had a "mobile shop" by the end of the decade that visited outlying places, including the High Wycombe suburbs. All the grocers in Marlow still shut for lunch in the 1950s.
Mac Fisheries supplied fish and shellfish (and fruit from the fruiter's section) and Harleyford Dairy had shoppers' dairy based needs covered. Both of these were in the High Street. Another fishmongers Castle Fisheries was in Chapel Street and acted as both a hot fried fish takeaway and a shop which sold fresh and dried fish for home cooking. Castle Fisheries was operated by members of the Bunce family. Butchers were located in Market Square, the High Street and Spittal Street. Tom Morris butchers of Spittal Street supplied the meat for Borlase School meals.
Ellison's and Sons was a baker of the High Street, plus of course there was Burgers.
Aldridge's in Market Square offered a range of frozen foods. These were still quite new and some people refused to even consider buying frozen meat in particular and could even be cautious about frozen vegetables. Most frozen meat had been shipped in from abroad e.g New Zealand lamb and a prejudice about the quality of foreign bred animals was partly to blame for this attitude .Advocates of frozen foods however were passionate in trying to open those closed minds! The methods of freezing used commercially in the 1950s were not as advanced as they are today so it is generally considered that frozen products would have been of more variable quality then and cooking them required more skill and judgement than we would necessarily realize today.
Pinkneys Nurseries at 54 High Street was both a fruiterer and a florist (a not uncommon combination in the past).
Those that wanted to try a touch of self sufficiency could purchase supplies from one of Marlow's most unusual shops, Moreton's beekeeping supplies at 19 West Street. This also sold games, model aircraft, balsa wood for crafts, guns, ammunition, and fishing tackle. Quite a mix!
Researched and written by Charlotte Day. ©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.
Sources for this series of posts are listed in Part One.
