Thanks for this picture...certainly takes us back a lot of years. These were the days when local people enjoyed shopping in Newbury,definitely different from todays Newbury
All the cars are parked facing East...because the one-way route was from the marketplace to the wharf.....reversed sometime in the late 60s?........can anyone be more precise?
Thanks for this picture...certainly takes us back a lot of years. These were the days when local people enjoyed shopping in Newbury,definitely different from todays Newbury
Are you saying everyone who shops in Newbury is from out of town these days?
Are you saying everyone who shops in Newbury is from out of town these days?
I don't think that's true.
Great picture by the way
I didn't read it like that at all. I agree with Jobet that shopping was a much more enjoyable thing then but Newbury was still a market town and most people came in by bus. Now, if you don't want to buy a mobile phone, you are restricted to using one of the superstores and all the frenetic activity shopping in them. Having a motor car has become an essential part of todays shopping experience and at the moment, the trials and tribulations of parking reasonably close to town shops has become a step too far.
Thanks for this picture...certainly takes us back a lot of years. These were the days when local people enjoyed shopping in Newbury,definitely different from todays Newbury
Not much shopping evidence though is there? Not many cars either.
Not much shopping evidence though is there? Not many cars either.
I'm not sure if the wharf at that time was the Thames Valley bus station, if it was, there are a fair number of people who have done their shopping and are sitting there waiting for their bus to turn up.
Yet 'These were the days when local people enjoyed shopping in Newbury' according to Jobet. So why don't we all just leave our cars at home, catch as bus or walk into town & then visit umpteen shops to do an average food shop? The words Tinted, Rose & Spectacles spring to mind.
Yet 'These were the days when local people enjoyed shopping in Newbury' according to Jobet. So why don't we all just leave our cars at home, catch as bus or walk into town & then visit umpteen shops to do an average food shop? The words Tinted, Rose & Spectacles spring to mind.
Shopping was different in the early sixties. The weekly shop was not like todays weekly shop with mums and dads pushing great loaded trolleys out through the checkout filled with masses of packed foods. In those days, the majority of shops in town were small food shops selling bulk goods, we didn't even have tea bags in those days. So, the weekly shop, usually mum on her own, consisted of visits to the butcher, the baker but not the candlestick maker and the greengrocer. What made it more enjoyable was that people really did know each other and there was a substantial amount of social intercourse. The pavement outside Woolies was always packed with people that hadn't seen each other for a week just passing the time of day. Money was still scarce and we had barely recovered from the war and life was quite a bit harder than now. People looking back with nostalgia probably as you say are looking through rose tinted specs. Very few houses had central heating, unheard of today, running hot water for bathing and the kitchen was a real luxury and showers were unheard of. Dish washers oh no, washing machines and spin dryers, yes, tumble dryers no.
Shopping was different in the early sixties. The weekly shop was not like todays weekly shop with mums and dads pushing great loaded trolleys out through the checkout filled with masses of packed foods. In those days, the majority of shops in town were small food shops selling bulk goods, we didn't even have tea bags in those days. So, the weekly shop, usually mum on her own, consisted of visits to the butcher, the baker but not the candlestick maker and the greengrocer. What made it more enjoyable was that people really did know each other and there was a substantial amount of social intercourse. The pavement outside Woolies was always packed with people that hadn't seen each other for a week just passing the time of day. Money was still scarce and we had barely recovered from the war and life was quite a bit harder than now. People looking back with nostalgia probably as you say are looking through rose tinted specs. Very few houses had central heating, unheard of today, running hot water for bathing and the kitchen was a real luxury and showers were unheard of. Dish washers oh no, washing machines and spin dryers, yes, tumble dryers no.
All you say is true - but, if it was so good, why don't we still shop this way? We don't have a greengrocer in town, but there is a Baker & a Butcher. They should be raking it in.....
Having a motor car has become an essential part of todays shopping experience and at the moment, the trials and tribulations of parking reasonably close to town shops has become a step too far.
Not true I'm afraid, we've just become a lot lazier than we were in the 70s as a society. I always walk into town to do my shopping.
Not really sure what a mobile phone as to do with it either. Are you suggesting that's all that's sold in the town centre?
Quoted from 78
All you say is true - but, if it was so good, why don't we still shop this way? We don't have a greengrocer in town, but there is a Baker & a Butcher. They should be raking it in.....
Very true. I don't his point though, he seems to depart from the topic and descend into rambling nostalgia for much worse times.
Not true I'm afraid, we've just become a lot lazier than we were in the 70s as a society. I always walk into town to do my shopping.
This isn't true either. The 60s and 70s were the decades where the waste started. Back then, I caught the 'bus for work, shopping etc. Yes, migrated through scooters to cars. Now in the 90's I'm on foot, much more frugal with fuel etc. and so are most people I meet. Petrol and oil were very cheap, even for those times before the first oil price shock.
Not really sure what a mobile phone as to do with it either. Are you suggesting that's all that's sold in the town centre? Very true. I don't his point though, he seems to depart from the topic and descend into rambling nostalgia for much worse times.
I was replying to Lovejoy's post and you will note that I made no reference to the old days being better merely that shopping was more enjoyable. Shopping then was like todays friends united. I did in fact go to some lengths to point out that the opposite was true if you care to re-read the post. It is a bit difficult to read as the first photograph has stretched the boxes
I would image people liked the social side of shopping back then. People had routines and would meet to gossip. The act of shopping back then was a lot harder and I imagine more frequent.
I would image people liked the social side of shopping back then. People had routines and would meet to gossip. The act of shopping back then was a lot harder back then and I imagine more frequent.
I don't think the shopping was harder, just different. I rarely go shopping, but recently did do a couple of trips into Sainsbury with a carefully crafted list from Mrs B. On the list was 'paper towels'. I was staggered that there was a whole aisle dedicated almost 100 per cent to just this one product. In the 50's early 60's, packaged pre prepared meals were unheard of so it was basic ingredients, flour, sugar, marg, eggs etc. and all the packaging and cardboard which now goes to recycling didn't exist so the shopping nearly always fitted into a single basket which went on the bus or was carried home from one of the dozens of local shops rather than the trolley load in the boot of the car. The start of the change was the introduction of freezers in the late 60's. Bulk cooking and freezing down led to the big guys, who were not so big then, doing it for us and there we are, buying so much stuff we have to recycle containers every couple of weeks and fill a huge bin every week.
My parents lived in those days in the South end of Newbury and there were three grocers, two butchers, one greengrocer a chemist, two newsagents, a bakers, a tobacconist, two churches, a registry office, an undertaker and six pubs within a five minute walk from their house. No need for a car and they were on personal terms with the shopkeepers.
I think your description of how things were, perhaps, is a description of what should be - if we are to acknowledge the apparent ecological damage man is currently undertaking.
I think your description of how things were, perhaps, is a description of what should be - if we are to acknowledge the apparent ecological damage man is currently undertaking.
You can't go back I'm afraid and I'm not sure I would want to. Can you imagine today, a couple getting married (or becoming partners as is the trend), starting their partnership without a fridge/freezer,a microwave, a washing machine, a tumble dryer and possibly a dish washer and of course, carpets throughout. The best we could hope for was a cooker or stove as it was called in those days. Living in a packing case on the common with floorco offcuts of lino on the floor, sheer luxury.
Living in a packing case on the common with Floorco offcuts of lino on the floor, sheer luxury.
This last was said more or less tongue in cheek, but, there was in fact a little encampment of families from Newbury area who salvaged a few of the glider packing cases discarded by the Yanks and with a bit of effort, turned them into homes that they lived in on Greenham Common for a couple of years after the war. There were also some old Nissen huts, again discarded by the Yanks. which served as homes to enterprising citizens. Jobs and money were a bit scarce in those days and the council housing waiting list was a mile long.
By the way, I use the term Yanks in the nicest sense as that was a friendly nickname used by everybody. We were known as Limeys.
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