Shopping

In 1924, H.Chandley the grocers just had a cottage window, behind which were provisions. I remember well that at the back of the cottage were the living rooms. You could go and get a small order at that time, but the shop got too small and it was later extended with the cottage next door added, and a larger shop front added. Then there were more staff and it was possible to obtain preserves and cheeses that you couldn't buy anywhere else locally.

They used to pack their own tea and sugar. There was a coil of string hanging down from the ceiling to tie the bags up with. If you walked past the shop at night you could smell the hams boiling. The next morning they would be on the counter, ready for cutting and really fresh. When you went there in those days you could put your order in on a Tuesday and it would be delivered to your house on the Friday. The order book was receipted with a tuppenny stamp. I remember going with my cousin taking orders round on a motorbike and sidecar round Heyhead, which is now Manchester Airport. We also went round Baguley, Heald Green and Gatley. They used to say, "If you can't get it at Chandleys you can't get it anywhere!"

When the war started and ration books came out it meant a lot of extra work. Every customer got their rations. If you wanted some butter it came in wooden tubs which were stacked at the back of the counter on a large pot tray. They used butter smackers to shape the butter into oblongs before wrapping it in greaseproof paper.

The front of the shop was very smart in grained mahogany, which was varnished with the name picked out in gold leaf. I am sure there are many people who will remember with pleasure the times they have had shopping in Chandleys over the past sixty-five years!

The greengrocer came from Cheadle Hulme, a Mr.J.Chaton. Nearly everyone ate rabbits or hare and the greengrocers cart had paraffin lamps on it like flares so he could see what he was doing when he was skinning the rabbits.
The only shops in Gatley were grocers, cake shops, butchers, the Post Office, newsagents and hardware store. Most of the shops sold paraffin and firelighters. A man would come round on a Saturday night selling cockles and mussels. He carried them in a hessian bag and would weigh them with hand scales. My parents used to boil them for supper.

If you had toothache there was a trip to the vicarage where the vicar, the Reverend Bruster, would put some tincture of Myrrh on a bit of cotton wool and dab it on the tooth. It would just stop the pain for a while until the travelling dentist came. There was no dentist in Gatley, one would come to Cheadle two days a week and set up in Reekie's cafe, which was opposite the White Hart.

There was no such thing as having milk delivered in bottles. It was brought by horse and cart with two churns in the back and when you lifted the lids up the measures would be hanging in the rim. One for a gill and one for a pint. The cream on the milk was so thick you had to stir it up every time you measured some out for the customer. Every house put out a jug or a basin. These would have fancy beaded covers on them but if you forgot to put the cover back on them and it was raining, the customer would think they had got extra milk! When you delivered the milk or the papers you always had to remember to shut the gate after you, or else you would not get your Christmas Box!

There was one shop in Church Road called G.H.Scholes, it was where the Indian Restaurant is now. It was a high class grocers and provision merchants. They kept four bakers who would work through the night baking bread, which they delivered the following morning all over the village. In the winter I remember horses pulling sledges with the bread on them. There were no motor cars at all and horse carts were used to bring all the produce from the docks in Manchester. Flowers, bran and sharps, everything that was needed to feed poultry could be bought there, it was one of the largest shops in Gatley. Round about sixty years ago we had the job of painting and decorating number 49 Church Road. Next door at number 51 was a confectioners that Sam Bridge kept. Across the way were cottages and in front of Chandleys the grocers was an orchard. Right down at the end of the orchard stood some cottages, which are now shops, and opposite where the Co-op now stands was a large grocers with a house attached to the shop.

If you wanted to buy some new shoes or clogs you would have to go to Cheadle. I remember John Mottram, the cobbler. He would have a big sign in his window with a different saying on it each week. Like, "I can heel your sole and make it firm to the last!"

Near the Horse and Farrier was a little shop kept by a Mrs. T.Merril who made her own ice cream. She had a bucket surrounded by ice with a handle that turned it and got it to freeze. There was a little tearoom at the side of the shop where you could get cups of tea, pieces of cake, cigarettes and chocolate etc. Good cigarettes were 6d a packet, Woodbines 4d and 2d. Ice cream wafers were a penny and cornets tuppence. Outside the shop were tables and every weekend cycling clubs would stop there for refreshments. Across the road where the hairdressers is now was a garage that sold petrol for motorcycles and cars. It cost 10d a gallon and was sold in cans and not from a pump. I think it was made by Pratts.

The newspapers came off the train, the 7 o'clock from Manchester. The evening papers plus some fish and greengrocery came on the 5.30pm train. At the bottom of the approach Fred Taylor used to sell papers. We use to have a lot of fog in those days and the trains could be up to two hours late. Then there were no papers and passengers had to walk home!

It was nice to see the coal carts delivering to all the houses. There were six or seven firms who came from Stockport and Cheadle. Coal was about 1 shilling and fourpence a bag!
Refuse was taken away every fortnight at eleven o'clock at night! Everyone went to bed early. In those days even the pubs were shut by 10 o'clock! You could hear the refuse collectors wheeling the barrows down the entries to the horse and cart.

Most people in the village kept hens for eggs or even a pig. We would collect all the scraps to feed them with. They were all kept in the backs of the cottages on Church Road. What you couldn't afford to buy you had to produce for yourself.