Hawthorn Road shops, 1957

“I remember Hawthorne Rd it used to be the monkey run shops not mentioned was Toys the sweet shop , Tranters the jewellers.Reynolds the Gents outfits, Taylors t/v & radio, Phelps Taxi’s, there a Bike shop, a Pet shop, Broadbents the bakery, Matty’s T/V Hardware shop Gourkins ?”

“I remember a home made pie shop opening ,not long after war finished,between Boots and Octogan library.Meat pies straight from oven were 8d and jam puffs as we called them at the time were 2d. … the wife and myself bought our first furniture from Jones’s after we were married in the 1950s.”

“Hawthorn road I have seen no mention of the bike shop next door to Mattys and also who could forget the aroma that you got when you went into Corkings the hardware shop. … was a shop that housed the Y W C A before it moved to Perry Common in the late 1950s.”

“My most lasting memory of the Hawthorn Rd shopping area is of the Static Water Tank that stood on the corner Kingstanding / Dyas Rd it must have been about 6/7 feet high and probably 10 yds diameter … Like someone has said Lathams was on the corner, and a Greengrocer Roses? then the paper shop Kirtons, Rochelles the butcher … Over the road was “The Octogon” library and “Peacocks” department store, quite a parade of shops”

“I do remember going into Peacocks just over 62 years ago, on 7 May, after we were let out early from school, and buying two Union Jack flags. Next day they were flying to celebrate VE Day.”