Shopping in Epping

High Street c1955
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo

I love this photo - those old cars ! I don't remember the old building with the wooden balconies. It must have disappeared between 1955 and the first half of the 1960s. Monday has always been market day in Epping. Years ago there was a bit of a cattle market at the top end near the church, but I can't recall whether I ever actually saw it. I remember the first supermarket I ever went to was in Epping - Tescos - they sold clothing (Delamare or Delaware) as well as groceries. The bright coloured dyes on their clothes ran so it was safer to buy white. The first Tescos in Epping would have been more or less opposite the church towards the cross roads junction.

There was also a small old style Woolworths with the old wooden counters and the dusty floors. I remember we always went to Ellens for our shoes as they sold the reliable Clarkes brand of children's shoes. There was a little stationer's shop on the other side of the road (not shown in this photo). It was just under the giant horseshoes. I believe the horseshoes are still there above the shop to this day (for anyone familiar with Epping High Street) - perhaps in a former time it had been a smithy's shop.

Another shop of note was Epping's answer to Harrods - Pynes Stores - it was a shop that sold up market furniture and stylish household items, including Alfred Meakin dinner services.

I remember my Dad would rent home movies from the chemists' shop (which may be the shop seen on the right of the photo) - old Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Keystone Cops, etc. on 16 mil without sound, and run it on his home projector (No video or DVD in those days). He would also buy his 16 mil, and later, Super 8 film for recording from there. No doubt the premises is now an estate agents.

Lastly, a shop which cannot go without a mention was the saddlery shop which boasted a full sized stuffed horse in the small shop window complete with saddle and bridle, or maybe even a horse blanket in winter. This small family business sadly closed for good in the late eighties or early nineties. Cheap imports from India and the use of synthetic materials ruined the fragile saddlery trade at around that time.