Shopping In Longwell Green

A Memory of Longwell Green.

I spent my childhood in Longwell Green/Cadbury Heath. My grandparents lived in Shellards Road (and their house had been built by my great-grandfather). When I was a small child the 'Wimpey estate' (Ellacombe Road etc) had not been completed. The main village and shops were situated on Bath Road. There was the pub,The Crown - as a treat we were allowed to take empties back to the 'off licence' cubicle and get a few pence. Nearby there were some very old shops - including a wool shop/haberdashers, which was stacked to the ceiling with wool etc. Behind the garage there were also cottages and after the garage there was a newsagents, then a nursery/market garden and fruit shop (Gibbs). I can always remember the excitement of having my first ripe peach each summer. Opposite the garage - next to the church (where the shop selling sheds/conservatories is) - was a butchers (Mr Painter) and fishmongers. I recall having to ask for your meat, then going to a separate booth to pay for it. Where Tesco is currently situated there was Pomeroys - which is where we did our weekly shop and bought day to day provisions. Originally it had one (or maybe two) long counters and you had to queue up to be served, with the assistant passing taking items off the shelves. Later it became a VG self-service shop (before we went to supermarkets!). We used to have an account at Pomeroys and items we bought were recorded in a book (a blue notebook with carbon paper), then we setlled the bill each week. Most families had 'a book'. For our big shop we would sometimes leave a list and all the shopping would be delivered by van (often in a lion-brand box used to deliver eggs to the store). Before the chip shop existed, I seem to recall it was a cafe (Franks?). In our teenage years this was the place to go (and probably the only place to hang out!). The hairdressers was also in this rank of shops. However, my favourite shop was Wellings in Watsons Road, where you could buy sweets - the cheapest being 4 fruit salads for 1d (so 960 for £1!!), but my favourite being 2oz of sherbert pips.

The church hall was the hub of village life - where brownies was held and we attended the harvest festival. Most children went to one of the Sunday Schools (to give their parents some peace and quiet each Sunday) - although nobody seemed to worry which religion it was! There was the methodist chapel (now Sports Shop), another chapel on Shellards Road (opposite Tesco car park/alms houses), a Pentecostal Chapel in Watsons Road and the main church, All Saints, on Bath Road. In the late 1960s we favoured the evening 'events' organised for young people at the Pentecostal church because you got sweets for answering questions about the bible!