Shopping With Mum

A Memory of Kidderminster.

The girl in the foreground could easily be me with one of my brothers in his pram. It was usual to be left outside the shop to look after one or all of my brothers - and of course very safe to do so - when my mum went inside to shop.

I have distinct memories of being bought brandy snaps from the old retail market when the entrance was to the right of the Swan pub (before it moved next to the Boar's Head, prior to it's demise as an indoor venue), the hardware shop next to Trevithick's pharmacy with the shopkeepers in their brown coats and the bank of drawers filled with nails, screws, washers, nuts and bolts behind the counter.

There was Evans delicatessen on Blackwell Street where my Dad would get us proper liquorice sticks (the twig version), and Mrs Pasternack's herb and spice shop on Park Butts with it's delicious aroma still very resonant 50 years on.