Grocers In Bishop Auckland

A Memory of Bishop Auckland.

Approx 2 years working at SS LIngfords in Newgate Street. The old fashioned type of shop where you were served. We roasted our own coffee beans every Monday morning. Cooked our own "boiled" ham every week. Part of my job was to bone the hams prior to cooking in our own large boiler.We bought whole sides of bacon which were carved up, shoulders and hams, and I was taught how to bone them with the minimum of meat on the bones. Lingfords also supplied several shops in the surrounding area. We had 2 " travellers" who took grocery orders in out lying areas up as far as St Johns Chapel and 2 vans to do the deliveries. One of our customers was the BA Castle, when Bishop Ramsey was in residence he would walk up Newgate Street wearing hose and gaiters. I believe the death of Mrs Corps a daughter of the Lingfords precipitated the selling off of the store to Doggarts, who required to land to the rear for an entrance.