Stilings Pharmacy Courtenay Street

A Memory of Newton Abbot.

I have just bought a print of Frith's postcard of Courtney Street in 1955 and am delighted to see the premises named "Stilings Pharmacy" on the right of the picture. My father ran this business for the Misses Stiling who inherited it from their father and he was there during the 1930's and 1940's. The shop is now part of Austins department store. It must have been a difficult building to incorporate, because the entrance featured steps up into the shop, whereas the building next door was at ground level. The Misses Stiling all lived in Kingsteinton I believe. I did meet a doctor who remembered them as private patients - ironical that although their business delivered NHS prescriptions they maintained their own health. Very wise!
My father would probably still recognise Courtney Street although it is now pedestrianised. The porte-cochere entrance to The Globe opposite is still there although now also part of Austins Department Store. He travelled daily to work from Torquay, originally from Chelston and latterly from Newton Road near Torbay Hospital. He moved there when he married. My mother was a Londoner evacuated with the Pru when they moved their office from Holborn to Torquay. I thought they met at Union Street Methodist Church, but I see in the postcard photo that next door to Stilings was an office belonging to none other than "Prudential Assurance" ! Who knows - perhaps they met on the pavement of Courteney Street!

---

---