Working At Owen & Owens And Arcade Music Shop

A Memory of North Finchley.

I lived in North Finchley from 1949 till 1968 and my maiden name was Battams.
I have many fond memories. I started my first job on the day after my 15th birthday as I was only 14 when I left Hillside Secondary School. I was a sales assistant in Owen & Owens, it was known as Priors before that. It had a lift that went up in the centre of the store. I had to operate the lift for a short while. GOING UP!! It had black gates that slid across. I worked on the Baby Linen department first and this was before clothes were hung on racks like they do now. They were in display cabinets and drawers behind the counter. Mums-to-Be came in and bought a Layette for the new baby and of course Zorbit toweling nappies. On the top floor there was resturant and a gentleman played the grand piano while you had tea. Roger Moore came in to buy his shirts one day and we all swooned as he was the known as 'the Saint' then, not 'James Bond'. I remember having my picture in the local paper with the longest serving member of staff and I was the youngest. I spent most of my wages in Lewis's which later became Chelsea Girl.
I also worked in the Arcade Music Shop which was the "in"place to be and in the 1960s it was a fantastic era in every sense of the word. I loved it. What with the Beatles and Tamla Motown and Soul music plus the stereo sound had just become available and you had a choice when you brought an LP, Mono or Stereo? David Howman also worked there and went on to be a good musician. Mr Rumerlow owned the shop and his two sons Mark and Paul took over the running of it. I worked in the record side of it and we had booths for people to stand and listen to the latest releases.
Cliff Richard came in once while I was there, also Frankie Vaughne and the Beverly Sisters.
Music is still an important part of my life including Lady GaGa.
There was a photography shop next door and it was they that I asked to do my wedding pictures, unfortunately they were not very good at all and they had to come back and do the cutting of the cake pictures as they hadn't had any film in the camera the first time round, happy days indeed.
I can remember Timothy Whites before it became Boots.
I forgot to say my first Saturday job was at Jaques hairdressers, I worked hard all day for 10 shillings. I was at the beck and call of the hairdressers and clients including there shopping. My future husband worked at Lindsey Brothers Garage in Avenue Road, where my dad and uncle had also worked. I could go on and on but do not want to get boring.