The Barber Shop

A Memory of Stamford.

This photo was taken around 1960 as my father (who can be seen in the photo, cleaning the bedroom window) bought number 11, St Paul's Street in 1958 and did not open the barber shop for over a year. I was 5 years old when we moved in and I grew up there with my younger brother. My father kept the barber shop open until he fully retired in 1997 and my parents lived there until 2006, when they moved to a bungalow. The house was much larger inside then the frontage implies and also older. There is a plaque commemorating the modern (!) front being added by Joseph and Jane Caldecott in 1716. An expert in historic architecture came to survey the house in the 60s and told us that the house was in fact a medieval hall house - built in 1483- which had been divided into numbers 10 and 11. It was old and creaky but great to live in and it was wonderful to walk out of the door and be near the end of the High Street. We used to go to the little local grocery shops and butcher (Dickinson's) and bakers (Hudson's, Marshall's, Chantrell's) and the Co-op on the corner and their drapery department (now Wilkinson's) There was also the Albert Hall where there were regular jumble sales on Friday nights - a constant supplier of books and dressing - up clothes. The hall was demolished along with a row of shops to make way for the Tesco store. Next door to the Half Moon pub there was a shoe repairer - Mr. Chapman who had a daughter and 4 sons and opposite was a family with 4 daughters. There was also a courtyard behind the present Age UK shop with small cottages where another family with 2 children lived. Nowadays very few families with children live in the centre of the town
In the swinging Sixties, number 10 changed from a bakers to a trendy boutique selling clothes for young women and the plaster exterior was painted brilliant red to match the shop's carrier bags. It really stood out and was quite a controversial choice!
Opposite number 11 was a garage with petrol pumps a car showroom and repair shop. very busy.
I also remember coming home from school (St. George's in Wharf Road) for dinner and hurrying every day to cross the road before the men all rushed down the street from Blackstone's on their lunch break. first were one or two cars, then mopeds, then bicycles then men walking really fast . To a child they seemed to fill the road! Presumably it was the same in reverse at the end of the lunch hour, but not as clumped together. The siren used to sound 10 minutes before work was due to begin and again when work began at 7.30 am and again at 1pm.
Behind our house was Gibson's iron foundry, reached from Star Lane. They seemed to be working all day an night. Stamford was certainly very busy in those days!