Echoes Of Forgotten Laughter

A Memory of Stourbridge.

Stourbridge was my stamping ground as a young girl. I was born 1944 and I remember shopping there with my mother and then going to one of the many cinemas to watch a film, (remember when we had two films in one programme?) There was a fish and chip shop in Coventry St, where you could go upstairs and be served. We only went once as mom was a widow and hadn't much money but I've never forgotten that occasion and it gave me a taste for the high life and I love eating out. There were lovely shops in Stourbridge, Timothy Whites and Taylors was next to Boots but it closed down. Pargeters Furniture Shop at the top which is still there and still lovely, Stringers in the middle, May Hattons dress shop also in the middle of the High Street, which closed long before I could afford to shop there. There was a lady in a shop window next to the Odeon Cinema who used to sit all day repairing nylon stockings! Further down there was a shop called Greys where you could buy them. Warrilows expensive shoe shop opposite Geo.Masons. Sometimes if mom was flush we'd buy some ham and a couple of bridge rolls from Dulsons bread shop and eat them in the pictures when the lights had gone down. Mom used to open them and put the ham on, it was cheaper that way. There was also Taylors cafe in Market St, further down Lower Hight St was the Golden Galleon and further down from that was Newtons Commercial Hotel where I worked as a waitress for a time with a school friend when I left school. On the same side going back up towards the clock was Potters coal shop, Henrys wig maker and hairdresser next door to a fishing tackle shop opposite to a music shop and Mr. Davis' shop. Then came a mattress shop and a cobblers which I think is still there with a little man cobbling in the window, an ornament . Then the Savoy where there was many a good snog to be had on the back row. Next to that was Woodworths toy shop where a lovely couple Hillda and Albert worked, Further up the top of the town was Court Passage, Stringers is on the bottom corner and further along is a jewellers now in a beautifully designed building by a local architect.


Added 26 March 2016

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Comments & Feedback

Ah yes I remember it well! I also was born in 1944 but went to school in Hadley (Whychbury Hill) then Kidderminster. We lived in Pedmore. I remember the fish & chip shop but had no idea you could go upstairs to eat! I remember Cranages too - now PizzaExpress, and on the rare occasion when we eat there I vividly recall their cream slices!

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