Local History
No. 16 was the Drake Drug Stores - Sydney Chenell Pierce. No.17 was a shop selling various domestic supplies- James Collacott. No.18 was a gentleman’s hairdressers and tobacconist shop - Harry Thompson. No.19 was a confectionery shop - Misses M & A Lugg, later a wool shop - Mrs. Slatter.
child who went into the shop received a free packet of sweets. Also that the manager, Mr. Gill, was ‘a physically strong man who was able to carry two one-hundredweight bags of sugar, one under each arm, between the stores and the shop, a distance of 50 or so yards’.
there was a serious fire when an oil heater tipped over. No.20 was a cobblers / shoemakers - John Henry Down, later Walter Bates.
Williams, and later his son, William Orchard Williams, who was at the time of his death aged 84 in December 1939 was the oldest trader in Tavistock.
“ a physically strong man who was able to carry two
one-hundredweight bags of sugar,..”
No.22 was a newsagents shop - Arthur Holden and later Joseph James.
No. 23 was a fancy drapery shop - Misses E.L. and F. Barnett who were there for 25 years followed by William and Etheline Wright who came in May 1916.
No.24 was a firm of painters and decorators - Williams & Son.
The building on the far left, with the canopy, was the Co-operative grocery, with footware and furniture on the first floor. It was recalled that on the opening day in 1925 each
No. 21 was an outfitters - Richard In April 1953
By the late 1950s the Co-operative had realised it needed larger grocery premises in order to cater for the self- service phenomenon, and acquired the premises on the far right. The fine three-storey buildings fronting onto the street were demolished to make space for a one-level store which has no visual or material compatibility whatsoever with the rest of the buildings in the street. A functional oddity, the ‘modern Co-operative store’ was opened in 1960 to great acclaim, and has now been there for over fifty years. In the 1980s there were proposals for redeveloping the west side of the street but when these were rejected by a public enquiry the local authority, West Devon Borough Council, was left holding Nos.18-21. In 1984 the four properties, all in a poor state of repair, were sold for a nominal £1 each to the Devon Buildings Heritage Trust who refurbished the buildings, making them into maisonettes with shops below. Time has shown this to have been a successful project.
Market Street seem to have survived. If any readers have any pre-1960 photographs or postcards of Market Street the Tavistock Museum would very much like to borrow and scan them.`
Very few early photographs of
The Traders of Tavistock
Over the years Linda Elliott has given many talks to town groups about the traders and shops in Tavistock so I am pleased that she has written and published this delightful little book. It will make an ideal Christmas present.
Linda gives an account of thirty traders whose businesses were as diverse as William Baker’s ironmongery to William Winter’s drapery store. It is also a book about real people who lived in quite hard times and worked long hours. Nevertheless many were able to combine success in business with public duties and voluntary service.
This new book can be purchased from Bookstop, Market Street, Tavistock, Tavistock Museum and Linda Elliott tel: 01822-615211, Price £6
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