Window dressing

[plantfit 7,206]

I remember when I was a kid looking in shop windows at all the goodies on display, there doesn't seem to be the same attention to detail these day in shop windows, maybe clothes shops but I'm thinking about the smaller shops, butchers seem to be the main window dressers today, anyway I found these couple of photo's when I was going through my collection, it is a real shop window however the display is on printed paper stuck in the window (if you understand me) now, where's our Ben for comparison prices with Marsdens

 

 

Rog

[benjamin1945 15,560]

Collect me new Glasses today Rog....so will look at a price compare later......loved the cuts of Bacon....dressed a few Marsdens windows similar to them.....still remember all the names of different cuts.......

Gammon end

Short back

Flitch

Streaky

Rolled middle

Gammon

Lean Shoulder

Smoked middle

Collar

AHH thats got me all 'Nostalgic''...........think i'll go and Bone a couple of ''Danish sides''

[philmayfield 5,506]

Sounds like a euphemism to me. 

[Jill Sparrow 9,671]

The most striking element of shops in those days was the smell when you walked in. Coffee being one of the most pungent. They carried the smell of the goods they sold. Nowadays, they smell of nothing at all. Hardware shops had an aroma from an admixture of wood, paraffin, candles, etc. Even Ford's had a smell all its own when we went in there for liberty bodices and socks.  Burton's of Long Row was a major olfactory experience.

[Cliff Ton 10,008]

The in-shop smell I most remember was the one I experienced in Wealthall's greengrocers on Radford Boulevard/Grimston Road. It now sells used washing machines........ 

 https://goo.gl/maps/ASiaUVZLvfPVx1Ux9 

 

but back in the 60s I went there many times with my grandmother and there was an overwhelming smell of fruit and veg which I've never encountered anywhere else.

[Beekay 4,398]

Home and Colonial Jill, lovely smell of roasting coffee.

One smell I never really got used to, despite working there for nearly 4 years, was Tom Straw's butchers shop. The smell of blood, raw meat and sawdust.

Not only that, but come the run up to Christmas it was the dressing of chickens. The stink was awful when drawing out the chickens innards. Ugh !

[Jill Sparrow 9,671]

I wouldn't go into the local butcher's when I was a child. Wouldn't go into any shop that had one of those overhead cash systems, either. Didn't like the noise!

[Jill Sparrow 9,671]

19 minutes ago, Cliff Ton said:

The in-shop smell I most remember was the one I experienced in Wealthall's greengrocers on Radford Boulevard/Grimston Road. It now sells used washing machines...

My mother always liked to get her greengrocery items at Wealthall's. They were more expensive than the other shops but it was quality veg. Mum was very fond of beetroot and in those days you had to cook it yourself but at Wealthall's you could buy beetroot Mrs Wealthall had already cooked. Mum kept a special basket for potatoes which were weighed straight out of the sack with earth still on them and then tipped into the basket. It was also a place to buy Colwick cream cheese but you had to be quick because they only had a few and they sold like hot cakes.

 

Wonder whether we were ever in that shop at the same time, CT?

[plantfit 7,206]

Great memories Jill, it's sites like this (nottstalgia) and others that keep these memories alive for the next generation to try and understand how we and our parents/grandparents lived day to day

 

Rog

[Cliff Ton 10,008]

59 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Wonder whether we were ever in that shop at the same time, CT?

 

I would've been there - when I was old enough to be aware of what was happening - from the early 1960s till 67-68.

 

We visited my grandmother during the school holidays, so it would've been during that time.

[Jill Sparrow 9,671]

More than likely our paths could have crossed, CT. One of the smells you detected in the shop was probably boiling beetroot! Mrs Wealthall worked like a Trojan in that shop and it was always busy.

[MRS B 325]

2 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I wouldn't go into the local butcher's when I was a child. Wouldn't go into any shop that had one of those overhead cash systems, either. Didn't like the noise!

The boys will probably confirm this one but weren’t those tubes called Anson tubes? We had a system when I worked at Luton where bookings and other material was sent up to the Control Tower. When we used to get bored on a night shift we used to send all manner of things in the containers just for a laugh. They also had one in the co op in Castle Donington for the cash.

[philmayfield 5,506]

I believe Horne Brothers, the gents’ outfitters on the corner of Long Row and Clumber St. had such a system.

[plantfit 7,206]

I found this photo in my collection that fits in well here, if you look above head height you can just make out one of the communication contraptions you speak of, I took this photo in a small museum in Leicester a few years ago

 

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Rog

[Beekay 4,398]

Is that one of Jill's liberty bodies on the counter Rog?

[plantfit 7,206]

Not at "liberty" to say mate  

 

Rog

 

[Jill Sparrow 9,671]

3 hours ago, plantfit said:

one of the communication contraptions you speak of,

I didn't like them at all and lots of places had them: Roughton's, Derby Road, Farmer's on Exchange Walk and Beech's on Radford Road. Staddon's also had one.

[MRS B 325]

I can understand why you didn’t like them Jill and lots of places had them. It was the vacuum noise that was so loud, simple engineering eh. They went at some pace tho.

[Oztalgian 2,922]

10 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

The most striking element of shops in those days was the smell when you walked in.

I loved going into the local CO-OP with mum. The smell of the ground coffee, the different sorts of cheeses, the smoked meats and the earthy smell of vegetables, many still with the soil on them. The cobblers was another shop I liked going into. the smell of the leather and the shoe polish that he used. Not to mention the tobacconists with the smell of different sorts of tobacco and cigars. Going into the local garage to get some plugs and points for the car, the smell of oil from the workshop next door.

One smell I did not like was the smell of stale beer from the take-away sales at the local off licence. I was often sent up there for a jug of Shipstones bitter for my grandad.

[Beekay 4,398]

It's said of smells, what helps sell a house is the smell of fresh brewed coffee or freshly baked bread.

I realise it's not window dressing but when I belonged to Tonbridge model engineering society I loved the smell of oil and coal smoke from the 5" gauge steam engines. Very evocative of days gone.   B.

[Oztalgian 2,922]

Just remembered the sawdust smell of the butchers shop and the smell of the bread and cakes in the bakers.

[benjamin1945 15,560]

These are the 5 windows (Andover road Bestwood estate) i used to dress every 2 weeks as a 15/16 year old in 60/61.........This was the Marsdens store which sadly has stood empty for many years....

[Cliff Ton 10,008]

Almost all the shops on all the estates look like that these days. I remember those at Clifton when all the units were occupied, and with a deliberate mix of butcher, newsagent, grocer, hardware, etc etc.

[woody 516]

Supermarkets are fine for getting everything in one place but they cannot match the charisma that the old corner shops had. The unique smell in each one, a face behind the counter that you knew and no grumpy cashiers that couldn't give a monkeys about politeness and service.

[IAN FINN 605]

Looks like the windows need dressing again ben you better get over there.