You may remember that we’ve looked in some detail at George Brown’s bus and coach business in an earlier blog but we couldn’t resist sharing this albeit rather grainy shot of his former shop on Church Street, Brimington.
We think it came from one of our members but we are not sure of its exact provenance. This snowy picture, perhaps in the 1960s, shows Brown’s old shop to the extreme right, complete with shop window.
It was here that is Brown is mentioned as a cycle dealer, but a also motor engineer at Chesterfield Road in Kelly’s 1932 Directory of Derbyshire. In the previous edition (1928), he was listed solely as a cycle dealer at Church Street. But he also repaired watches – hence his nick-name ‘Clocky’. Notice also, that there’s another shop next to Clocky’s. Who ran this?
Brown once had the garage on Chesterfield Road – the building of which has only in the last year been demolished to make way for the new housing development access road.
You can find out more about Brown in our blog, but one last thought about him.
Many local people might still remember Harry Haywood, who was for many years a councillor for Brimington, both at parish and district level. Harry once told a story that he had left a watch to be to be repaired at Clocky Brown’s, but that he was never able to get it back. Nor did he ever really get to the bottom as to why he didn’t. Harry suspected that it might have been used for spares in repairing other watches, or was simply lost. We’ll never, of course, know, but it certainly stuck in Harry’s memory.
Brimington and Tapton Local History Group 
Thanks for another little trip down Memory Lane. I don’t remember the bicycle shop the article references, but there were a couple of other shops in Church Street in the early 1960’s. (We lived in Devonshire Street from mid-1958 until January 1966.) Starting from the Red Lion, the first was the electrical shop (where I remember buying torch batteries) followed by the cobbler’s shop. (It was fascinating watching him work. We often played “Harry Worth” at the window by the door when the shop was closed. ie Raising one arm and leg, then laughing at the image produced.) Next-door was Melia’s grocery store. (I think they sold continental foods. We didn’t shop there much. We shopped mostly at the Co-op in High Street, and the Pork Butcher just behind the co-op at the top of Foljambe Road.) There were a couple of long steps in front of Melia’s shop and a very large window, but I believe it’s now a chemist. After that came a laneway which led through to Foljambe Road. A little further along Church Street was the fish and chip shop where my mum, Doreen, worked for a while. It was owned / operated by a man named Norman. (No idea what his surname was, but they made the best fish-cakes I’ve ever eaten!) Further along Church Street was a sweet shop where I occasionally spent my pocket-money. (A whole 6d!) I was particularly fond of Buttered Brazil Nuts, while my brother loved Pontefract Cakes. Coconut Mushrooms were also a favourite, and Halls Sour Lemons. I remember Hinch’s shop well. My brother went to school with John Hinch whose parents owned the shop. I was always impressed by the gleaming white tiles everywhere! Sorry for the lack of detail but it’s a very long time since I’ve thought about those shops. Hope you find this interesting, anyway. Pat.
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Many thanks for sharing these memories with us.
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