Page 22 - April 2016 Issue 302

22 THE NEW COUNTESTHORPE HERALD
APRIL 2016
Riddington, which was previously on the site of the original Leicestershire Co-op. These buildings were demolished to make way for Brook Court and the flats for the elderly.
The Mace general shop, on the corner of Green Lane, was opened in the late 19th century by a member of the Immins family. It was taken over by Ernest and Clarice Heathcote in 1926 and Clarice continued to run the business after her husband’s death in 1969 until she retired at the age of 94 in November 1993. After the shop closed, it was converted back to residential use.
Herbert Hunt was a carrier who used his landau for weddings. Hunt’s garage was situated on Leicester Road and the village’s first petrol pumps were installed there. At the end of May 1998, the sale of petrol ceased. At that time it was Griff’s Garage.
The Post Office was previously sited on Central Street and was run by Mr and Mrs Butcher. When it transferred to Station Road, it was opened up by Mr and Mrs Fletcher.
There was a haberdashery shop on The Square, next to the original King William IV Inn. The General Store/Greengrocers and Fish and Chip shop occupied the site of the present Fish and Chip shop until the mid 1960s when the opportunity for expansion was offered.
Henry Herbert of Cox’s Lane (Central Street) was the village barber. Herbert Clarke, a local farmer, was the night soil man and dustman. John Thomas Barlow was the last traditional blacksmith in Countesthorpe whose smithy was in Main Street on the site of the Co-op. Also in Main Street was a General Store owned by Mrs May Brookes and Briggs General Store and Cycle Shop, doubling as a haulage and taxi business. The local chimney sweep of latter years was Stan Cheney.
Entrepreneur Mrs Margaret Weston of Austrey Lane made ice cream which was sold around local villages from her husband’s horse and trap.
Until the later 1980s, Countesthorpe retailers could offer fresh bread baked on the premises and a delivery of milk from local farms (Dalby’s and Clarke’s), but both businesses were forced to close because of the pressures of modern trading. Ringrose Brothers had operated a bread van round the village and their ovens in the bakehouse were used for cooking Sunday dinners and Christmas poultry. The premises became the Bakery Restaurant and is now Dine India.
The latest development in Countesthorpe’s retail provision was the change of use of The King William IV premises from a pub to a Tesco’s Express.
Look out for more village reflections in the next Countesthorpe Herald.
Ann True
RETAIL REFLECTIONS
Stand in front of the shops on The Bank and reflect on the changes that have occurred within the last 30 years. The opticians was formerly the Alliance and Leicester Building Society; the Funeral Directors was a chemist; Tantastique was the local fruit and vegetable shop; Pizza Point was the electrical shop where you could also hire videos or limousines for your wedding; and there was a ladies hairdressing salon over the newsagents which is now Countesthorpe Local. Only Wings, the Chinese take-away, and Garratt, the bakers, have remained the same. Looking back further into history, it is interesting to reflect on the trends of village trading and the developments that have affected its population.
The photograph of a row of early Victorian cottages was taken in 1960 and shows the
properties that were demolished to make way for The Bank. Back in 1901, the cottage on the far right, No.1 Leicester Road (Wigston Street) was occupied by Caroline Wilson (age 75) and her son. Next door lived Robert Gillam (age 36), his wife Sophia and their four children. William and Jane Mee and their two sons lived at No. 3, with Edward and Lucy Ann Chapman and three children at No. 4. Ellen Watson, a 44 year old widow with seven children lived at No. 5; Philip Immins, his wife Sarah Ann, his adopted son Edward Tilley (age 9) and a boarder Thirza Silver lived at No. 6 and Arthur and Annie Gee at No. 7.
Reflecting back to village trading prior to The Bank development, there is evidence of a coffee house and fish and chip shop at the entrance to Brook Street (formerly Cow Lane). On the right-hand corner was also a hardware shop, run by Ivan