Fantasy High Street From Yesteryear!

Grandmadinosaur

Casdon

Grandmadinosaur

Definitely Chelsea Girl. I was a Saturday girl in a well known East Midlands bakery shop. I finished at 3 and headed straight into Chelsea Girl spending my wages!

Birds? My nanna always went to Birds in Derby and we went with her when we were staying, I still remember the potted meat and tomato sausages with fondness. I think it might still be going though, so I can’t ask for it to come back.

I agree on the Kardomah, I had my first ever proper coffee in there, and I’ve never looked back. There are still a few Kardomah’s around, there’s one in Swansea.

Yes it was indeed Birds. I don’t live close by any longer but you can buy certain items online and if any relative is visiting they ask if I want any bits getting from there!

I’m going online now to see what I can get, thanks!

Phew, what a lovely High Street , imagine all those shops decked out for Christmas too. What about a Lyons Corner House to round off a busy morning!

Yes, we had a Lyon’s. And two lovely independent department stores, and a shop which sold (and repaired) musical instruments and sheet music.

Loved Timothy Whites. I worked there as a Saturday girl for several years while at school and college.

And Lyons - some great names from the past.

I'd choose these 2 plus C & A.

(Great idea for a thread keepcalm...

Macfisheries that's a blast from the past, early memories of doing the shopping rounds with my mother and our Sainsburys, which was old fashioned and smallish with a marble counter no less, assistants behind serving, nothing like today's supermarket.

Definitely C&A an exciting first shopping experience, where 13 year old me got my first maxi skirt. Chelsea Girl loved that shop too, in spite of coming face to face with Bob from On the Buses, it was the teeth, worse than Jaws they were he was in there with a girlfriend.Ravel for shoes and boots.

Kardomah, oh yes! we enjoyed a Saturday afternoon there, me and my mates.

Later on when I was working and had some money Biba and eating in a proliferation of restaurants in London which were called either The Great American Success and The Great American Disaster, nice burgers a bit like The Hard Rock Cafe. I also remember being taken to The Spaghetti Houses in London with a first boyfriend where I had the best profiteroles ever, they're probably still around.

I was a Woolworths Saturday girl and loved my time there.
The first clothes I bought for myself came from Littlewoods.
Stead and Simpson for shoes and sandals.

Loved Biba

coopers in liverpool

It was a large deli in the centre of town, the aroma of coffee was divine

A Wimpy, my first knickerbocker glory and the bendy sausages.

Coopers - Oh the smell of that coffee. And those huge gateaux. Yum. 🍰🍰🍰

C and A
Etam’s
BHS
Debenham’s
Berni Inns
Dorothy Perkins

Ravels
Lyons
Richards (clothes shop)
BHS ... especially at Christmas time because they decorated the shops so beautifully!

Chelsea Girl

Just loved everything in there.

Good old Woolies.

Jaxjacky I used to work in a Wimpy bar in my last year at high school. Loved working there - we could choose whatever we wanted for our staff meal - but hated getting the bus home reeking of Wimpy!

And bring back the Great American Disaster Terribull. The Manchester one was fab.

Lyons Corner House - I remember these from my first visit to London in 1961. Nice place to have afternoon tea served by "nippy" waitresses.

Yes I also loved Biba. A fascinating shop full of exotic looking things.

Blacklers. A wonderful department store, great range of clothing , always got my winter coats from there, fabulous window displays at Christmas, and a huge rocking horse you could ride on for a donation to Alder Hey childrens hospital.
Then C&A. Freeman hardy Willis , Etam. Dolcis. WH Smith
Lastly the Kardomah cafe, many of the Liverpool group members would go in on a Saturday afternoon. ,Such happy carefree days ,

River Island still has High St. shops.

I have a Wimpy Bar 10 minute walk away.

I miss Top Shop (brilliant for jeans) and although Debenhams is online I miss having a mooch round a physical shop.

There are at least two Spaghetti House’s in London still, one right by the Palladium and another in Goodge St.

The Golden Egg in Leicester Square in the mid 60 s.
Restaurants and eateries were few and far between then. Think it was a chain.
Eating out was more of an occasion then which is why I remember it.

Saxone
Bata
Lewis's
What Every Woman Wants

Berni Inns, oh the sophistication!

Caleys in Windosr and the original Bentalls in Kingston. And a department store in Lewisham which had lambs to feed at Easter....did I imagine that. Was it Chiesemans??

Sparklefizz: I, too, was the Saturday girl in our local Timothy Whites because I was saving up to go on a school trip to Italy. Ultimately, the girls couldn’t go because no female member of staff would accompany us. The boys went, though, with a few male teachers.

Timothy Whites in Dorking backed on to caves where large items were stored, eg dustbins. I didn’t care for going in there but loved the shop, especially at Christmas. Sadly it closed down and was replaced by Dorothy Perkins.

I remember Bentalls in Kingston, HelterSkelter1, as it looked in the Sixties - I was amazed by the escalators, having only seen them on the Tube, never in a shop. It was magical at Christmas.

I worked in Bentalls for a few years from 1970. Behind the scenes was amazing. So many staircases and busy departments. It felt like an enormous theatre and the stage was the store. I loved it. So exciting for a 20 year old. I think they had the first personal shopper who said everything must have pzazz ... a word I had never heard before !!!
And the beàuty department was stunning.