Post-war
Village Shopping Fifty Years Ago
Writing in November 1999, John Knock looked back half a century to the Saturday mornings he spent shopping in the village with his brother. Those weekly trips took in a surprising range of businesses, and his recollections give a vivid picture of how self-contained Leigh once was.
At that time the village supported three grocers. Ken and Anne Parrett ran one of them, a couple remembered as very friendly, and their shop offered the convenience of a weekly delivery by van. In later years the premises passed to Alan and Barbara Johnston. Another general store was Adin Coates, run by Mr and Mrs Spencer Coates, which stocked a remarkable mixture of pots and pans, footwear, clothing, groceries and delicatessen goods. Serving behind the counter was Mrs Lil Pankhurst, who was strict with children — no doubt to their lasting benefit. Adin Coates later became the clock shop and hairdressers.
The bakery was in the hands of Mr Lakeman, who baked bread on the premises. Among the treats on offer, the author's great favourite was the Russian pastries. Nearby, at the top of Lower Green — premises now occupied by the antiques shop — worked the cobbler, Mr Lewis Brooker. Brooker had been a first-rate Leigh cricketer, and his sporting sympathies showed: he re-stud the young John's cricket boots and refused to take any payment for it.
Meat came from Mr Whitehead's butcher's shop, which stood beside the 'Bat and Ball'. Whitehead was a large man with a high voice, and behind the scenes Stan Wells gave him a helping hand. Mrs Whitehead sat in a hatchway to take customers' money. George Bennett, meanwhile, ran a cycle shop near the slope down to Lower Green, selling not only bicycles but also torch batteries and small electrical goods. In those days the railway halt was named 'Lyghe Halt'.
The 'old' Post Office stood beside the phone box and was run by Mr Albert Winson, whose daughter Margaret later took the shop over with her husband, Bill Wells. Not everything was easy going, however: Green View Avenue was then unsurfaced, full of holes and puddles, and on one occasion the boys stumbled while carrying potatoes, sending them rolling everywhere.
In time the village shops closed one by one, until Leigh was left with a single shop offering groceries, post office facilities, newspapers and prescriptions. John Knock's memories, published by the village's local history society, preserve a way of village life that has since disappeared.