NOW & THEN: CHALLINOR'S/GIBBINS' NEWSAGENTS

Whenever this celebrated newsagents shop crops up in the Middlewich Diary we always seem to express surprise that it still exists. But it does - largely due, we suspect, to the existence of the flats associated with it and accessed from the rear.
We've discussed the shop in previous entries, notably, of course, in this one in which we first saw that fascinating 1948 shot.

 Now, for the first time, we can make a direct comparison between the shop as it was in Challinor's day and as it is now.
The most obvious difference, of course, is the loss of the tiny cottage tacked onto the left hand side of the shop. Before everything was covered with  white rendering it was possible to see signs of the building's truncation in the bricks on the left hand side. 

This is clearly visible in the photo below, a full description of which can be found here 

Second Middlewich Guides 1972

On the right hand side, one of the shop windows has  gone; bricked up and with just a small window in its place for ventilation.
As if to make up for this, there's an additional upstairs window where the shop sign once was. This is a fairly new addition, possibly installed to provide more light for one of the upstairs flats.
The low building to the left of the shop has gone, to be replaced by Lex House, once home of Doctors* and Solicitors. Note that there is still a chimney sticking up above the roof of that building, presumably in connection with some modern central heating equipment.
It's interesting to note that there is still Victorian style scrolled decoration on either side of the shop, but close inspection reveals that it is different in each photograph; the 2012 version seems to be longer and slightly more elaborate than its 1948 counterpart.
As mentioned in previous entries, this shop was once the premises of J&M Print, after that firm moved from the basement of the Civic Hall, but, as far as we know, the  'shop' part of the premises is unused at present.

* In 2017 the doctors, at least, were back and  occupying  the whole building

UPDATE: 22nd March 2017:

And that was the way things were up until 2012. The problem, of course, with 'Now & Then' features is that 'Now' is a moveable feast. Fortunately, working on the internet enable us to update these diary entries with relative ease, and we're able to show you how things  have changed over the last five years.

Here's our updated photo of the area, taken on the 22nd March 2017:

And straightaway we can see that the old shop premises, now occupied by Peter Forshaw Funeral Services, have been altered yet again to suit their new role. To the left 'Lex House' has become the Water's Edge Doctors' Surgery, and to the right, where the old Infants' School, the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and the Wych House Lane Salt Works and its attendant workshops once were, is the Salinae Centre, set in its own gardens.

First published 21st March 2012.
Revised and update 22nd March 2017

MIDDLEWICH SCOUTS IN LEADSMITHY STREET, CHAIRMAN'S SUNDAY 1948

© Phillip Shales 2011 All rights reserved

by Dave Roberts

Today we're pleased to be able to bring you a photograph from 1948 which we're sure not many people will have seen before. It comes from the collection of Middlewich photographer Phillip Shales, who was a keen collector of old Middlewich photographs and took many pictures of the town himself over the years. 

We're grateful, too, to Kerry Fletcher  of Middlewich Town Council for bringing these photos to our attention.

The picture above comes from a collection which was given to Phillip by the widow of the original photographer, complete with all the negatives, and it's a rare privilege for us to be able to share it with you. 

It shows the Middlewich Scouts marching down from their base at the Scout Hall in Brooks Lane on their way to join the rest of the people of the town for the Chairman's Sunday service at St Michael & All Angels in 1948.

This explains the uncommon sight of a procession using Kinderton Street. Before publishing this particular shot, we gave Geraldine Williams a preview of it, and this is what she had to say.

(Note that Geraldine's query about the unusual route of the procession was  answered by Phillip when I called to ask his permission to publish the photo. Geraldine's reference to the street lamps goes back to a couple of slides we published showing unusual swan-necked concrete lamps in Seabank and Lawrence Avenue. The ones in this photo,though, really are wonderful. Does anyone remember them?)


It certainly is an amazing pic. I hadn't realised the scouts were still wearing proper hats in 1948. Wonder what the event was and why they were marching down from Kinderton Street? I don't think it can have been a Civic Sunday service at St Mary's because I think Clarence Costello would have been the first Catholic chairman. The only other event for 1948 would have been the London Olympics! A local Middlewich character - Mrs something double-barrelled (maybe Cooper) - used to live in the house to the right of The Talbot. The lamp posts are very grand but seem to have lost their glass. Are they bigger than that one on Seabank? I've lost track of where that picture appeared in the Diary. I always thought that the public toilets on the Town Bridge were a comparatively recent structure so I was surprised to see them featuring on a 1948 photo. GW


The picture shows Leadsmithy Street as it was 63 years ago and yet, like so many parts of the town, it has changed so little as to be instantly recognisable. 
The main difference between the scene then and now is the loss of the buildings in Kinderton Street.

The Talbot Hotel was demolished as part of the Kinderton Street redevelopment in the 1970s, but the houses next door to it disappeared many years before that.

I certainly don't remember them, and I lived in King Street from the 1950s to the 1980s and used Kinderton Street almost every day.

They must have been pulled down not too long after this picture was taken.The little alley way between The Talbot and the houses was called 'Flag Alley' and led up some steps to a terrace of houses running at right angles to the pub. 

Note the wonderful 1940s vintage car. 'Middlewich Diary' readers are getting quite good at identifying the old cars which crop up occasionally, so I'm wondering if anyone knows what this is.

The earliest car I can recollect is the Ford Prefect which my Aunt Evelyn (Ridgway) drove in the 1950s. This car looks a bit similar, but I think the bonnet's slightly different.

Returning to the main photo, note the 'Just William' types watching the procession from the Churchyard on the left. About ten years later myself and my contemporaries were still dressed  in a remarkable similar fashion. 

If 'fashion' is the appropriate word.