Blyth History.

[pityackafromblyth]

Can anyone in RootsChat recall a ladies' hat shop which was on Regent Street, just yards along from Station Street ?  There was a newsagent's shop next door to it. I have come across an old post from a member in Australia and she was trying to trace relatives (two sisters) who ran such a shop in Blyth.  Just after the War my grandmother used to call at the shop on Regent Street with me in tow.  There were 2 women in that shop, but obviously I cannot visualise them, nor recall their names.  Perhaps this is the shop she is referring to, although more than likely there would have been other millinery shops in Blyth.
I have sent the woman in Australia a PM suggesting she 'refreshes' her query again, and also visit the Blyth History page here, where hopefully the information she wants may come to light.

[emmadog]

Yes, I can remember it but not the name.  I will be texting my aunt later so will ask her (she is 86 so will probably be able to tell me)  Now waiting for reply

[emmadog]

Sorry, the old lass has let me down.  She could only remember the mens shop that was near there.

Barbara

[pityackafromblyth]

Barbara, Hopefully other Blyth folks will see this and come up with the answer. Whether there were 2 or 3 shops between the back lane of Station Street/Wright Street, and the front of Wright Street, I forget. But I do remember the Millinery shop, and the newsagents. I also remember the tops of the backyard walls which were covered with cement and broken glass set into it.  To stop thieves and burglars ? Nowadays, you would not be able to put that on top of the walls - you might injure the wrong doers !!!!
In Wright street, opposite my Grandmother's backyard door, was the backyard door of Mrs. Taylor, and her daughter, Nelly. Those steps, on the climb-up to their living room, seemed steep for a youngster. Those houses in Wright Street must have been 2 up and 2 downs, like I grew up in in New Delaval.

[Phodgetts]

Which side of the street and on which corner? I will look through the pictures I have and see if there is one of the shop in question.

I had a brief look and there is an old picture of such a shop on Regent Street called C Pordum, Hatter, Hosier & (?) but it is a very old picture and not one from the 50s or 60s. It is now the site of the shop called Les Belles next to the Pullman pub.

If I'm barking up the wrong shop, give me a bit more detail.

P 

[Phodgetts]

I don't know if this might be correct, but I just got word back from one of my Blyth moles and he tells me the newsagents shop was Mather's News and the hat shop was owned by a Mavis Scott. The shop was called The Hat Box. Her husband was a certain Ronnie who was a North Blyth train driver.

Does that fit with anything you might remember or does it jiggle the grey cells at all?

P

[pityackafromblyth]

The name of Mather's newsagents shop rings a bell with me. As regards the women's hat shop, it was the late 1940's when I was taken there.  Perhaps the shop changed hands sometime after that.

[Phodgetts]

This a bit more of what my mole told me.

" In the early days,  when I was a tot,  it was Soulsby's  men's hat shop, managed by George Basset.  I went to school with his daughter Audrey, now deceased. It was an order office for Sid Gunn, coalman,   then a trophy shop. It then stood empty for a long while,  then it was the ladies hairdressers."

My mole is in his 70s now and is a great source of titbits and stories about places and people. Of course some of the gossip has to be kept secret! 

P

[Phodgetts]

I'm still not exactly sure if this indeed the correct location of the shop you are talking about, but nevertheless here is a photo of what was Soulsby's and the little shop next door. The building right most is The Pullman pub.

P