Did you have one of these grocery shops in your town?
The politically incorrect name summed up the produce which came from all over the British Empire and Colonies.
I remember in the days of rationing queuing around the block, utterly miserable, for quarter of an hour or so, to even get in. That's how busy they were. However, as a kid i remember being fascinated by the aroma of the sawdust on the wooden floor, the open sacks of flour and grains,the man with a thin wire on a peg who sliced through a huge block of cheese on the counter and the mechanical slicing machine which sliced sides of bacon and ham into thin slivers with a magical silky, hissing noise as the handle was turned and the slicing machine whizzed back and fore. This chain of shops made its founder a millionaire who built Castle Drago in Devon.
I don't think they survived later than the fifties and the gradual loss of the pink bits on the map.
The politically incorrect name summed up the produce which came from all over the British Empire and Colonies.
I remember in the days of rationing queuing around the block, utterly miserable, for quarter of an hour or so, to even get in. That's how busy they were. However, as a kid i remember being fascinated by the aroma of the sawdust on the wooden floor, the open sacks of flour and grains,the man with a thin wire on a peg who sliced through a huge block of cheese on the counter and the mechanical slicing machine which sliced sides of bacon and ham into thin slivers with a magical silky, hissing noise as the handle was turned and the slicing machine whizzed back and fore. This chain of shops made its founder a millionaire who built Castle Drago in Devon.
I don't think they survived later than the fifties and the gradual loss of the pink bits on the map.
