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Haslemere Shops

When the railway came to Haslemere in 1859 the area began to earn a reputation for its unspoilt beauty. As tourists and new settlers arrived, so locals set up and expanded into new businesses, such as horse–drawn carriage hire and tea–rooms. Haslemere has sustained hundreds of independent shops and businesses. The national chain stores have largely been more recent arrivals. Woolworths came in 1951 and its Haslemere branch is said to have been the only store in Britain not to have the classic trademark red in its sign – a concession to the shop’s surroundings. The UK chain and the local store finished trading at the start of 2009. An independent, R. Miles ironmongers, holds the record for the longest continually running shop in Haslemere.

Track 24 Dairies

Credit line: Marjory Bayliss talks about the Haslemere dairies.

Transcription:

Interviewee: And then the milkmen of course delivered – the number of milkmen you could choose from. They came straight from the farms you see and then that was stopped because it had to be pasteurised or something didn’t it?

Interviewer: Do you remember the names of any of the dairies?

Interviewee: There was ’Haslemere Dairy’ in Haslemere. We had it from ’Jays Farm’ out at Blackdown. Then there was ’Gusheys’. Funnily enough I met the daughter of the Gusheys at an old reunion of St Catherine’s School the other day and they had a very big dairy out in West End. It was called ’West End Farm’ and then they moved to Lythe Hill and they delivered milk to ever so many people. They were probably one of the biggest suppliers.

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