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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 29 Shops on Wey Hill

Credit line: Peter Moorey talks about the shops he remembers on Wey Hill.

Transcription:

Interviewee: The Co–Op, or series of shops, were on Wey Hill. They started half way on Wey Hill and went right down to The Crown and Cushion. There were clothing shops, groceries, fish shops all belonging to the Co–Op and they had system where they used to take you money and put in a box or a metal box on a wire and it used to shoot along to a central point where a Shop Assistant would count the money and send the change back, which you always used to enjoy seeing. And then there was a Mr Bean, opposite The Greens and he used to run a green grocers shop, [in the] late 30s, and then there was Debbie Rapson, again opposite where the garage is now, he [ran] a blacksmith’s shop and where Tescos is it was a recreation ground, where they used to play football and they used to hold fetes.

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