Chippy Minton moved to Chandler’s Ford in the late 1980s. In this second instalment of his memories from the time, he writes about some of the shops that were around Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh at the time.
The Chestnut Avenue hypermarket had been there for some years. In those days it was still trading as Gateway (having recently changed from Carrefour – and many people still referred to it as Carrefour). Asda took over the store fairly soon after I moved to the area – though continued to sell Gateway branded goods for several weeks. The store closed over an Easter weekend and reopened as a fully Asda-ised store.
In those days the store was not open on a Sunday (can you imagine that today?). The car park was used for a charity car boot sale – a different charity was supported each week and was quite a lucrative money earner.
Another change over the years has been to the layout of the car park. The roadway running along the right-hand side of the car park (parallel to Bournemouth Road) was one way – exit only. This still causes me confusion today as I forget to look right as pulling out from the parking area.
For those interested in how prices have increased, you could buy a 2-pint carton of milk from Gateway for 32 pence. I would sometimes buy a slice of bread pudding (18 pence) at the same time, to make up to a round 50 pence.
Stoke Park Farm
Express dairies provided a home delivery service from a depot in Shakespeare Road. It was also around this time that Stoke Park Farm started a milk round. Their unique selling point was an evening delivery (“tomorrow’s milk today”) which suited my lifestyle, as I didn’t have to worry about milk being left out all day if I left for work before the milk arrived.
The Stoke Park Dairy delivery service operated for a few years before closing down – its rounds were taken over by Unigate, who later morphed into Milk&More (and the evening delivery reverted to the more traditional morning one).
Moving along Bournemouth Road from Asda / Gateway, we had Rowles Garage on the corner of Leigh Road, which was a British Leyland franchise (remember them?). It’s now Picador and Vauxhall. The Hut was, even then, a Beefeater restaurant – possibly one of the longer-serving establishments to be still trading under the same name. Further towards Winchester, what is now the King Rufus has gone through several transformations in the same period – back in 1988 it was a Berni Inn.
King Rufus in Chandler’s Ford.
Banks and post office on Bournemouth Road
There were at least two banks in the parades of shops just south of the railway – a Barclays on the station side, and a National Westminster opposite.
I forget precisely which buildings each occupied, but think National Westminster may have been in or next to what is now the Indian restaurant. These were both in addition to the branches that are still at Fryern – though they may have had limited opening hours.
I don’t recall ever going inside either branch, but a housemate and I would sometimes go down together on a Friday or Saturday evening to draw money from our respective bank’s cash machine. This was in the days when cash machines could be found only outside banks, and you could only draw money from your own bank’s machines.
Cash Machines
A quick anecdote about cash machines – though it may well be an apocryphal tale.
The first cash machines were operated with a voucher – about the size of a cheque. You typed in a six-digit number, opened a drawer, placed the voucher inside, and closed the drawer. The machine whirred and clicked, and when you reopened the drawer the voucher had been replaced with a neatly bound packed of ten one-pound notes. All well and good, except that all you needed to do to open the drawer was to enter a six-digit combination that the machine recognised.
One such combination was 930330, and what was displayed in the window of every bank in the country? A notice declaring: “this branch is open between 9.30 am and 3.30 pm”. Consequently, many cash machines were put out of action on a Saturday night when people discovered this code and found the drawer a useful receptacle for their chip wrappers.
Reg (On The Buses) Varney using a Cash Point-Machine (Barclaycash). Image by Robert Wade via Flickr.
Other shops I remember from this area are an electrical white goods store – Ketts(?) – at the edge of Central precinct (now copy and print – but the building is still called Ketts House) and a fireplace shop further up Bournemouth Road. I seem to also remember a small post office in what is now the nail bar (or may have been the Indian restaurant, if that wasn’t Nat West).
Bournemouth Road, Chandler’s Ford: there used to be banks and a post office here.
Dovetail Centre
At Fryern Arcade there was a laundromat – maybe where the right-hand part of Costa Coffee now is – and Beatties, the toy and model shop, at the bottom. The Co-Op was a Safeway, and the Dovetail Centre at the Methodist church was under construction.
A plaque about history of Dovetail Centre at the Methodist Centre in Chandler’s Ford.Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church and Dovetail Centre
Before my first expedition to Eastleigh I looked at a map and decided that “High Street” sounded like the place where all the shops would be. But I entered from the Chestnut Avenue end, not realising there was a long residential street to walk along before I reached the town centre. And even then, my path was blocked by the under-construction Swan Centre.
I reckon the foundation stone for the Swan Centre must have been unveiled at about the time that I moved to the area.
Foundation Stone, Swan Centre, Eastleigh.
Tesco was there before the Swan Centre was built but was closed for a few weeks while the building works took place. Tesco offered a free bus service to the Bursledon store during this period.
Swan Centre
The opening of the Swan Centre was a bit of an anti-climax. Most of the units were still empty, or being fitted. I think that Boots and W H Smith were pretty much the only stores there.
This wasn’t unusual for new shopping centres – I suppose it is a chicken-and-egg situation: the shops can’t open before the centre, but the centre needs the shops before it can open. But it wasn’t long before the rest of the units started to fill, and the Swan Centre became an asset to the town centre.
Another Chippy Bonus – what was the name and type of store that first occupied the unit now occupied by Poundland? Just to clarify: that’s the store that until recently was the 99p Store, not the one where Woolworths used to be – I don’t make these Chippy Bonuses that easy!
Architects design for the Swan Centre. image credit: Eastleigh Local History Society.Eastleigh Town Centre – Swan Centre can be seen from a distance.KFC in Eastleigh town centre – used to be a pet food store
Elsewhere in the town centre could be found two – if not three – greengrocers. No KFC or MacDonald’s (happy days?), but there was a Wimpy in Market Street. The site of the KFC was a pet food store. My favourite store was possibly Collins, the hardware store.
A few years later, after moving to the town centre, I was in and out of there so many times one Saturday to get different supplies the owner said “next time, just come in through the back door”. There may have been a café in High Street, but I can’t remember any other coffee shops other than the café at the bus station – we didn’t imagine that one day we would have the plethora of coffees shops that we have today.
Wimpy
Does the mention of Wimpy fill you with nostalgia? The place where you were allowed to eat a burger with a knife and fork, and a Brown Derby was the epitome of childhood sophistication!
There are still a few around (there is one in Basingstoke) and I am sometimes tempted to try one for old times’ sake. But I resist on the grounds that either it won’t be as good as it used to be, or it will be the same as it was and I will realise that it was never particularly good.
The old (right) and new (left) Railwayman statue in Eastleigh town centre. The statue was unveiled on 8th April 1995.
Do you still remember these shops and pubs?
Other names that have disappeared, not only from Eastleigh but from all town centres, include the gas showroom (now Salvation Army shop), Dixons (Ponden) , Radio Rentals (Subway or Edinburgh Woollen Mill, or thereabouts), Brentfords (somewhere near Burtons), and QS (Costa Coffee). Burtons, Super Drug, Martins and (possibly) Peacocks are among only a handful of premises that are still trading under the same name as they were in 1988.
Pubs in the town centre were The Home Tavern (now Wagon Works) and the Royal Mail. The latter was later revamped as a night club (which in one short-lived incarnation featured topless dancers) before eventually being demolished to make way for the Travelodge.
I forget what Stones was, but the site of the Litten Tree was a furniture shop – I forget the name, but there was another branch in Southampton – possibly in Above Bar, but I may be wrong. There was another furniture shop in Leigh Road (now Mumbai Lounge) and a third in Wells Place (now a car park).
Other pubs that have since gone to the great brewery in the sky include the Tabby Cat in Hilitingbury Road, the Golden Hind in Twyford Road, the Victoria Inn at Allbrook and the Eastleigh Hotel in Southampton Road.
All this talk of pubs has made me thirsty, so I will end now and go and get a beer. But I will leave you with another Chippy Bonus – what was the original name of the pub that is now called Stones?
Update: 28th April 2016
I’ve found some old photos on the Francis Frith website.
This one shows the Westminster Bank in Bournemouth Road (national Westminster in my time).
And here we have a Lloyds (which I had forgotten about) on the opposite side of the road.
Further down there was a National Provincial. I think this is where the Barclays that I remember was. I suspect that after the merger of National Provincial and Westminster, the two branches merged, and the National Provincial building was taken over by Barclays.
I've lived in Chandler's Ford and Eastleigh for most of my working life, having been brought up in the south Midlands, and schooled in the Home Counties.
I work in IT, and my hobbies include bell ringing, walking, cycling and running.
I enjoy live theatre and music, and try to watch many of the shows that are performed in the Eastleigh area.
Yes, please do give us the answers, Chippy. Have been racking my brains over what was in the Swan Centre where the 99p store is now. Hasn’t helped – I still can’t remember it!
Must admit I don’t miss the Tabby Cat in Hiltingbury. It got a reputation for being a “kiddies’ pub” and was often referred to as the Scabby Rat. Not my idea of a good drinking establishment!
Yes there was one lovely, friendly post office on Bournemouth Road – I had fond memories visiting this place. The ladies who worked there even liked babies!
I used to visit this post office a lot, and bought my Presentation Packs. Later this post office moved to Fryern Arcade. I shared my stamps in this post before: Nostalgia: My Stamp Collection.
Sometimes the queue was very long, especially on a Thursday. I didn’t know why until the locals told me Thursday was the pension payday. Since then I avoid post office on a Thursday.
I think the old post office was at 5 Bournemouth Road, so it should be today’s Maya Fine Indian Dining (the one shown in your post), just next to today’s Knight Goodhead Accountants.
According to Barbara Hillier, this post office was near the site that the first Anglican Church was built in Chandler’s Ford. (pg 34, The Chandler’s Ford History).
To add to this, beside the post office, set back a way (the building Maya occupies filled that gap) used to be a video rental store. A small, local chain whose name I can’t remember. They were there long before Blockbuster arrived on Winchester Road (itself now departed). I rented many a VHS from the.
I forgot to mention The Deans, the hardware store in Hursley Road – where the flats next to the Co-op now are. The site of the Co-op was a car sales showroom – but I forget whether it was new cars (Nissan and Renault ring a vague bell) or second-hand.
The Deans is now occupied by some apartment blocks called The Deans.
I used to have a black and white photo of The Deans but can’t find it at the moment. I showed the photo to Barbara Hillier, and she told me she has a chapter about this store in her book and I could quote her.
(It’s on pg 60 in The Chandler’s Ford History book.)
Mr Albert Dean started the business in 1906. The name was changed to F H Dean and Son Ltd later (F for Frank, the young son). The shop’s last owners were Roger and Gill Dean.
I remembered buying a few things from The Deans – so convenient, and it was vast, the the people there were willing to explain things to you.
The business closes in 2004 – a family business which existed for almost 100 years.
Hi,
I worked at Deans in the early 70s. Frank was a true gentleman as was his son Roger. I worked in the hardware department with Roy as my senior.
We took great pride in finding whatever was asked for, no matter how obscure. Roger was heavily involved with the good works of the local Round Table and cricket club, as was another chap called Andrew who worked in the pet food and gardening dept.
First job of the day was to empty the green Commer truck’s contents to create a display in front of the shop, reversed upon closing. Worst job? When anyone asked for a yard of sand or ballast, as it was my duty to hand shovel it into a measured wooden container onto the Commer or the customers trailer. Happy days.
I was born in the tin huts at Velmore camp and lived in Eastleigh until I was 18 and married.
Eastleigh memories? The Green Hut on the rec. Fleming Park’s Victorian pavilion, tennis courts and mini golf. Freezing cold Bishopstoke Lido, with Mr Churchills hot Bovril as antidote, (loved his old black saloon car, a Pilot model?) Boyatt Woods when it was a wood, cross country running (enforced torture ) through Cows!!!t Canyon, Stevens Funfair, The Railway Institute in Leigh Road opp Woolworths (Benny Hills early employer), Ingrams news and toys, Delbridges with the mountain of eggs displayed on racks outside. Cox’s electrical and the record and bike shop opp. Harris’s? The Mini Diner with its Pyrex cup and saucer tea (Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town on the Juke Box next to the twin Pin Tables (whoops tilt again!!). Torrbocks upstairs supermarket, Smith & Bradbeers furniture, chip shop that sold 6p of oily fritters, a meal on it’s own, Hanns Dairy another of Benny’s employers, the laundrymat and take away next door (prosecuted for selling cat meat allegedly), The Regal cinema, Burtons, Friar Tucks, Hants & Dorset bus station (the proper one) Bakery next door (hello Auntie Pidge), Chevron Garage, Unity Club, Station Cafe (with the elderly Polish gents that had the bandit machines sequences off to a tee), Junction Pub, Home Tavern, Golden Hinde Rookery Maternity Hosp.
Names? Carol Bull, Andy Goodchild, Greg Cheesborough, Phil, Alan, Blaze Fernandes and their Star Guitarist Dad, Cammileries, Paul Christopher, John Ward, Martin Rooney, Christine Collyer, Ralphs, Jacobs, Fords, Siviours, Bells Pilgrims Banburys, Leon Gray, Richard Lawrence (envied his 350 Morrini) I could go on forever but I will spare you.
Other shops from Eastleigh town centre I have recently remembered are:
China and glass ornaments shop on corner of Market Street and Leigh Road – this later moved further down Market Street and subsequently closed completely. There was also a branch in Chandler’s Ford, opposite Fryern Arcade.
A decorating supplies shop, in Leigh Road – in what was the Co-op Travel shop.
A vehicle accessories shop (similar to Halfords) (Les Smith?) next to HSBC in Leigh Road – now, I think a beauty salon.
I have just been back to CF after about 20 years….does anyone recall ‘Ryders’ or possibly ‘Riders’ Shoe Shop on the Bournemouth Road parade? Also MacMahons paper shop opposite the Monks Brook and Mr Latham’s bicycle repair shop further up……there was a jewelers there – next door – and my ears were pierced here in 1974….Deans was well loved for providing pony food and Roger Dean was held in high esteem by my Mother. And I blame Canton House the exotic Chinese takeaway – new to CF in 1972 (?) that made me pile on the pounds! I also recall taking an iron to be repaired by Mr Dibben in his electrical shop on the same row of shops! And how can I forget – John Habbin – the Bookmaker on the Bournemouth Road parade…..happy days!!
Did the shoe repairer have a limp, as did most shoe repairers of 20-plus years ago? Though I seem to be the only one who remembers. Maybe because I visited various shoe repairers in various towns during my childhood and noticed the common theme.
The reason, incidentally, was that they had been polio sufferers, and shoe-repair was the trade that was taught at the National Polio School.
At one stage, the shoe repairer (in my youth known just as ‘The Shoe Shop’) was called ‘Lex Leathers’ … before Rex Pragnell, it was a husband and wife, and the ‘Shoeman’ may well have been a polio victim, as he had no legs (I think from below the knee, possibly higher … my memory has let me down a bit) and he sat on a stool doing the repairs … when his wife wasn’t there, he had to shuffle across the floor on his bottom to the end of the counter … as you can imagine, as a 4 – 5 year old, I was completely awestruck … regrettably, I cannot remember their names.
I am looking for the daughter of a Eastleigh Printer. They lived over the printing shop I believe the business was called Greenleigh, possibly in Leigh. I remember walking to the property many times from the Railway station. I lost the address through moving several times. Hope you can help
Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 3
Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: My Passions with Bikes and Boats (Part 9)
Hope you’re going to give us the answers to these Chippy bonuses!
I’ll try to remember to add them to Part 3.
Yes, please do give us the answers, Chippy. Have been racking my brains over what was in the Swan Centre where the 99p store is now. Hasn’t helped – I still can’t remember it!
Chippy,
What’s your reward for correct answers, or good effort?
Probably just the satisfaction of getting the answers!
Must admit I don’t miss the Tabby Cat in Hiltingbury. It got a reputation for being a “kiddies’ pub” and was often referred to as the Scabby Rat. Not my idea of a good drinking establishment!
In a similar way that the Litten Tree is known as The Litter Tray.
Chippy,
Yes there was one lovely, friendly post office on Bournemouth Road – I had fond memories visiting this place. The ladies who worked there even liked babies!
(Image credit: Peter Facey CC BY-SA 2.0 Vanished Post Office, Bournemouth Road, Chandler’s Ford – geograph.org.uk – 864057.jpg – Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons)
I used to visit this post office a lot, and bought my Presentation Packs. Later this post office moved to Fryern Arcade. I shared my stamps in this post before: Nostalgia: My Stamp Collection.
Sometimes the queue was very long, especially on a Thursday. I didn’t know why until the locals told me Thursday was the pension payday. Since then I avoid post office on a Thursday.
Which building is this ? what is there now?
I think the old post office was at 5 Bournemouth Road, so it should be today’s Maya Fine Indian Dining (the one shown in your post), just next to today’s Knight Goodhead Accountants.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
According to Barbara Hillier, this post office was near the site that the first Anglican Church was built in Chandler’s Ford. (pg 34, The Chandler’s Ford History).
The Chandler’s Ford Story: From Earliest Time to the 21st Century: Barbara J. Hillier, Gerald Ponting
To add to this, beside the post office, set back a way (the building Maya occupies filled that gap) used to be a video rental store. A small, local chain whose name I can’t remember. They were there long before Blockbuster arrived on Winchester Road (itself now departed). I rented many a VHS from the.
Yes, I remember the video rental store – but also cannot remember its name.
That’s right Janet, it used to be very handy having a post office next door to the office. It’s now quite handy having Maya next door!
I forgot to mention The Deans, the hardware store in Hursley Road – where the flats next to the Co-op now are. The site of the Co-op was a car sales showroom – but I forget whether it was new cars (Nissan and Renault ring a vague bell) or second-hand.
The Deans is now occupied by some apartment blocks called The Deans.
I used to have a black and white photo of The Deans but can’t find it at the moment. I showed the photo to Barbara Hillier, and she told me she has a chapter about this store in her book and I could quote her.
(It’s on pg 60 in The Chandler’s Ford History book.)
Mr Albert Dean started the business in 1906. The name was changed to F H Dean and Son Ltd later (F for Frank, the young son). The shop’s last owners were Roger and Gill Dean.
I remembered buying a few things from The Deans – so convenient, and it was vast, the the people there were willing to explain things to you.
The business closes in 2004 – a family business which existed for almost 100 years.
Hi,
I worked at Deans in the early 70s. Frank was a true gentleman as was his son Roger. I worked in the hardware department with Roy as my senior.
We took great pride in finding whatever was asked for, no matter how obscure. Roger was heavily involved with the good works of the local Round Table and cricket club, as was another chap called Andrew who worked in the pet food and gardening dept.
First job of the day was to empty the green Commer truck’s contents to create a display in front of the shop, reversed upon closing. Worst job? When anyone asked for a yard of sand or ballast, as it was my duty to hand shovel it into a measured wooden container onto the Commer or the customers trailer. Happy days.
I was born in the tin huts at Velmore camp and lived in Eastleigh until I was 18 and married.
Eastleigh memories? The Green Hut on the rec. Fleming Park’s Victorian pavilion, tennis courts and mini golf. Freezing cold Bishopstoke Lido, with Mr Churchills hot Bovril as antidote, (loved his old black saloon car, a Pilot model?) Boyatt Woods when it was a wood, cross country running (enforced torture ) through Cows!!!t Canyon, Stevens Funfair, The Railway Institute in Leigh Road opp Woolworths (Benny Hills early employer), Ingrams news and toys, Delbridges with the mountain of eggs displayed on racks outside. Cox’s electrical and the record and bike shop opp. Harris’s? The Mini Diner with its Pyrex cup and saucer tea (Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town on the Juke Box next to the twin Pin Tables (whoops tilt again!!). Torrbocks upstairs supermarket, Smith & Bradbeers furniture, chip shop that sold 6p of oily fritters, a meal on it’s own, Hanns Dairy another of Benny’s employers, the laundrymat and take away next door (prosecuted for selling cat meat allegedly), The Regal cinema, Burtons, Friar Tucks, Hants & Dorset bus station (the proper one) Bakery next door (hello Auntie Pidge), Chevron Garage, Unity Club, Station Cafe (with the elderly Polish gents that had the bandit machines sequences off to a tee), Junction Pub, Home Tavern, Golden Hinde Rookery Maternity Hosp.
Names? Carol Bull, Andy Goodchild, Greg Cheesborough, Phil, Alan, Blaze Fernandes and their Star Guitarist Dad, Cammileries, Paul Christopher, John Ward, Martin Rooney, Christine Collyer, Ralphs, Jacobs, Fords, Siviours, Bells Pilgrims Banburys, Leon Gray, Richard Lawrence (envied his 350 Morrini) I could go on forever but I will spare you.
Other shops from Eastleigh town centre I have recently remembered are:
China and glass ornaments shop on corner of Market Street and Leigh Road – this later moved further down Market Street and subsequently closed completely. There was also a branch in Chandler’s Ford, opposite Fryern Arcade.
A decorating supplies shop, in Leigh Road – in what was the Co-op Travel shop.
A vehicle accessories shop (similar to Halfords) (Les Smith?) next to HSBC in Leigh Road – now, I think a beauty salon.
I have just been back to CF after about 20 years….does anyone recall ‘Ryders’ or possibly ‘Riders’ Shoe Shop on the Bournemouth Road parade? Also MacMahons paper shop opposite the Monks Brook and Mr Latham’s bicycle repair shop further up……there was a jewelers there – next door – and my ears were pierced here in 1974….Deans was well loved for providing pony food and Roger Dean was held in high esteem by my Mother. And I blame Canton House the exotic Chinese takeaway – new to CF in 1972 (?) that made me pile on the pounds! I also recall taking an iron to be repaired by Mr Dibben in his electrical shop on the same row of shops! And how can I forget – John Habbin – the Bookmaker on the Bournemouth Road parade…..happy days!!
That nail bar used to be Rex Pragnell Shoe Repairs!
Did the shoe repairer have a limp, as did most shoe repairers of 20-plus years ago? Though I seem to be the only one who remembers. Maybe because I visited various shoe repairers in various towns during my childhood and noticed the common theme.
The reason, incidentally, was that they had been polio sufferers, and shoe-repair was the trade that was taught at the National Polio School.
At one stage, the shoe repairer (in my youth known just as ‘The Shoe Shop’) was called ‘Lex Leathers’ … before Rex Pragnell, it was a husband and wife, and the ‘Shoeman’ may well have been a polio victim, as he had no legs (I think from below the knee, possibly higher … my memory has let me down a bit) and he sat on a stool doing the repairs … when his wife wasn’t there, he had to shuffle across the floor on his bottom to the end of the counter … as you can imagine, as a 4 – 5 year old, I was completely awestruck … regrettably, I cannot remember their names.
I am looking for the daughter of a Eastleigh Printer. They lived over the printing shop I believe the business was called Greenleigh, possibly in Leigh. I remember walking to the property many times from the Railway station. I lost the address through moving several times. Hope you can help