Shops in Lodsworth
So far we have identified at least 15 separate shops that have traded within the parish. This number is undoubtedly an underestimate, as we have details of other shopkeepers, the names and locations of whose premises we have not yet tracked down.
Some of the shops were ‘general stores’ selling a wide range of food and general household items. The largest of these were The Stores and the Old Bakery/Miss Lauckner’s shop in The Street and the shop & bakery in Lickfold. To quote Mrs D Woodrow nee Potter, an evacuee living in Lodsworth with Miss Lauckner during WW2:
‘There were two shops in the village, our own which we considered the most important and Randalls near the Post Office. In our shop we sold everything, ladies overalls, pins & needles, wool, vegetables, fruit from our garden …’
Four bakeries have been identified: Gamlin’s at Halfway Bridge, both The Stores and The Old Bakery in The Street and the one run at one time by ‘Winkle’ Ayling, the ‘Bun King’, in Lickfold.
Sweet shops were common, with quite a few ladies selling confectionary and sometimes tobacco products from their front rooms.
Today, of course, we have just one shop, The Lodsworth Larder, a very successful community-owned business.
| Business | Location | Proprietors | Sources* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Bakery aka Miss Lauckner’s shop | The Street | James Farthing (1841-1884), William James “Winkle” Ayling (1905-1915), Miss Nellie Lauckner (1934-1945) | 4,5,6,7,17 |
| The Stores aka Lodsworth Stores | Stores House, The Street | Hancock, Henry Marshall (1841), John Horne (1866-1877), James Randall (1878-1916), John Randall (1916-1947), Boxall (1947-), C & C Bowers (1953-1953), Les Clark (1957-1961), Barry & Jean Smith (1961-1978), Charles & Dorrie Walsh (1978-1984), Mr & Mrs C E Kinchin (1985-1986), NW & Mark A Horton (1986-1989) | 3,4,5,6,8,9,13,17,18 |
| Halfway Bridge Butchers | Halfway Bridge | John Reading (1851-1861) | 4,6 |
| Erickers sweet shop, grocer & tobacconist | The Street | Henry Hurst (1871-1903), William Hammond (1915), Mrs Jane Hammond (1918-1930) | 4,5,17 |
| The Old Shop | Old Shop Cottage, Lickfold | Charles Glazier (1878-1882), William C Ayling (1887), Henry Hewshaw (1890-1895), William James “Winkle” Ayling (1924-1948), William James Ayling (Junior) (1948-) | 4,5,6,9,17,18 |
| Mrs Child’s grocery store | Old Well House, The Street | Annie Childs (1878-1887), Sarah Child (1881) | 4,5,6 |
| Emma Terry’s shop | Rushen, The Street | Emma Terry (1881-1913), Sayers & Terry (1882-1890) | 4,5 |
| Gilbert, grocer & beer retailer | White Cottage, Bexley Hill | William Alfred Gilbert (1882-1911), James Spooner (1938) | 5,17 |
| Halfway Bridge Bakery aka Gamlin’s Bakery | Halfway Bridge | Arthur James Blaker (1887-1890), Henry Herbert Gamlin (1911-1953) | 4,5,8 |
| Kozy Cottage Sweet Shop | Holliers, Smithbrook | Penny Luff (1912) | 17 |
| Lodsworth Larder | The Street | Reba Weller & Andrew Mills (2009-2015), Stephen White & Tacye MacGregor (2015-2016), Sheri Birch & Tacye MacGregor (2016-) | |
| Heading’s butcher shop | Weavers’ garage, The Street | Heading | 17 |
