Today Radio Stoke was full off "Shutting up Shop", an exhibition running in the National Portrait Gallery until 4th May 2008. In 1972, photographer John Londei started taking pictures of interesting small independent shops. When he revisited them in 2004 he found that only seven of the 60 shops he'd photographed were still in business!The businesses photographed included butchers, bakers, fishmongers, greengocers, tea merchants and, of course, the good old fashioned corner shop.
I have to declare an interest here. My father was brought up in a corner shop (pictured at the top of this post) in the (at the time) mining village of Woodhouse, Sheffield. I've published my father's memories here which I hope you will read. As in Lark Rise to Candleford these shops dispensed advice as well as goods. This was when conditions like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and services like professional counselling were unknown.
We now live in an era where our supermarkets are modelled on Essex barns rather than local architecture and look the same from Aberdeen to York (I couldn't find a town beginning with a Z!).
If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy http://www.flickr.com/groups/still-open. You can buy John Londei's book by clicking here or visit your local book shop if you still have one!
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