The Good Old Days Trivia Quiz

Answer:

All the shops would have been closed on a Sunday, with the exception of the newsagents, which would have opened for a few hours in the morning to sell newspapers. They would also have been shut one afternoon in the week, on 'early closing day'; this varied from town to town, often on a Wednesday, but sometimes a Tuesday or a Thursday.

The greengrocer sold many different fruits and vegetables, which were in season; the only 'exotic' fruits were oranges and bananas, which couldn't grow in the UK. The butcher's floor was always covered in sawdust, and the butcher himself always wore a strong white striped blue apron over his white overall. The fishmonger never opened on a Monday because the fisherman wouldn't have been out to catch anything on a Sunday.

The grocer also sold breakfast cereals and porridge oats, as well as other foodstuffs such as glace cherries, treacle and salt; the biscuits were sold loose from big tins. Although a dairy might sell milk, most people had bottles delivered daily by the milkman. The loaves at the baker came in many different shapes and sizes; my favourite was a cottage loaf, formed by putting a smaller ball of dough on top of a large one to make a loaf which looked like a snowman to me.

Both the draper and the haberdasher were very colourful shops. In addition to dress fabric for adults as well as children, the draper would have thicker fabric for winter skirts and coats, and also stuff for making curtains. The haberdasher would have the necessary curtain tape, as well as elastic, fastenings and decorative trimmings for clothes. A cobbler mends shoes, but the term is sometimes used (incorrectly) for a shoemaker.

The newsagent also sold newspapers, but ours were brought every morning by the paperboy; sometimes I would spend my pocket-money on a children's magazine or comic. But I usually spent it in the next shop; the confectioner had dozens of jars of different sweets which could be weighed out as requested by the customer; jelly babies and liquorice allsorts were also among my favourites, and I always liked walking out with a paper bag full of a tasty treat. The stationer also sold pens, pencils, crayons and glue, as well as drawing paper and coloured card.

I suppose the chemist should really be known as a pharmacist, since he would dispense medicines prescribed by the doctor; he also sold films for cameras, and took them in for developing. The ironmonger was the nearest thing to one of today's hypermarkets - it seemed to sell almost everything we couldn't get elsewhere, with cutlery, crockery, glassware as well as anything the home handyman might need. The florist always had some lovely flowers and decorative pot plants, too; the shop smelt wonderful.

Is one stop shopping really easier? I don't think so - it's often hard to find the right part of the shop, and it's probably much further to walk in total. I'm not convinced that they do sell everything I want, but almost certainly I'll be told that, 'There's no demand for it', if I ask for something they don't stock. Not to mention the fact that we would chat with all the shop-keepers while we were out.