Shopping in Weldon - Past & Present 

“In the early 1960's, there were 9 shops in the centre of the village. There is now just one....(excluding a hairdressers and a cafe)"

There was a paper shop at the bottom end of Corby Road, The Co-op (Now Londis), Welbournes shop where the Cutting Cottage hairdressers now is, the cafe next door, a wool shop where Pete Kerfoots barber shop is, Smeathers shop next to the Oddfellows Hall, Fellows's butchers at the top of Stamford Road, The Post Office,

The Old Harrisons Shop

 Harrisons shop as part of The George Inn, and Felces near The Woolpack on Stamford Road. There were also regular visits from mobile shops - butchers from Gretton, Harrison & Dunn's hardware lorry from Stamford, and others. The butchers would deliver by bike around the district, and they also had a milk delivery round.

Door to door salesmen were also popular then - I particularly remember Kleen-eze brushes being around the house. Other businesses further afield, for example Cobleys the grocers in Kettering, and Dalkieth Ironmongers, also in Kettering, used to offer a van delivery service. If you were lucky enough to own a telephone, you could ring in your order for delivery. We didn't have a phone at the time, so I remember going into Cobleys with my mother when she took her order in. There was a wonderful smell of coffee, and all along the front of the counter was wooden staging with lidded biscuit tins on it. I was always told to choose a biscuit while the order was dealt with. I recently discovered this childhood memory is shared with others whose mothers shopped in Cobleys!! I fondly remember the delivery coming in their cream and brown vans, and "helping mother" to sort out the contents of the cardboard boxes and the brown paper bags. Not only was the odd tit-bit gained during this exercise, but the very best toy in the world - an empty cardboard box- was left at the end of it.

Harrison & Dunns lorry brings back so many memories. If was a large dark brown lorry, similar in style to a furniture removals van, with roller shutters down the left-hand side. I can still hear in my mind the noise they made when they were pulled up or down. Behind the shutters was the biggest selection you could imagine - and then some - of hardware goods. You name it, it was on board; from a packet of Brillo pads to Pink Paraffin carried in a large tank with a brass tap. There's a smell to remember. If it was too big to go in the lorry, it went on top. There was the biggest roof rack I have ever seen in my life on top, so if you wanted a choice of galvanised dustbins, or a wheelbarrow, you were not disappointed. The lorry used to pull up right under our landing window when it came - the dilemma was then to either rush upstairs to see what the latest things were to be roped to the roof, or to hurry outside with mother to savour the sights and smells of the contents of the lorry. Not so many years ago, I met the man who used to drive this lorry, some thirty years since my memories were formed. We had a delightful session recalling those days.

Every shop in the village had its own unique character and smell. The paper shop at the top of the alley sold papers, magazines and sweets primarily (Although the selective memory of a child might have come into play here!)

It was at this shop I did my first job for remuneration - 2/6 (12.5p) a week for delivering the Evening Telegraph on 6 nights!”

 The Old Paper Shop - now a private dwelling

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