In the early 1970’s Mr. Stone still lived above the butcher shop at 14 Elm Grove which his father purchased in 1912. It had originally belonged to Mrs. Stenning, who established the business in 1884. Mr. Stone recalls:

“I started here on December 23, 1938. Father and mother managed it before me – I worked for them. They came here on November 5, 1912.

I stayed here until I was 17 and then went away to London to have my experiences, and done three years slaughtering; I also went through the business of the butchery shop in two London shops. From there I went to Reading, then to Swindon, and, on the death of my father, I had to come back here.”

Walk up the hill to the junction of Hampden Road.

Mr. and Mrs. Stanger opened their own chemist shop in 1935 at 74 Elm Grove.

“We started with two shops, one in Elm Grove and one further up Elm Grove. Then we bought one at Woodingdean. I did all the buying at No. 74. The other shops sent orders to me each. Eventually we sold Woodingdean- it got too much. In our other shop we had one qualified man and an assistant. In the main store there was me and my wife, another qualified girl, an assistant cleaner; we had a boy with a hand cart for deliveries.”

“I did enjoy business. I was my own boss and had very good staff. Our ambition as chemists was to give service and oblige people. And we made a reasonable profit.

We got married and said we are not going to earn a lot of money and save it. What money we have will go on the children’s education.”

There is still a Pharmacy at no 74 run by Kamson’s and no 78, which was a greengrocer in 1924, is still a greengrocer now called Hilly Laine.

Elm Grove still contains a number of shops mostly on the right hand side as you go up the hill. In 1924 it contained 12 grocers/greengrocers; 2 bakers; 4 butchers; 3 confectioners; 1 fishmonger; 4 tobacconists, and 2 chemists.

At the chemist junction turn down Hampden Road and this will take you to the next street Islingwood Road. Turn right down the hill until you reach No 128.

At no.128 Islingword Road, Archers the Butchers once stood.
The current shop is still called Archers and you will note the signage is very similar to how it might have been in the past.

“Father got to know people in the trade. He was a member of the Association (Brighton and Hove Meat Traders Association). He started at 6:30 and closed at 7:00. Buying was his department. He’d be down there at the meat market at 5:30 or so. I would cut up meat, make sausages, perhaps nipping the odd orders out. We did a mixed trade – you would do because we were reasonably near the front – the boarding house trade. We had a regular trade, 80 percent of the people you served were people you served each week.”

Turn round and start to walk up the hill, and you will walk past no.123 – this used to be a pork butcher back in 1924 and was still a butcher in 1983.

Carry on walking up the hill until you reach no 78.

O’Flinn’s the chemist stood at 78 Islingword Road.

It is interesting to note that this still carries the same name as it did all the years ago when the Shops Book was first written.

“Mrs. O’Flinn qualified at the same time as Mrs. Stanger- both had professional status and were members of the Pharmaceutical Society. In both businesses, there was an element of security which was not evident in the beginnings of poorer general shop-keepers.”

Islingword Road back in the 1920’s contained many different shops including: 3 confectioners; 3 bakers ;10 Greengrocers/grocers; 2 fishmongers; 2 chemists; 2 butchers; 3 beer retailers ( Public Houses); a physician, hairdresser; a Post Office and a pickle manufacturer. As you walk up and down you will see evidence of past shop fronts in among the current shops.

At the chemist cross over the road and start down the hill and turn left down Finsbury Road. You will then arrive at the next key location of Southover Street. Turn right down the hill past the Charles Napier Pub. Keep an eye open for evidence of businesses from the past. Back in the 1920’s the street contained 4 wardrobe dealers together with a range of other shops to serve the daily needs. Continue down till you reach the junction with Ewart Street and you will have reached the first location.

The small shopkeeper was less well off than the professional, had a lower status in the neighbourhood and depended solely upon his family to staff his shop. These ventures were often very risky because they were based on small amounts of borrowed capital and little or no experience in trading. The relative ease of starting a shop of this kind encouraged many to try their hand at it, so that competition was often fierce. In Southover Street alone in 1875, there were 8 grocers, 5 bakers and 8 greengrocers. In 1890, there were 5 confectioners, two of which, Mrs. Payne’s and E. Keeping’s, were next door to one another at numbers 27 and 28! This degree of competition, and the poverty of many of the customers, meant that credit was a necessity. This added to the risk, especially as suppliers frequently demanded cash payments on delivery.

Continue down Southover Street turning left into Belgrave Street. Continue along until you reach the junction with Albion Hill. As you look across you will see Grove Hill, cross here and walk down until you reach Richmond Parade on your right. Turn down the hill and just into Richmond Parade. The flats on the right are on the site of what used to be the southern end of Richmond Buildings; this contained many homes and businesses in the early part of the 20^th century.

Mr. Marshall, the chimney sweep of Islingword Road, remembers shops in Richmond Buildings, which have now been demolished. Amongst them was Mr. Parr’s grocery, which bears many of the marks of the higher class grocer, even though Richmond Buildings was at the centre of one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Brighton. Mr. Marshall recalls:

“Decent people lived there. There were some good shops down there. Several people made fortunes in Richmond Buildings. My family, and Parr’s the grocers, had a couple of lovely shops at 13 and 14. Bill Parr used to live at Southwick – came in every morning with rolled umbrella, bowler and brief case. He had staff – Miss Hawkins, Baker a crippled chap, Tommy Ming, and one of the Taylors and an errand boy. He started on his own. He sold to local people – a good trade. Gave credit till Friday; he had plenty of money, didn’t bother about a bad debt or two.

Mrs. Wheatley’s family experience was similar. It was her mother who possessed the commercial drive in the family: she operated a number of greengrocery businesses at different times in Brighton, Hove and Portslade before moving to Richmond Buildings in November, 1914. Mrs. Wheatley’s mother was typical of the many women proprietors who managed family shops at this time. The directories reveal that women proprietors were common- especially in laundries, greengroceries, confectioneries and various other dealerships.

You have now completed the hilly part of the walk.  To continue with the second half, cross over the Old Steine.  You will see the North Laine Brew House on the corner of Gloucester Street; walk along Gloudcester Street and take the first left Gloucester Road. As you walk up Gloucester Road you will see the entrance to Kensington Gardens on your left. As you walk down here you can note that the street still contains many independent businesses. It is also the place where Anita Roddick first opened the Body Shop in 1976 at No 22.