On the corner in the Square was Mills Tea Rooms ( now ‘Blue’) where you could see all the lovely cakes and buns they baked. We used to press our nose against the glass to see which ones we’d choose. My favourite was the one with coconut on it. Ruby Meaning nee Mussel b 1915
Tag Archives: Square
Palma Ault: Shops, The Square
Mills Tea rooms, corner of the Square and Quay Street.
When I worked in Mills Café we used to have to go across the Square with a big urn, – it took 2 of us to carry it – fill it up with boiling water in Mills Bakehouse, carry it back across the Square to the café and put it on the gas stove. We used to do this 2 or 3 times a day depending on how busy we were. The tea was 1d a mug. The cake shop was downstairs and tearoom upstairs. Palma Ault nee Holloway b1927
Eileen Smith: Shops in Yarmouth 1930s, 1940s
In the town there were 27 shops, 1 fish and chip shop on the corner of South Street and Tennyson Road, 1 garage in Quay Street ( now the Pharmacy), 4 pubs and hotels and 2 chimney sweeps, Mr. Chambers and Mr. Holloway. There were 4 grocers shops – one in Station Road, Mr. Cook’s – later Mr. Burt’s -, one now called Sixpenny Corner owned by Mr. Barnett, Harry Mills in the Square, and Higginbothams. There were coupons given with Bourneville Cocoa and such like. My mother collected enough to get me a wooden pencil box at the Sixpenny Corner shop.
If you took an egg with you when you went to Batchelor’s for chips, they’d cook that for you too. Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921
Eileen Lansdowne, Pauline Hatch: Shops 1930s
Square with coaches and Town hall
In the Square, next to the Town Hall and a bit behind it, where Annette’s the hairdresser is now, there was a cobbler’s, Mr. Donovan. He had a wooden leg.
On the other side of the Town Hall, on the side towards the sea, was Kelsey’s, with Jimmy Gobini’s gents hairdressers in one side, and a tobacconist and confectioners on the other. Then there was a ‘bits and pieces’ shop. It was amazing what us children could buy for 2d. Mills Tea Rooms was on the corner. Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b1921
I can remember Mr Donovan with a wooden leg, the shoemender. He used to swear like a trooper and I think he used to drink a bit. We used to have to take our shoes down there and he used to put great big thick rubber bits on to make them last. He had a very nice wife and a son called John who became a policeman. He was a fierce old man and it was a grotty old place tacked on to the Town Hall. Pauline Harwood nee Hatch b 1930
Shops: Kelseys Confectioners 1930s
Advertisement for Kelseys Confectioners in the Square, 1920s, 1930s
Laurie Kelsey was in charge. Laurie, we didn’t know her by that. We used to call her Aunt Annie. She was nice, she was deaf, wasn’t she. She used to have long tray of sweets uncovered, with a glass top on and she always had a chair in the corner for us little’uns to get up on to so we could have a good look to see what sweets she’d got. She sold toys and all. Next to that was Saxbury’s souvenirs, postcards, mostly things about the Island, Yarmouth and all that. Phil Kelsey b 1920
We used to run into Kelsey’s, stand on the chair they had and choose our sweets from the big glass jars. We couldn’t see over the counter. Pat Burt nee Adams b 1929 and Annette Haynes nee Holloway b 1929
b 1929