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Shopping in Wartime Mumbles by John Wright

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Let us take a virtual stroll around Newton, Mumbles and Central Swansea and test my memory. Although primarily concerned with wartime shops and shopping, I shall digress on other memories which might be of interest to some. I am fairly certain about most of what follows but no doubt there will be some mistakes in what follows. 60 years on memory can play tricks.

Shopping in Wartime Mumbles

by John Wright

When the war started in September 1939 the economy had largely recovered from the depression of the 20s and 30s thanks largely to the rearmament programme. Shops were generally well stocked. This position was to change dramatically over the next year or so.

The government took control over almost every aspect of the economy. Everything was dedicated to the war effort, particularly after Dunkirk and the very real threat of invasion. Most younger men had been conscripted into the armed forces or, in some cases, to other essential work including the Merchant Navy and the coal mines. Most basic foodstuffs were rationed as were sweets and clothing. Petrol and diesel supplies were especially tightly controlled. Private motoring was available only to business users regarded as essential to the war effort. Most factories were fully occupied on government contracts whilst the government controlled the supply and distribution of most raw materials as well as the railways and all sea traffic. It was impossible to import anything from abroad without official sanction.

The result of all this was that, apart from the bare necessities of life, it was almost impossible for many traders to obtain stock to refill depleted shelves. Many imported or factory made items were no longer available, often till long after the end of the war. Most other goods were in short or very short supply. As a result some shops closed for the duration and many more had very had little to sell. It was very obvious to me even as a 10 year old that some shops had could not possibly be earning a living.

Everyone was issued with a food ration book

Each ration book included so many points per week

Shopping in wartime was both very easy and very difficult. Easy in most cases, because there was so little available and there was little choice in what was available. Difficult if you were looking for a present or for something particular, say to replace something that had broken. Sales of second hand goods came into their own, eg prams or other baby items which were virtually unobtainable new.

Everyone was issued with a food ration book. This contained pages of coupons for each rationed product. Basic items including tea, sugar, butter and bacon were all rationed. One was required to register with a grocer of your choice for your weekly ration of each of these products. The grocer was required to cut out the appropriate coupons from your ration book when selling these items. These coupons had to be submitted to the Ministry of Food by the grocer. Fresh supplies were allocated to the grocer according to the number of registered customers and the coupons submitted. The actual weekly ration of each product was a few ounces, a figure that was varied from time to time in line with national stocks of that item.

Fresh meat was also rationed on a similar basis. One had to register separately with a butcher of your choice.

Many other varied foodstuffs not meriting a weekly ration were also rationed. These included tins of meat, fish and fruit which were rationed using a ‘points’ based system. These products were each allocated a value in points. Each ration book included so many points per week. One could choose from whatever goods happen to be in stock at the time up to the number of points available. The appropriate number of points were removed from the ration book by the grocer when supplying such goods.

Sweets and clothes were also rationed on similar points based schemes.

When a trader received a supply of some unusual item eg oranges these were usually kept under the counter and surreptitiously passed to his regular customers

Not all foodstuffs were rationed. Home grown fruit and vegetables were one obvious exception. If I remember rightly even bread was rationed for a brief period when there was a big shortage of flour. Incidentally milling of pure white flour was banned, the ’national’ blend of white flour had a distinctly dark tint.

After the end of the war availability of supplies was often even worse than during the war. The country was now effectively bankrupt, owing huge sums of money to other countries for goods supplied during the war. The slogan ‘Export or Die’ was often used. The government diverted supplies of materials etc to companies making goods for export. During the severe winter of 1948-9 domestic electricity supplies were subject to daily rota cuts in order to conserve fuel stocks.

Although rationing was gradually eased, it was well into the 50s before rationing finally ceased, around 15 years after its introduction. The last time I saw my ration book was October 1953. It was handed in when I started my National Service. I can recall being amazed to see large quantities of chocolate freely on sale in the Naafi. I had not seen such a sight for more than 12 years. A little later as a party of forty we were being transferred to another base in a nine hour train journey. We should have been given a packed meal but this did not appear. When the train stopped in Exeter at lunchtime, a visit to the refreshment room revealed absolutely nothing edible on sale, only cups of tea.

Home Deliveries

I was brought up in Caswell Avenue, Newton. Being a Mumbles girl my mother had always done much of her shopping in Mumbles. Many of the Mumbles shops were prepared to deliver larger items. They usually used push bikes with a wicker basket carried in a frame over the front wheel. A bike of this sort was until recently on display outside the shoe repairer in Castleton.

We were registered for groceries with Tom Williams who had a small grocery on the upper corner of William Street and Gower Place, now a private house. He sometimes sent up our order on such a bike. Unlike today’s pre packed items, the basic commodities were all delivered to the grocer in bulk. Tea came in plywood tea chests lined with foil. Sugar came in sacks, butter and other fats came in large lumps (probably 28 lb packs) and bacon came as a side of bacon. It was the grocer’s job to weigh it out for the consumer. Tea was sold in ordinary paper bags, sugar in special blue moisture absorbing paper bags, butter etc patted into blocks and wrapped in greaseproof paper, whilst bacon was sliced. The bigger shops had sophisticated slicing machines whilst smaller grocers used a large knife to cut slices off the side of bacon.

Our bread also came from Mumbles, T&G Davies of Gloucester Place (they are still trading) operated a bread round using a horse and cart. The big cart horse named Captain was a magnificent animal. He knew his round, stopping unbidden outside customer’s houses and moving on to keep pace with the roundsman as he went from house to house.

Milk came direct from ‘Bowler John‘ Owen‘s farm in the heart of Newton village. It was served by dipping a measuring jug into a small churn and pouring into the customer’s own jug. I do not remember him using any form of cart so presume that he carried his churns on foot. Obviously this milk was not pasteurised. Domestic refrigerators were virtually unknown, we did not have one and I doubt that the farmer had one.

I do not think that coal was formally rationed but stocks were very limited and of very variable quality. As I remember it, coal merchants shared their available stocks amongst their regular customers. Virtually all domestic premises used coal for heating. In our case we had coal fires in the lounge and dining room, one or other of which was lit for the evening in winter. We also had an anthracite stove in the kitchen to provide hot water. There were fireplaces in two bedrooms but these were never lit unless someone was very ill.

Mumbles coal merchants collected their coal from rail trucks in the Mumbles Railway siding. They weighed it out into hundredweight bags for delivery by lorry to the customer’s coalhouse or bunker. The siding was sited on the Swansea side of the present West Cross bus terminus on land which was part of the original Mumbles Railway terminus before the Pier extension was opened in 1898.

Mail was the only other delivery service. It was delivered daily Monday to Saturday by a postman with a mid 30s Morris 8 mailvan.

There at least fifty shops in the Mumbles area many of which were never patronised by my family. Although I can remember the names of many of them there is little more that I can add. However let us take a virtual stroll around Newton, Mumbles and Central Swansea and test my memory. Although primarily concerned with wartime shops and shopping I shall digress on other memories which might be of interest to some. I am fairly certain about most of what follows but no doubt there will be some mistakes in what follows. 60 years on memory can play tricks.

Wartime Newton

We shall start in Caswell Avenue where I was brought up. I have often been asked why Caswell Avenue has never been surfaced. The answer is that the Avenue was developed piecemeal by several different builders over about 30 years. Early residents wanted to wait until the road was fully developed. This would limit their share of the expense of making up the road to the standards required by of the council before adoption. Although over the years several proposals have been made for adoption, there have always been residents who objected, not being prepared to pay their share of the cost.

The first ten houses were built on the right hand side probably in the 1920s. In 1933 we moved in to the first of five new houses on the left hand side starting about one third of the way up, at the end of Havergal’s large garden. During the war a lot of public open spaces were dug up for use as allotments where local householders were encouraged to grow their own vegetables using the slogan ‘Dig for Victory’. We had an allotment on the undeveloped land beyond the five new houses.

At the top end of the road adjoining Summerland Lane was an open plot of land where we used to play. This was known as ’The Reservoir’. This I am sure was the open Kiln Green reservoir of the Oystermouth Waterworks Company (1882). For more details see Norman Thomas’ book ‘The Mumbles – Past and Present’ (1978, p164).

On Summerland Lane opposite the top of Caswell Avenue the Johnson family owned Meadlands Nurseries, which included a lot of greenhouses which grew tomatoes for the wholesale trade. At the height of the season they would sell some to the locals. We used to queue at 8am to be allowed to buy a pound or so of freshly picked tomatoes.

On Caswell Road opposite the bottom of Caswell Avenue there was a small prep school run by the Misses Brooke-Gwynne. This is where local boys intended for a private education started their school lives. Moving on we come to St Peters Church Hall. During the war this was requisitioned by the army as a base for soldiers encamped out on Caswell Cliffs. Initially we had some Royal Sussex Regiment soldiers, followed by a detachment of the Pioneer Corps and finally some American soldiers in the run up to D –Day.

At the cross roads outside St Peters Church we come to the top of Nottage Road. On our left is the site of the Newton Churchmen’s Club, a tin hut which I believe housed a couple of billiard tables. On our right was Woolacott’s Farm to where the cows were brought twice daily for milking from the fields off Summerland Lane. Next door was Newton Village School behind the big walls on the bend. In the absence of the Church Hall the school was used for various church activities like Sunday School, Scouts and Cubs.

On our left just above the brow of the hill was a large cottage in a large garden which was operated as a smallholding by the Harris family. Next door down was a tin shack used as a papershop by Mrs Skillbeck. Later Mrs Long used the shop as a greengrocery. Although papers were not actually rationed, supplies of newsprint to the printers were strictly controlled. Broadsheet newspapers were usually limited to 4 or 6 pages. Most papers and magazines were supplied only to order. Various magazines were commonly available, though in nothing like today’s variety. Radio Times, Picture Post and Illustrated were the most commonly available general magazines. There were several women’s titles and various comics. I took The Wizard and mostly swopped it with friends for The Hotspur or Rover. Film Fun, Dandy and Beano covered the younger generation.

A little further down Nottage Road Beynon’s grocery was on the left. The shop opposite was empty but taken over by Beynon’s after the war. During the war it was used as an ARP post. The Air Raid Wardens were based there during the war. They were unpaid civilian volunteers who patrolled the streets to ensure that the blackout was strictly observed. It was a criminal offence to show a light that would alert an enemy pilot that he was over an inhabited area. During air raids the wardens patrolled the streets looking for bomb damage. They would deal with small fires and send for help if they could not cope.

Mrs Lewis’ shop was half way down the slope on the left. I think it was a general store, but do not remember it doing much business. The present paper shop at the top of the steps was not then a shop.

Now we turn up Newton Road towards the New Well Lane. Half way up in a cottage on the right was Ernie Richards’ butchery. We were registered with him for our meat ration. The ration was very small and he did not have a lot to choose from. As far as I remember we had a small joint each weekend but I cannot remember ever having fresh meat during the week. One week I do remember, the ration was 10d worth per head and the only thing he could offer was some dreadful corned beef, all gristle and fat which was barely edible.

Opposite the butcher was the farm of ‘Bowler John’ Owen, our milkman. Mr and Mrs Owen were very good to us and occasionally let us have a few eggs also a chicken each Christmas. In return I sometimes used to visit Langland Bay to collect a sack of seashell grit for the hens. Next door up from the farm, sharing a common access lane was Howells’ bakehouse and grocery. This was a fairly busy shop and they had a local bread round served by a small delivery van.

Jim Davies used to run Newton Garage. Apart from being a first class mechanic, for as long as I can remember he always kept a pair of large American Ford saloons for taxi and private hire work. I only have vague memories of the garage during wartime, but a lot of memories from early postwar when he did an enormous amount of work to keep my father’s 1932 Standard on the road. I have several bills from that period. One was for £20 for a complete rebore including all parts, plus several other smaller repairs.

I will always remember him telling me of the daily taxi service to London for prebooked passengers which he ran for some time around 1930. He would take a car load of local passengers early in the morning to Central London where he would collect another load of passengers back to Swansea. That was some journey. There were no bypasses or dual carriageways. The route ran through the centres of Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot, Cardiff, Newport, Gloucester, Cheltenham and Oxford and many smaller towns. In the 50s I used to allow 8 hours for this trip one way on my motorbike.

Both pubs, The Rock & Fountain and Newton Inn functioned during the war., as did Newton Post Office under Mr Ironside. If I remember correctly Woolacott’s butchery was closed for the duration. The only other wartime feature that strikes me was the police house on the right near the top of Newton Road. PC Allen lived there and presided over the patch.

Newton Post Office

Shopping in Wartime Mumbles

Walking down New Well Lane to Mumbles we pass Brooklyn Terrace where Westfa Private Infants School was housed in the first house, proprietor Mr Oliver. Shortly afterwards we pass Callencroft on the left, the site of the Guide Loft. Nearing the Baptist Church we come to the Mumbles ‘Doctor’s quarter’ one of the houses on the left was Dr Kyle’s surgery followed on the corner by that of Dr Lloyd Jones Senior whilst Dr Marks (later Dr James) was on Langland Road almost opposite Queens Road.

At the bottom end of Underhill Park, opposite the Baptist Chapel a large open reservoir was created during the war as an Emergency Water Supply. During the blitz many water mains were destroyed, leaving the firemen without water to fight the fire. Hence the EWS reservoirs created here and elsewhere in the borough..

There were two council owned schools in Mumbles. Oystermouth School or ‘The Board’ School (1878), which still exists, fronted Newton road at the top of Castleton. Mumbles School. ‘The Church’ School stood above the Library in Dunns Lane. This latter school was opened in 1907 to replace an earlier school in Southend in the building now used by the Motor Boat & Fishing Club.

I attended Oystermouth School from 1937 to 1943. The infant’s department occupied the smaller building at the back bordering Castle Road. The ‘big’ school occupied the larger central building with a playground in front bordering Newton Road. The block adjoining Newton Road had not then been built. The yard in the corner opposite the Baptist Chapel was the boys’ playground. Behind that in the adjoining field was the domestic science building presided over by Miss Trick. School dinners came to Oystermouth late in 1942 so a hut was built in the corner of the boys’ yard.

In the infants school Miss Oriel was Headmistress. My teachers were Miss Brightman (briefly – reception class), Miss Cox, Miss Jones (briefly) and Miss Sander. Moving to the junior school, the Headmaster was Mr A I Davies. My teachers were Miss Cox (again), Miss Lang, Miss Robinson and Mr Evan Davies who taught the ‘scholarship’ class – those aiming for the scholarship exam to the Grammar or Secondary schools. Mr Bradshaw taught the non scholarship class before he was called up to the army, whilst Mr Gibbs and Miss Owen taught boys and girls respectively in standard 7, those waiting to leave school at 14.

A few houses down from the Baptist chapel lived the Fergusons who ran a coal merchants business and whom I particularly remember for the grey Bedford lorry which they bought soon after the war, one of the first post war vehicles to be seen in Mumbles and which they always kept beautifully clean.

Unlike today there were only a few shops at the top of Castleton Hill. The Star Supply Stores, a small Welsh chain of grocers occupied the present Diy shop. George’s ran a corner shop, later Selwyn Shute and now the Hair Centre, it also functioned as the school tuck shop, except that during the war they had very little to sell the children. I remember that they used to sell raw carrots as a substitute for sweets. I can also remember buying some waterslide transfers of regimental badges which the boys used to decorate their bodies. Further down on the left was The Gift Shop which again had very little to sell. Castle News was then called The Book Shop. On the other side was Johns’ a shoe shop. I think that that was the lot atop the hill.

On Castleton Hill the building where the building society is now, was opened after the war by Vics, the electrical store – I do not believe that it was used as a shop in the war. The present chip shop was Jack Jones, the baker. The present British Legion was the local ARP HQ. Newberry’s Pharmacy was owned by Edwin G Varley, father of the late John Varley.

The majority of shops in Mumbles were located on Newton Road at the bottom of Castleton, in The Dunns and along towards the Tivoli. There were a few in Queens Road, out towards Southend and as neighbourhood shops. Most of these we probably never entered. I will just mention the shops that I remember, mostly because we did patronise them sometime or another.

At the bottom of Castleton on the left hand side, the shop next to the telephone exchange was Greenslades the grocer, later Turgoose. Harry Davies the greengrocer was next, above The Regal cinema.

In 2006, the Turgoose sign was seen again during updating

The interior of the Regent Cinema, July 1927

Regent advert c1927

There were two cinemas in Mumbles at one time or another. The Tivoli had a varied existence in its early years as a skating rink, concert hall, cinema etc. Later the building now the Arcade was built as a cinema, The Regal. It was there that I saw my first ever film, the Coronation of George VI (1937). It was in technicolor, I think, or was that just my imagination? If I remember correctly the Tivoli was extensively rebuilt just before the war and the Regal was closed. After the war the Regal reopened as The Casino Dance Hall.

Going on down the left hand side of Castleton there were many shops of which I have no distinct memories. I do remember O’Neils, the electrical shop and contractor. Next above the Midland Bank corner and below the walkway to Castle Crescent was Dan Morgan, probably the premier toyshop in Swansea, they came to Mumbles for a year or so after they were bombed out of their Oxford street shop.

Returning now to the right hand side of Castleton, Beynon’s, the plumber and building contractor who built many Mumbles properties had the shop on the corner of Walters Crescent. A couple of doors away was The Maypole, a branch of a national chain of grocers owned by Unilever, the soap people. My mother used this shop sometimes because they had a much wider range of goods than the normal corner grocery shop. Further down was Cash Hardware recently taken over from Sydney Brick, the local ironmonger and hardware merchant. Tuckers (The Mumbles Press), Bowen (Grocer), Griffin (Hay, corn etc) , Withy’s (florist). On the corner between Newton Road and The Dunns (now part of the White Rose) was Sander’s the greengrocer with entrance right on the corner.

Round the Bank corner towards Swansea on the seaward side was John Jones’ Mumbles Dairy on what is now the short stay carpark. The Dairy was the main supplier of milk in the Mumbles area. This was I believe, pasteurised and supplied in bottles unlike the local farmers’ milk.

The Dunns was a very narrow street with narrow pavements, shops on both sides and barely enough room for two trucks to pass. Just before the war it was decided to demolish the shops on the seaward side in order to widen the road. My future father-in-law had a shop there. He was always very bitter that when given notice to quit he was required to rewire the shop and replace any fittings removed during his tenure – and this just for the shops to be demolished. In fact demolition was stayed for the duration and it was about 1970 before the shops were finally demolished.

On the landward side of the Dunns, just round from Sanders was a shed where Ted Priddy the barber practised. He was just about the only barber left in Mumbles, the others all having been called up. A trip to the barbers was always a major outing because of the inevitable queues. Two or three of us from Newton used to go together on a Saturday morning. We caught the 8.15 bus and it was usually after 10.00 by the time we emerged.

Further on was Thomas the draper where the Co-op is now. On the corner of Dunns Lane was Taylor’s the grocer, a branch of a small Welsh chain of grocers.

I think that it was Thomas‘s which was always fascinated me by the way you paid for your purchases. The cashier was housed in a booth in the centre of the shop. High level wires stretched out from there to every serving point. When you had chosen your goods from the assistant she wrote out the bill in a duplicate book. She took your money and the two copies of the bill and put them into a small cup which was fitted into a trolley sitting on the overhead wire. She pulled a trigger and the trolley sped along the wire to the cashier. In due course your receipted bill and any change came winging back across the shop to the assistant.

There were shops all the way along the seaward side of The Dunns. One that I do remember was Harry Libby’s agency. Harry was one of Mumbles’ great characters. Having worked for some years in a shipping office Harry decided to set up a travel agency in the Mumbles. During the war there was not much call for a travel agency, but Libby’s were agents for all sorts of things and you could pay your bills for gas, coal etc there. As already mentioned household durables were in very short supply so Libby’s became a place to buy second hand furniture, prams etc. Harry was also very involved in editing and supplying a local newsletter and comforts to all the local boys serving in the forces.

The last shop on the Dunns was Forte’s ice cream parlour, a corner shop with huge windows curving right round from The Dunns into the Station Square. For most of the war period manufacture of ice cream was banned, so Forte’s mostly only sold coffee and biscuits. The shop had for many years been an ironmonger but had been transformed during the 30s to an ice cream parlour.

Dunns Lane and Queens Road had very few shops mostly neighbourhood shops. Walking up Dunns Lane we pass the recently built Mumbles Library. Fulfords general store was on the corner opposite Gloucester Place. The shop now used by Taffy’s was not used as a shop but it was used to repair bicycles. I believe it was a Mr Kostromin who was a full time firefighter. It was from him that I had my first proper bike, a Raleigh Roadster, probably for my 10th birthday in 1942.

Before reaching Woodville Road we pass Tom Williams grocery on the corner of William Street and a butcher at the bottom of Woodville Road. Opposite the butcher was a corner shop in Chapel Street with Johnnie’s chip shop next door. On the upper corner of Woodville Road was Frizzell’s (?) corner shop. The last group of shops in Queens Road was on the corner of King’s Road. Pressdee’s bakery and grocery with a ladies’ hairdresser opposite. Opposite Pressdee’s on the corner of Stanley Street was Steddiford’s general shop.

The final group of shops in Central Mumbles was on the seaward side between Boots and the Tivoli cinema. There were no shops on the other side where the Post Office is now. Boots had taken over Lowther’s chemist on the corner of Station Square in the later 30s. Next was Arthur Strawford’s bakery, pastrycook and cafe where CJs is now. I have several memories of this shop in wartime days. After going to the barber we used to adjourn here for a penny bun (or 1 1/2d with synthetic cream if we felt rich). I can also remember being served with what was probably my last ice cream before it was banned for some years. I was served by the daughter of the house whom I recognised from School as Shirley Strawford. I had no idea then that some years later we were to become very happily married.

The Post Office was next door to Strawford’s. Then Kemp’s the outfitters with a large shop (now Somerfield). The Tivoli cinema was refurbished in the 30s and during the war and early post war years was extremely popular especially with courting couples. There were new programmes every Monday and Thursday, usually comprising the main film with a “B” supporting film, Pathe News and some adverts. They ran a continuous programme from early afternoon to around 10pm.

There were a few shops at Southend, I particularly remember Ceaton’s general store just beyond Mumbles Rugby club and nearing Southend Station Orrin’s Post Office.