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Festival of
Britain Ads....
I just love looking through old adverts as they can tell us so much about Whitstable of the past. In our last
Chat Column, we featured a few that were drawn from Jacky Evans'
copy of Whitstable's Festival of Britain program.
Since then, Jacky has highlighted a few more.
The Festival took place in 1951 and it's hub was on London's
South Bank ... but, as a national celebration, it had
regional implementations. It also had two key aims. Firstly, it
marked the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Secondly, it
demonstrated the progress that the nation had made in the
aftermath of World War II.
I suspect that advertisers were asked to reflect those aims.
Thus, the adverts were a little different from those that we have
encountered in other publications (such as those in annual
carnival and regatta programs). We can see this in our very first
example...
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It is the only local advert I have come across for the
Anderson, Rigden and Perkins boatyard. I doubt that there
was a need to advertise a well known boatyard in local
publications. However, the national and celebratory nature
of the Festival of
Britain was a little different.
ARP joined in with the "Then and Now"
theme as you can see from the enlarged extracts below. |
| Tele-Radio also drew upon Whitstable history in
formulating its advertisement..... by comparing
the arrival of "Britain's first passenger
train" at Whitstable in 1830 with their own
position as local pioneers in the sale of televisions.
Mind you, the electronics business was already becoming
competitive.... |
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Along the High Street, D&S Gaywood were also
claiming a few "firsts" in the amazing new world
of TV and other wizardry.
Interestingly, their "first" TV
demonstrations were given as early as 1936. However, WWII
interrupted the progress of domestic appliances and the
company's "Radio & TV Exhibition" was
delayed until 1950. I wonder if any photos were taken at
the Assembly Rooms that day! |
Of course, the town centre was a lively place in
1951 and it catered for all the needs of Whitstable Natives. It
was even lively enough to support a fully fledged department
store....
Ricemans was a very large place - located opposite
Woolleys Shoe Shop and stretching some 40 yards along the High
Street towards the junction with Gladstone Road. Our older readers
will remember it well.... but I daresay only a few will recall
that it was previously known as Spencelys. Ricemans also had
branches in other East Kent towns.
In the late 1950s, the shop was extended
"backwards" to provide a large furniture department that
opened on to Gladstone Road car park. However, I seem to recall
that the company was hit by a number of fire and burglary
incidents at their establishments. Eventually, they sold off their
branch shops and built a massive regional department store at
Whitefriars in Canterbury (alongside the bus station). The
Whitstable premises were taken over by Dawsons but, since then,
they have been sold off and subdivided into a number of small
shops. The furniture department extension is now the home of the
town's general post office.
All evidence of Ricemans has now disappeared. The
massive Canterbury store was taken over by Fenwicks and later
relocated to allow for the massive redevelopment of the
Whitefriars district.
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There is nothing quite like old ads to remind us of
companies and products of bygone eras... and that is most
certainly true of our next exhibit (see left)
In modern times, most fizzy drink products come from
national and multi-national companies.... but, in 1950,
Whitstable had its own supplier - Star Mineral Waters of
Essex Street. They supplied every conceivable flavour....
from lemonade to ginger beer and ice cream soda. Most
local shops stocked Star and the company's "open
sided" lorries were a familiar sight around the
town's back streets!
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| Another "lost" name has been mentioned in our
Visitors Book on a number of occasions.... the Tankerton
based Ida Watkins ladies ware. The advert on
the right actually gives us a bit of the shop's history. |
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Readers have also mentioned another ladies
clothes shop in Tankerton... but, to date, we have been
unable to come up with a name.
Jacky Evans now wonders if it was Marys (see left).
This establishment was run by M Rowe and M Robinson. As
Jacky points out, the lack of an apostrophe in the shop
name probably means
that both proprietors were Marys.
The address is given simply as "Chester
House". Back in 1951, the town was sufficiently small
for building names to be easily recognised.... bit its' a
lot more difficult almost 60 years on! |
| And, talking of town sizes, I wonder if telephone
numbers can be used to estimate populations! Take a look
at the ad for George Fitt Motors Ltd.
Whitstable telephones had 4-digit numbers (starting
with a "2"). However, Herne Bay were stuck with
just 3 digits. Fitts Herne Bay branch was number 140.
It might suggest that Herne Bay was much smaller than
Whitstable in 1951. However, I believe that they have
overtaken us in recent years. |
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Chestfield and Swalecliffe were tiny in those days and
the telephone for the Wheatsheaf pub was.... number 10.
Presumably, the districts had fewer than 100 telephones
between them. I wonder if the local policeman was 99.
Egon Ronay was unknown in those days and the Wheatsheaf
relied on its rating at The Good Food Club. |
| Food terminology was also very different. We
had "dinner" at "lunch
time" and "tea" at "dinner
time".
Of course, if you dined out at The Long Reach Tavern
for "tea".. (or should that be "dinner")...
you were served "supper". You also
travelled by bus!
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In fact, it wasn't just food termonology that was odd.
Most terminology was far more formal. Gordon Phillips
chemists sold "drugs and ethicals". I
will leave the explanation of ethicals to
Terry Phillips. ;-) |
| Brand names were reaching ordinary people as new
materials and modern manufacturing started to make
products more affordable.
As we have seen before, Aubrey Pearce relied quite
heavily on a bit of "name dropping"
in adverts. Sadly, some of those names have now dropped
out of the market altogether and I doubt that youngsters
will recognise any of them.
Of course, quite a few of us oldies will have reason to
recall Aertex and Viyella! |
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It's interesting that some long established businesses
had diversified by 1951.
W Camburn was established way back in 1845 and, by
1951, it was both a builders and undertakers.
I love that advice... "In times of bereavement
.... ring Whitstable 2375". I am not sure whether
that was to arrange a funeral..... or build a new
extension with your inheritance. |
| Another family business that combined undertaking with
building may have been John Kemps. I believe that they
were also stonemasons.
Why the connection between burials and construction?
Well, I don't know.... but I have been pondering one
theory! Both trades required carpenters and stonemasons.
Furthermore, the two businesses may have dovetailed.....
with the death rate rising in the winter months at the
very time that bad weather caused a "slow down"
the building trade! |
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Diversification also occurred in other
areas......
J T Reeves commenced as long ago as 1810. By 1844,
they appear to have been selling building materials from an
address known as "The Field in Church Street Lane"
(probably Belmont Road of modern times)! By 1951, they were both
auctioneers and estate agents.
Another well known company had quite a range of
related interests....
| Best known as printers, Elvys also produced three well
known local newspapers. Of course, nowadays, the
Whitstable Times is part of the Associated Regional
Newspaper Group and, after many years, it has moved away from the old
Elvy premises at the corner of Cromwell and Westmeads
Roads.
Recently, Cliff Cuttelle has provided some old photos
of the company and I will include them in the next Chat
Column. |
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I will also be returning to another advert in
order to discuss it in more depth. It's this one for the Bartlett
& Bisson Dairy.....
The photo shows a beautiful field at the
junction of Church Street and Ham Shades Lane. I believe the
shot was taken from Bartletts Corner looking east.... with
Friars Close in the background. The field was fringed by Horse
Chestnut trees.
Sadly, this attractive open land disappeared in
the very early 1960s in order to make way for new housing along
Church Street and a completely new road (Summerfield Avenue). Some
of the original chestnut trees can still be seen in the front
gardens of some of the properties.
Over the years, some of our readers have
contributed a great deal of information about the fields and the
company. I now hope to turn it all into a permanent article.
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Of course, we haven't yet touched on the financial
arrangements of the past. So, it is with some nostalgia
that I take a look at the ad on the left.
Back in 1951, the TSB actually ran schemes in all local
schools and I remember handing money over to my teacher
every Monday morning. By the time I was fourteen, I had
saved enough for a tennis racquet.... from Woolworths.
Of course, my savings were handicapped by that meagre
2½% compound interest rate. If only I had had an
Icelandic Bank back in '51. Blimey.... I could have
saved for a Slazenger. |
| Finally, I will leave you with one of my favourite ads -
see right..
Nowadays, the establishment is known as The Royal
Public House & Restaurant.... but, back in '51, it was
called The Cafe Royal Hotel and, with 30 rooms, it was a
sizeable establishment.
But just look at that estimated journey time of "70
minutes from London". That was in the
era of of the steam train!
The line was modernised some time around 1959 (with the
introduction of electric trains) and, by the 1970s, we had
progressed to a scheduled service of 80 minutes and actual
journey times of considerably more.
Not surprisingly, Whitstable lost much of its
commuter population... along with access to well paid jobs
in the capital. |
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Comments on Adverts...
We have received the following comments on the
above article....
| Dave,
Among the many wonderful memory-jogging adverts here, I
have just seen the advert for "Marys". I'm not
sure about it being in Tankerton. I think it might have
been in Oxford Street next to Day's Garage, right by the
junction with Middle Wall. I believe there is a photo shop
there now.
If you look at the Odd Object page of the
Carnival section (click here
to view), you will see on the "Lucky
number" list of shops: "Mary's",
4 Oxford Street. This time there IS an apostrophe in "Mary's"!
Ian Johnson
Huddersfield
W Yorks |
| Our
Reply:
Thanks, Ian. It certainly makes sense as the old
buildings in Oxford Street tended to have names.... some
of which have been long forgotten. I must admit
"Chester House" was one that I had not
encountered before. |
Our Thanks
To....
I would like to thank Jack Evans for letting me
see these lovely extracts from Whitstable's history.
Comments...
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