Tonbridge 2425 please....

I almost forgot to mention that, again according to my Kelly's Directory for Tonbridge 1950, and again at the risk of sounding Michael Portilloesque, the telephone number for John Greig, bookseller & stationer was Tonbridge 2425 and, no doubt, you had to go through an operator to reach it!...

The circle of books....

Many will remember that 142 High Street, Tonbridge, where Mr. Books Bookshop is now, as Angelique ladies outfitter. Not long ago though, as I've discovered it was Featherstone's a bookshop, stationer and toy shop. In the 1950 Kelly's Directory for the Tonbridge area it was another bookseller called John Greig and the shop went by that name. Next door was Clarke and Coleman chemists (so no change at all there) and the other side, number 144, now the Daily Rice Chinese takeaway was Florence Hubbard who, according to my Kelly's Directory sold "gowns" which I assume to be short for coats and jackets also. At the risk of sounding like Michael Portillo, with his Bradshaw's Guide, I do love all this. It's fascinating to know that I can trace the owners of the businesses where Mr. Books trades back to at least the 1930s and that for most of the time since then the shop has been a booksellers....

Memorial....

I went down to the new War Memorial off Bradford Street yesterday morning on my way in to work. As it was November 11th and the centenary of the start of the Great War it seemed appropriate. I didn't plan this trip but I'm very glad that I went. It was very peaceful there first thing in the morning and the various societies and the council who helped in the design have done a good job in creating a space where you can be alone with your thoughts for a little while. It's years since I last went to see the memorial to the soldiers who lost their lives, and I'm sure the newly cleaned stone walls made it feel that bit more immediate, but I was thinking that one hundred years is no time at all really. Still in living memory for a few; shaping the lives of our grand parents, parents and therefore ourselves. I don't remember noticing them before but there were three soldiers names which stuck out for me. All of them called Richardson, just like me. Names calling out down the generations. Lives lost on a muddy battle field on a misty field far from their homes. Leaving behind them despair and tragedy, hopes and dreams. Dreams of what might have been, could have been, should have been. We'll never know the contribution that some of those lads who had their lives cut so short would have made. I went to John Ray's excellent talk at Tonbridge parish church the other day and, when asked the question, he was in no doubt whatsoever that both world wars were necessary and justified from a British point of view. Seeing those names in cold stone at the war memorial leaves me in serious doubt I have to say....

Sainsbury unlikely to change minds on Tonbridge....

Here's a pic of Sainsbury's in case you didn't know what it looks like!

Here's a link to a piece in today's Telegraph financial pages which goes a long way to explaining why the company pulled the plug on its planned new store and leisure complex for Tonbridge. The company have just announced that it lost over £250m in the year to date. In the light of all this Tonbridgeblog suggests that it is highly, highly unlikely that the retailer will have a change of heart on their store opening in our town. But was Tonbridge unlucky? Or did we perhaps have a lucky escape from the clutches of the evil Lord Sainsbury?!..