Central Drive shops

Central Drive crosses the picture from left to right, with Hazelwood Drive and Woodland Drive intersecting to the left and right respectively.  Central Drive shops are in the centre, to the left of the six blocks of Irene Stebbings House.  Until the shops appeared the land was an informal green space where children played.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Corner shops in the suburbs have always remained popular despite the near universality of supermarkets.  In the early postwar years their owners fought hard against the branded stores, as of course did the small independent hardware shops and butchers in the side streets and residential corners.  Somehow many of them survived with new owners willing to commit to even greater hours and seven day trading.

One of many corner shops in Fleetville, this one being Bransons at the junction of Harlesden and Burnham roads.
COURTESY THE GORDON JAMES COLLECTION

St Albans City Council also committed to serving its tenants on the many residential estates which were considered to be remote from essential shopping locations; blocks of three, four or five lock-up shops with separate flats or maisonettes above, appeared in locations such as St Stephens Avenue, Bricket Wood, Cell Barnes Lane and Central Drive.  These developments came about in the late 50s and early 60s, and were intended to bring opportunities for essential purchases without leaving home for the city centre.  We must remember that car ownership was still relatively low, refrigerators and freezers were nowhere near universal and modest kitchen dimensions often precluded space for generous storage.

The Newgates Cottages.  The left house included a general store during the 1950s and 1960s.

St Albans Co-operative Society invested in several mobile shops to take its products to where
people lived.
COURTESY GORDON JAMES COLLECTION

The nineteen thirties and early post war estates rarely came neatly packaged with extra facilities; just houses.  The Beaumonts estate, begun in 1930, required tenants and owners to walk either to Fleetville or to Wynchlands Parade, although a general store had opened in one of the Newgates Cottages in Sandpit Lane, at one time run by the Sanders and Dench families.  Various vans and old coaches were pressed into service as travelling shops, and the Co-operative Society purchased specially designed mobile shop vehicles which pulled off the road for a couple of hours weekly.  A fish van arrived on occasions.  While we could be served today by the home delivery vehicles of all of the major supermarkets, this is not new; we  were well served by bakers, grocers and milk. Oh, and regular jingly visits were made by an ice cream van. However, there is no doubt the Council's proposal to make use of land in Central Drive to bring retail closer to people was a huge attraction.

Recent images of Central Drive shops.  Unfortunately, no images could be found of the shops
in their early days.

Five such shops opened in 1960, which, on the whole, could be classed as useful; the Council determined the classes of retail which could be traded.  Unfortunately I could not locate a photo of the Central Drive shops early in their life.

Number 13: Greengrocer, first Bonella and then Watson;

Number 15: Grocery, first Home & Colonial, then Hilkene and S&V Stores;

Number 17: Newsagent & confectionery, Mr Bates;

Number 19: Wools, (Gayes), changing to a ladies' hairdresser (Kay)

Number 21: Ironmongery, first Mr S Wrightson, and later by Mr Barrington.

The ironmongery later changed trade; Mr J Patience took over the lease and traded successfully as a butcher.  His customers often came from further afield than the local estate – and of course the name had been well known for butchery on the east side of St Albans since Fleetville itself began.

Returning to Central Drive in recent years I was keen to discover whether the essential nature of the local shops had survived.  Using a rough-and-ready checklist on potential purchases, I intended to seek out some carrots, a tin of peas and loaf of bread, a newspaper and chocolate bar, and a shelf bracket and spare battery.  None of these is available here today.  Instead, we have a cafe, a photographic studio, an off-licence, and no fewer than two hair dresser/stylists.  There used to be a quiet conversational buzz in front of the units; the greengrocer also sold postage stamps; in the period before mobile phones and before most homes had landline phones a public phone kiosk was located to the right of the fifth shop.  But you can at least  still post a letter on the pavement pillar box.

Today, of course, The Quadrant is not far distant and does offer a significantly wider choice.  And it is still possible to walk to Wynchlands Parade or Fleetville, the latter containing a very large supermarket!