Comments on Dr Motley and Oxgangs Crescent and Broadway Shops From PsyGeo

Comments From PsyGeo 'Thanks for remembering Dr Motley - he did his best to help my mum - that trip to the cottage was a regular one with me in tow. We lived at 34 Oxgangs Avenue in the mid-70s/early 80s - so far away now, and a mostly unhappy time but made me who I am. Contact me if you'd like to see some pics.' 

Oxgangs Crescent/Broadway Shopping Precincts - 'Happy memories of Airfix kits bought at the newsagents and a huge crush on the butcher's (T. Combe) wife! We only trudged up to the Broadway to buy paraffin for our two ancient heaters - I still have vivid memories of the sign which was on the first/second shop coming from the east entrance stairs. 1976 (I think) was a really harsh winter: -17 degrees - and the metal window frames/windows in the flat were thick with ice. That blue flame from those (what are now outrageously dangerous heaters) was our only way of keeping warm.'

Response Many thanks for your comments-it would be interesting to see photographs from Oxgangs at that time-the following e mail addresses would reach me: 6oxgangsavenue@gmail.com or peter.hoffmann@btinternet.com 

Further Shops At The Broadway And The Crescent And Colinton Mains

'Every day, I walk up the high street to work, and as I pass those little shops, a nice, friendly, warm atmosphere seems to come wafting out...' Sergeant Wilson, Dad's Army

The shops not thus far covered in the blog which were important parts of the lives of those who lived at The Stair included three butchers shops; a fruit and vegetable shop; Allans Grocery; Campbells Newsagents; and Cruickshanks Grocery.

The butcher's shop at The Broadway was a well run clean shop which was above the average. It was owned by Crombie Smith. 

My memory may be playing tricks but I think it was here that Iain Hoffmann and Boo-Boo Hanlon began work as apprentice butchers.  

Les and Iain went on to work and have adventures at Leslies Butcher's shop at Comiston Road just around the corner from Bairds newsagents shop. The shop remained there for many decades. They had many adventures there which I'm sure they'd happily tell you about. I think what eventually drove Les from the shop was that he used to panic when serving customers because he found it difficult to work out the change when he was serving customers! Only Boo-Boo stayed with this trade as a career.

Neil's Butcher's shop at Colinton Mains was there for many decades too - again it was a relatively high class shop for the area. It was his brother, Dr Neil who opened the lovely garden at Duddingston Village to the public. 

Both brothers died in fairly recent years. However, if we ever had to visit a butcher then it was at The Store - this would be for Ayrshire Middle bacon - also for a quarter pound of chopped pork which made my stomach turn! Meanwhile, the butcher's shop at The Crescent was Warner's. I was never in this shop.

There was an old fashioned fruit and vegetable shop - Holmes - at The Broadway. It remained there for decades and must have been one of the original shops - it always had that particular smell unique to such shops. These shops have mostly disappeared although there is still one in Dingwall. When we lived at Colinton for seven very happy years between 1989 and 1996 there was a similar fruiterer's shop in Colinton Village. I visited it because it took me back to The Broadway. 

Even then I thought it must close down, but it's kept soldiering away with the same lady owner, Patsy Downes, who never seemed to change in appearance - she had the look of a gypsy with dyed black hair. A few years ago we took a family walk from the flat at Gillsland Park up though Colinton Dell and stopped off in the village for coffee and cakes - well blow me down it was still on the go - it was like walking through a time-warp - it's surely gone to the great shop cemetery in the sky? (It's not as of 2018!)

A Mr McNish ran a little wool shop both at Oxgangs Broadway and Colinton Mains and at a later date  also took on the post office in both locations too.

He must have realised that in the years ahead it would be difficult to earn a living for his family from selling wool, cotton reels and items of school uniform - does anyone remember the snake Hunters Tryst school belts as well as the school tie and badge? When the opportunities arose for both Post Office franchises he must have seized the moment.

He wasn't a very popular chap - serious and pinched, he didn't have the easy personal skills that made for a good shopkeeper. Even I would notice this as a wee boy when I was collecting the Family Allowance - the magical money that my mother received every fortnight. I believe the McNish family stayed at Greenbank. His would have been another of these tales of entrepreneurship at The Broadway now probably sadly vanished and untold - we need a social historian going avisiting with a tape recorder!

Allans the grocers I've alluded to when remembering Helen Blades. Was it two sisters and a brother who ran the shop? A friend of Liz Blades married the son of one of the Allans - also Douglas Blades worked there as a bicycle delivery boy. The Hoffmanns didn't give any trade to this shop; instead we got the vast amount of our provisions at The Store. Also, it was quite expensive at Allans - being able to sell wines and spirits must have helped the business survive over the period 1958 to 1972. The Blades seemed to be the only family from the The Stair who regularly shopped there.

The two shops which I visited regularly at The Crescent were Campbells Newsagents and Cruickshanks Store. The Campbell family must have led a similarly good life to the Ewart's at The Broadway. They had a monopoly in that part of Oxgangs and Firhill. The shop always seemed to me scruffier compared to Ewart's and although it too sold confectionery wasn't so well organised; unlike Ewart's it didn't have the jars of penny sweets lined up in military precision. Like Ewart's it sold rolls on a Sunday - buying in the dozen rolls and the Sunday Post sometimes took me in this direction. As I said I found old man Campbell a wee bit gruff, but humorous.

My main visits to The Crescent were to Cruikshank's which in essence was a baker's, but really a small grocer's and sweet shop. 

For such a small shop unit they seemed to have found the magic formula. 

At lunchtimes the schoolchildren swarmed over the shop like wasps to jam. I suppose it was less a baker's than a grocer's but less of a grocer's and more a baker cum sweet-shop - if you know what I mean! 

A bakery of  sorts and also a grocer's of sorts, but selling a limited amount of products, but what it had hit upon were the sweets, chocolate and juice that kids liked. 

We were able to buy Koolapop here - a brand of fizzy juice that I've never been able to come across since. It's a brand that has vanished off the planet. I don't know who manufactured it. It came in a bottle larger than a Coca Cola bottle, but only the top part of the glass had that novel twist. It had a screw top, but not metal - instead it was akin to a rubber cork that screwed into the bottle. The taste wasn't as strong as Coke. The bottle was the perfect size to wash down our Paris buns or pies from the shop and also slaked your thirst. 

Returning the bottle meant one got threepence old money back, thus it really cost one shilling and threepence. Everything was piled high in Cruikshank's making the most of very limited space - even the jars of sweets at the front counter meant it was difficult to see over. 

They also sold the popular ABC cards and gum - many footballers series which the boys enjoyed swapping; they also sold The Beatles and The Monkees cards as well as the American Civil War. They were clearly a good example of a business which worked back from the market and provided and satisfied a need with a rapid turnover.

One other shop which we visited at Colinton Mains and was similar to Cruikshanks was a grocer's shop called Andreetti's; it also sold rolls and we visited it for many years. Mrs Andretti was a lovely woman. For those who remember the shop, they will also remember that it closed down for tragic reasons. The son of the owners was disturbed and murdered a little girl in the neighbourhood and hid her small body in the flat above the shop. The Andrettis found it impossible to run the shop into the future, although I think they tried to.

As I've said on more than one occasion I believe that a social history of the original shopkeepers at The Broadway; The Crescent; and Colinton Mains who were pioneers in the first decade or so of the new housing schemes which arose at Oxgangs after the Second World War would have made a very interesting book. All parties benefited - the residents at Oxgangs were provided with a service; some local employment was created; and the owners made a living for their own families through their brave entrepreneurship.

The Broadway

When you are young you accept the world as it is. And that it must always have been thus.

From a young age I used to go up the hill (Oxgangs Street) regularly to the (Oxgangs) Broadway. 

Initially, I would be sent for messages and when older it would also be of my own volition too. 

Probably this was from the age of only three or four.   And whilst I enjoyed running messages, there was always the worry of crossing the path of an older boy with a fierce reputation for confrontation. Although I had some very occasional run-ins with him, I somehow managed to either talk myself out of trouble with him; alternatively I could have taken to my heels, although he was a quick runner. But more often I boxed cleverly and simply took a detour via Oxgangs Row therefore adopting a pragmatic non-confrontational approach; it was however an ongoing concern and I know that many friends of mine suffered quite badly.

Growing up in the area I never really considered that the shops at Oxgangs Broadway had not always existed, whereas they were built around 1953/54. And of course behind each and every business venture, there was an individual and human story-a tale of individuals seeing an entrepreneurial opportunity and actively taking the risk of following the dream.-a dream of making it economically-working for one self and aiming to provide for one's family to lead a good and satisfying life.

Oxgangs Broadway In The Winter

A collection of the individual stories of these early pioneers from sixty years ago would make for interesting reading today-their hopes and aspirations; successes and failures; ups and downs; joys and worries; colourful customers, colourful stories and lessons learned. Was it a success or was it a failure? Did it provide a good income or was it always a struggle? How did it affect their health? What happened if they were ill? Was the business seasonal? How above board was it? Were there unusual or unorthodox transactions and business arrangements? Did the stock fall off the back of a lorry! Did some customers get tick? Did the early aspiration meet the realisation? Did it become a conveyor belt that one couldn't get off? If they could go back in time would they have done it all again?

All these stories, now sadly gone.

As a customer I only saw the shops as being retail institutions, for our convenience, not realising there was a human story behind each and every one.

I assume that when the public housing schemes were first muted, agreed, planned for and thereafter designed and developed after the war, that Edinburgh Council must have taken cognisance of local needs and included these small retail shop units for rental. Did they deploy a prescriptive and restrictive policy whereby they had a shopping list of the range of businesses they wanted e.g. one post office; one chemist; a dry-salter and so on or was it just a laissez-faire approach?

Probably for most of the individuals, it would have been their first venture as a self employed businessman. I suspect that for some of them they had perhaps worked in the particular trade, but never before been the owner of the business. Now here was a once in a lifetime opportunity to go it alone-what excitement-what a worry!

Similar to tenants becoming home owners under Mrs Thatcher's government I wonder if in later years and decades they thereafter had the opportunity to purchase the shop units? I expect so.

Oxgangs Crescent Shopping Precinct Shortly Before Demolishment

The shops at Oxgangs Crescent (sadly, now demolished) were similar to those at Oxgangs Broadway, except there were fewer of them. The shops at Oxgangs Broadway remain today, but are of course all different. There are some similar types of shops to the past-a newsagent, a chemist, a post office, a baker's, but also a betting shop and three hairdressers; there is a convenience store-family owned, long established which has picked up some awards. 

Oxgangs Broadway (Photograph Mark Travis)

The Oxgangs Broadway design is a rather dinky and clever lay out, which when seen from above is shaped like a cockit hat-an interesting triangular shape with a road bordering the three sides-similar to the Cockit Hat at the Redford Road/Oxgangs Road North junction. On the north side there are some flats located above the shops, which unusually take up two floors i.e. levels two and three. The flats are most handily located if you run out of bread, milk or sugar or want to nip out for an early morning roll or newspaper. 

The shops are set down below ground level in a small self-contained dip of ground; there are approximately a dozen shops. These shops are evenly distributed and laid out opposite each other. The area between the shops serves as an interesting social area where during the day, local neighbours could catch up with one another’s news. 

Back in the 1960s the shops were fairly small. However, there was a general store which was larger than the others-perhaps it was a double unit? Behind the shops and up above were some further units, but these were mainly used by the shop-keepers down below as storage units. Today, these units are all in use including a large Corals bookies! It's not surprising, because these shop units are south facing and one can park directly outside; however they are set away from the main body of the kirk.

In the 1960s there were two important exceptions to the storage units-Ben Mackenzie, the hairdresser and Rissi’s fish and chip shop-these two businesses occupied either corner site. 

An earlier blog was called Cellophane, Airfix and Ben Mackenzie (Oxgangs Broadway, Shop No 1)-after all how could Ben be anything other than number one!

I intend to do short blogs in future on each of the 1960s shops, so if you have any memories, please let me know.