The thread about 'Beacon House' got me thinking about my local Co-op in Hillside. The shop is still there and was, last time I saw it, selling bicycles . After closure( and I'm sure someone will be able to tell me the year) the dairy behind carried on business and again I cannot remember exactly until when ! I once pinched some stock-cubes ( I must have been 5 or 6 ) whilst my mum was messing around with her 'divy' and ate the whole-packet so I wouldn't be found out !

I guess Southport had many 'local Co-ops' . If I remember correctly, there was one , very nearby on Liverpool Road.

There was a Co-Op in Botanic Road by my Nan's which had a good Butchers, saw dust on the floor etc. Our closest one was cnr Sussex Rd and Windsor Rd our number was 21696

In a 1936 directory there are Co-ops at Botanic Rd, High Park Rd, Shellfield Rd, Rufford Rd, Sussex Rd (2), Bispham Rd, London St, Liverpool Rd Ainsdale, Liverpool Rd Birkdale (2), Bold St, Lynton Dr, Hesketh Dr & Beacon House. I make that 15 shops, & I can remember a lot of them were still trading in the 60's.

Ours was at the corner of Sussex Road and Poplar Street....and our divi number was 6391

That was our Co-op too, Barry - underneath the Gladstone Liberal Club. During the war the manager was a Mr. Davies and I went to school with his lads. Maybe you remember the Davies twins?

Originally Posted by blowick

That was our Co-op too, Barry - underneath the Gladstone Liberal Club. During the war the manager was a Mr. Davies and I went to school with his lads. Maybe you remember the Davies twins?

Cant remember them....racking brain without success

They'd be older than you, Barrie. But you mighty remember their brother Tom Davies who was a Life Boy leader about the time you'd be in the LBs. His dad was manager of Sussex Road Co-op for many years.

Oh I remember Tom Davies, Frank.....he went on to join the police.....I do believe that he ended up as a Detective Superintendent. He lived for a while in a police flat in the old police station opposite the Blue Anchor pub at the top end of Hart Street.

The Co-op that AndyK mentioned is now an Estate Agent.

Barry, did you know that Tom Davies passed away a few years ago? I think his widow, Eileen, is still in Southport. Does anyone remember Wheatsheaf, the Co-op cigarette? They had another brand too but the name escapes me. And they made Pelaw show polish too, and of course 99 tea!

By 'eck, I've just remembered. Wheatsheafs were the smaller cigarette (like Weights or Woodies), and Cogent were the standard size ones. Funny name for a cigarette!

It's all coming back now! Co-op also made Raydex, CWS Navy Cut, and Jaycees cigarettes. And I think their pipe tobacco was named Mahogany. Good grief - am I the only who remembers all this useless trivia? Enough already!

Originally Posted by johnscone49

there was one on Heathfeild Rd as well, it was split into three shops if I remember right 1.Food shop[ using brown bags for loose suger etc]2. next door fruit & veg 3. Butcher, A few years later two men took it over ED & CON calling it EK Store selling Food beers and wine fruit & veg & videos ,

in the early days it was 4 shops Food shop,-sweets bread and cakes, butchers and last one fruit & veg
The main food shop last time I passed was a hair dressers
another shop was at Ainsdale
I worked at the Chaple st shop when it opened

We used to do all our weekly shopping at Birkdale Village Co-op. The manager was Mr. Pearson in the early 60s. Our house was about 100 yards away in a straight line, down Welbeck Road, but we still used to get the lad to deliver it all in a big cardboard box, and my mum would give him a tanner.

The Co-op on Rufford Road was one of the shops we used. Unusually the Co-op used to have its own production factories, unlike today where manufacturers' products are re-badged by major supermarket companies.

I got a bargain from the Crossens Co-op!

That is where I met my hubby!

Originally Posted by pedoja

I got a bargain from the Crossens Co-op!

That is where I met my hubby!

Did you get a "divi" with him.

co-op advert

The CWS published a monthly magazine called Wheatsheaf and a Sunday newspaper (broadsheet) called Reynold's News, later replaced by a tabloid, the Sunday Citizen, which ceased publication in the middle 60's.

Originally Posted by pedoja

I got a bargain from the Crossens Co-op!

That is where I met my hubby!

I used to be the Manager at Crossens Coop back in the late 60's early 70's!
It was with Southport Coop when I started there then Lancastria Coop took it over and life was never the same again!!

My Dad, Sid Baxter worked in the Botanic Rd outlet as a butcher during the war, at the rear was a bakery that supplied all the bread for the co-ops in Southport After school at Churchtown
Juniors I used go there and get a bag of chips at the fish and chip shop next door and got to go into the bakery I still remember the ovens and mixers, not long after that the bakery burnt down and was not rebuilt l was not sorry as the bread was not very good, after the war my dad moved to Rufford Rd as Manager of the food store.

Originally Posted by Jybo Jeff

My Dad, Sid Baxter worked in the Botanic Rd outlet as a butcher during the war, at the rear was a bakery that supplied all the bread for the co-ops in Southport After school at Churchtown
Juniors I used go there and get a bag of chips at the fish and chip shop next door and got to go into the bakery I still remember the ovens and mixers, not long after that the bakery burnt down and was not rebuilt l was not sorry as the bread was not very good, after the war my dad moved to Rufford Rd as Manager of the food store.

A Sid Baxter had a fishing-tackle shop on Sussex Road, until the early 70's. It later became J.E. Robinson & Son, but is now closed.

Any relation ? There must be quite a few Sid Baxters around !