Just across the entrance to Chapel Lane from the White Swan was Tom Fryer’s shop, a gents outfitters and tailors. As a child I remember Tom as a charming sociable chain-smoker. From my father’s shop doorway Tom could keep an eye on his own shop door whilst having a chat over a smoke with my grandfather. The downside to his chain-smoking is that any item bought from his shop required a good airing before being worn, especially if you were a non-smoker. Tom was a fully trained highly skilled tailor and I recall seeing him sat cross-legged and shoeless on his counter stitching by hand almost like an illustration from Beatrix Potter’s The Tailor of Gloucester.
I recall his smoking almost causing a significant loss. Tom lived the next road down from us and frequently cadged a lift home in the back of our van. One evening he caught a lift home and the end of a cigarette fell onto the old cushion he was sat upon in the back of the van that when not used for sitting on helped protect televisions in transit. Tom swore the cigarette end was out, but as a precaution my father removed the cushions whilst we had our tea. After tea we were able to see that the cushion had smouldered and caught alight and had to be doused.
Tom was a highly intelligent man and a capable athlete. He served his apprenticeship at Burtons and in the late 1950’s set up his own business in a small wooden kiosk in Winfrey Avenue. In 1964 he moved to the shop in New Road. He used to help my father erect TV and radio aerials and had been known to shin up an aerial mast. I remember when I was about eight Tom taught me the importance of getting a customer to touch an item they were interested in buying to increase the chance of a sale. Tom learned Spanish and remember him and Dan Morgan conversing in Spanish for fun. In my time Spanish was only ever an extra subject that was fuelled by the passion and interest of an individual teacher despite it being the second most popular spoken first language in the world. It perhaps says something about the north-European bias in that Spanish ranked behind the 20th and 19th most popular spoken first languages, i.e. French and standard German. Meanwhile I was not actively encouraged by parents that never travelled abroad and “couldn’t see the point as everyone speaks English.” Their world of the Fens was much smaller than that of today.[i]
Above Tom Fryer’s shop, accessed by a side door and some awful stairs was A.J. Barnes Accountant. John Barnes (as he was popularly known) was a wonderful man to whom I will be forever grateful for giving me my first job after I effectively failed my A-levels. Indeed one of the subjects was history and I still have a letter of apology from my history teacher for my low grades that he felt did not reflect my ability.[ii] This job gave me a gentle start into office work for nine months and taught me a little about book-keeping, accounts and V.A.T. in a largely pre-computerised world. It was without malice and with great good-will that he encouraged me to work for a Bank where I immediately doubled my pay, even if initially I found it difficult to fit into a larger office environment. As described earlier this avenue of opportunity is simply not available in either accountancy or Banking as entry level accountancy is mostly computerised on apps and local Bank branches are few and far between. The practical affordability of a newly employed school leaver to live away from home is much reduced nowadays and restricts social mobility.
On the corner of New Road and Hall Place was a small leather goods shop that had a small glass arcade in which occasional tramps would kip for the night. Entering into Hall Place were several notable family businesses, Atton & Son decorating supplies, Gibbs and Matthews Shoe Shops (Gibbs being a small chain originating in Wisbech), and Manns Gents outfitters. Perhaps the most notable of these was Atton & Son. Frequently stood in the entrance of the shop was Mark Atton, smoking a cigarette, possibly chatting to fellow smoker Ray Matthews from the shoe shop. It is only looking back that I realise how few people smoke nowadays. Even when I started working for Barclays Bank in 1986 at 3.30pm the doors would close and the smokers would light up – usually cigarettes on the lower floors and cigars in the manager’s rooms, such was the smoking caste system. Smoking was like a social glue in the business and commerce of the town.
Although Atton’s appeared to be a modest shop in the early 1970’s it was known as the largest retail supplier of wall paper in the East Midlands such was the catchment area that the town of Spalding could supply at that time with little competition. The business first established in 1856 as a monumental stonemasons and by 1893 it was a noted supplier of wall paper providing cleaning and distempering services, signwriting, graining and gilding.
Historically the family were involved in the local Methodist circuit and local Liberal politics. It is significant to note that throughout much of Spalding’s twentieth century history Methodists are a notable backbone both in individual businesses and the general business of the town. Even as I started work, the number of bank managers in the town that attended the Methodist church was notable. The words of George Atton and Jack George, the later a local councillor that lived two doors down from my parental home, as he handed over the presidency of the Spalding Free Church Federal Council[iii] give an insight into this influence:
“ Mr George continued, ‘The name Atton is an honoured name in Spalding. It has been further enhanced by this year’s successful presidency.’
‘Outsiders is not a pleasant term,’ said Mr Atton, ‘but it is one which applies to many people in Spalding. There are many people who not only do not belong to the Baptist or Methodist faiths, but have no connection with any religious body at all.’[iv]
Thus we see in 1950 an almost unapologetic dominance of religion over business and commerce that could work in or against your favour. Perhaps, in fairness, their motivation was not to gain advantage through their faith, but rather a certain non-conformist equality gave it an edge in bringing people together. There is also the advantage of the Methodist circuit that sees lay preachers move around an area increasing the interaction of people and connections. Certainly in this era this interaction of congregations did not happen to the same extent between the three Parish Churches in Spalding. All areas will have different influential groups whether religious or more secular. In Spalding I saw some businessmen float between churches as the Methodists in particular were very welcoming of all people – and in my experience had the best food with each chapel equipped with a kitchen, something that was sadly lacking in Spalding churches. People may have floated between religious denominations for commercial convenience, yet some cross-overs would get parochial judgement. Crossing between Church of England and Catholic faiths was a step too far for some; Jehovah’s witnesses were often treated with suspicion, and the few Moslems, Hindus and Sikhs that moved to the area tended to either keep religion within their homes or travelled to Peterborough.
Atton and Son in its 1970’s guise was a split from George Atton that retained the trading name and was set up by Frank Atton at the Hall Place premises in 1932. His son Mark Atton was conscripted into the forces and entered the business after he was demobilised. Mark lived above the shop until 1989 and by 1997 the premises were eventually sold after being on the market for three years. This possibly illustrates the changing nature of shops towards the end of the century and the disappearance of family businesses.
Adjacent to Attons was Matthews shoe shop. In 1923 it was the main shop in Spalding for working men’s footwear and possibly held that status well into my youth as I got my first pair of size none airwair shoes for school. G. Matthews & Son shoe shop was started in 19000 and it was run by four siblings, Ray and Norman Matthews and two older sisters known to me at the time as “the Miss Matthews”, Maude and Elsie Matthews. As already described, Ray Matthews could often be seen on a quiet day chatting to Mark Atton over a cigarette – both being heavy smokers. Ray alongside Molson the chemist, held the role of either church warden or sidesman at Spalding Parish Church, Ray was also Captain of the Church lads Brigade. He was my father’s best man at his wedding to my mother in 1962. With no successors wishing to enter their business they ceased to trade in 1985. As they looked back on the history of the shoe shop Norman and Ray’s comments reflect the changing nature of the town: “ The biggest single thing to affect the footwear trade over the past years has been the mechanisation of work on the land. Years ago men working on the land would have purpose built, all leather working boots. Now they can wear sports shoes while they drive their tractor and listen to the radio. We know farmers locally who had 20 men working for them who all had special work boots and wellingtons. Now the same farmers have one or two men work their machinery.”
[i] First spoken languages by rank are: 1st Mandarin, 2nd Spanish, 3rd English, 19th standard German and 20th French. English is the most popular second language.
[ii] I was taught by more than one History teacher and knew I was doomed when I walked out of the exam and one of the teachers head in hands admitted that they had not taught a chunk of the syllabus because they haven’t set any questions on it before. I have a dim view of the Grammar School system, but concede you have to play the ball of life where it lands.
[iii] The Spalding Free Church Federal Council covered all the local non-conformist Churches such as Methodist, Baptist and United Reform
[iv] Spalding Guardian 1950
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