Leppards

Mr Leppard, as I remember him was a bald, slightly tubby and pleasant man who ran the store efficiently. Entering the store, the counter to the right was marble topped and carried the dairy and preserved meats. There was a bacon slicing machine "Berkels - please select the thickness you prefer" although that never seemed to change from the one fixed thickness. I don't suppose there was much call for thicknesses other than for a typical bacon rasher.

All along at just above floor level would be a row of biscuit tins with glazed lids so that you could see what was on offer. Broken biscuits were sold at half price. No such luck these days, as when we order P.F's Rich Tea biscuits online, they always arrive with the biscuits at each end of the sealed packet crushed.
The counter to the left was for dry goods as I remember.

Leppards was one of a few shops along the Priory Road and to Leppard's left that was one that was never open, then Leppard's, Fairheads - a tobacconist and sweet shop. The owner was a cadaverous looking chap with long teeth - the gums had long withdrawn I suppose from smoking. He always seemed to be dressed in a ginger brown, tweed three piece, hairy suit. He made a profit from kids by selling happeny and penny drinks, and liquorice wood. It was where we used to flock to once a month to spend our sweet coupons (12 oz/month) His one redeeming feature was Marcus, his lovely Irish Setter.

To the right was a shoe shop, then Hulston's the 'oil shop' - a hardware shop I suppose, but as they sold paraffin with it's accompanying reek the name seemed appropriate. Then there was a phone box and the Off licence on the corner as the road went into Churchill Road.
The Off licence sat in a sort of island with a little alleyway running from the oil shop around the back of the off licence and ending at the Newsagents on Churchill Road. This was followed by a Haberdasher's, a Hairdressers that had a weird green image in the window of a woman sitting cross legged, with arms held vertically and hands turned outwards - strange I always thought. Then came the last shop - The Devon Bakeries.

Across the road was the Fish and Chip shop - always great grub there. Then to it's right a series of shops that never seemed to be open, ending at the corner of Abbots Road with a sweet shop, called, I think, The Marigold.

There was then a large empty patch of land where I was told a tube station from Morden had been planned before the war and now occupied by large Emergency Water Tanks, later, after the war by a garage. Across from that on the Abbots Road/Churchill Road crossing was The Post Office. Next to the PO , running along Churchill Road was "Courtiers", another lovely old sweetshop run by two old ladies. Then there was another shop that was never open followed by Bashfords the greengrocers. Mr Bashford was always in attendance with his hands in his leather pouch hung from his neck, jingling small change, although, given the size of pennies and happennies, hardly 'small' change. Everybody was addressed as "Duck" and his daughter, Olive would help out frequently. His wife would appear from the back of the store bearing a large dish containing boiled beetroots with her face wreathed in steam. Next door was the shoe repair shop.
Across the road was the Cheam Social Club and to it's right was Pineger's (I think) the Butchers, Mr P used to fascinate me as he was missing the two middle fingers of his left hand. I often wondered if they had appeared in somebody's rations? Then there was the Dairy, followed by Riches the chemist on the corner where Mum would have us weighed every month.

Making a flying visit in 2023 I was dismayed to see that most of these shops were gone.

Along Priory Road, all of them from Leppards to the Off licence had been replaced with houses. Most of the others were either gone or were run by different owners. The newsagents was still there as was the Fish and Chip shop. What had been the Post Office had now deteriorated into a scruffy mix of a store - no longer a PO. The Garage across the road was still there, but I cannot recall any of the other stores.

I lived in Chatsworth Road from 1934 until 1960 and returning now I was saddened to see the way the area has deteriorated so much. I had taken my grandson with me, getting off the 93 bus from Putney on Churchill Road (It doesn't wait on Priory Road the way it used to) we walked up Chatsworth, up Stoughton Avenue, turned onto Tilehurst and then turned left onto the Malden Road and walked up to Cheam Village and onto visit a friend who still lives in Mulgrave Road.

Gordon Polson