Corner of Stradbroke & Chester Roads
 

This building was originally a small department store whose address was un-numbered 'North Cliff'. This seems to have been a descriptive name for this general area of Southwold. Later the shop assumed a Stradbroke Road address but today it is officially designated 11 Chester Road. As it happens, the building is No 11 whether considered as in Stradbroke or Chester Roads!

1888
H J Debney & Sons - Grocer, Draper, wine and spirit merchant, milliners, dressmakers, estate agents. This is a branch of the considerable Debney retail business whose main shop is at No 7 South Green. Other branches are at No 37 High Street and in Walberswick. Henry Johnson Debney himself died in 1890.

1908
Herbert Corbin Alderton - Grocer. (K1908)

 
Herbert Corbin Alderton - Grocer.
 

1922
Herbert Corbin Alderton - Grocer. (K1924). H C Alderton & Sons also serve the seaside tourism market with what they term: "Beach Bungalows [beach huts to rent?], tents, prams cots and bathchairs for hire." (SCTG1922, PPP1924-1926)

The late J B Harris who spent boyhood summers in Southwold between the wars, remembers that his parents had strong views on which shops should be patronised and which avoided. According to them... "There was only one grocer of quality, Alderton's on the corner of Chester Road... When we were little, old-man Alderton with a cloth cap and a pencil behind his ear would always give us a biscuit, and at the end of our holiday a slab of Bournville." With thanks to J B Harris's widow, Mary, for permission to quote from his unpublished memoir: 'Memories of Southwold 1920 - 1939'.

 

 

1933
Alderton & Son (K1933)

1940
Alderton & Son - Closes this year when the town is evacuated. (LM)

1946
George Bumstead (SPM1946) Returning from War Service in the RAF, George continues the family grocery business started by his parents, George (senior) and Violet at No 25 High Street, at these impressive new premises.
 

1958
George Bumstead - Grocer and Provision Merchant (CP1958)

George Bumstead - Grocer and Provision Merchant
 

George Bumstead - Grocer and Provision Merchant
 
1984
George Bumstead - Grocer and Provision Merchant, closes in November this year, bringing to an end nearly 70 years in which his family has traded in Southwold. George Bumstead is proud of his success in maintaining traditional counter service in the face of what he describes as "revolutionary changes in retailing" during his career. (Source: Local contemporary press reports)
 

 
 
 

 
   

Do you have any memories or records about this address? Can you correct any of our information or fill in any of our blanks? If so, please email Barry Tolfree
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SOURCES:
BSD - Bernard Segrave-Daly
BCS = Bygones & Characters of Southwold by Barrett Jenkins
C = Census
CP = Cinema Programme 1958
CSP = Coronation Souvenir Programme 1953
G = Gales Trade Directory
GRO = General Register Office
K = Kelly's Directory
LM = Local memory
M = James Maggs' Southwold Diary 1818-1876
MCG = Methodist Church Guide 1930
NA = National Archives
PP = Pantomime Programme 1933
PLR = Petrol Licence Records
POD = Post Office Directory
PPP = Pier Pavilion Programme 1924, 1926
RCE = Rotary Club Exhibition 1969
SCM = Southwold Catholic Magazine 1923
SCTG = Southwold Corporation Tourist Guide
SER = Southwold Electoral Register
SFP = Southwold Scouts Fete Programme 1947
SG = Southwold Guide
SGCH = Southwold Golf Club Handbook
SLHR = Southwold Local History Recorder 1980s 1990s (Mrs R. McDermot)
SMHS = Southwold Museum & Historical Society
SN = Southwold & Neighbourhood 1903
SPM = Southwold Parish Magazine 1895 -1954
SR = Southwold Recorder 1927, 1932, 1934, 1935
SRB = Southwold Rate Book
SRT = Southwold Railway Timetable 1915
SSAS = Southwold Sea Angling Society Handbook 1909
SST = Southwold Summer Theatre Programmes
SSW = Southwold Shopping Week Programme, June/July 1922
STG = Southwold Town Guide 1930
SVL = Southwold Visitors List 1907, 1930
SVCP = Southwold Victory Celebration Programme 1946
SWCG = Southwold Wesleyan Church Guide
TTR = 'The Town Revisited' - Portraits of Southwold by Stephen Wolfenden 2000
TTT = ''To The Town' - Portraits of Southwold by Stephen Wolfenden 1988
W = White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk 1874
 
Note on dates
Unless otherwise stated, dates given do not indicate the years in which the business started or finished but those for which there is firm evidence that it was trading at this address. Sources in brackets; key at bottom of page.




Debney's Stradbroke Road branch in 1903. Stradbroke Road is on the left flank, Chester Road on the right.
Reproduced from 'Southwold & Neighbourhood'.
Click the picture to enlarge


The store in the 1900s. The man in the road is leading a goat cart. From a postcard in the Robert Palmer Collection.
Click the picture to enlarge

The rear of the store in the early 1900s. Note how the road is a rough dirt track at this time.
(Southwold Museum P1458)
Click the picture to enlarge

Advertisement in the 1922 issue of Southwold Corporation Tourist Guide

Undated advertisement, probably mid 20s, in Southwold Tourist Guide.
Courtesy Heather Osmer

Advertisement in the Southwold Cinema Programme 1958...


...and in 1969, an advertisement in the programme of the Rotary Club's Leisure Activities Exhibition.

George Bumstead's shop probably in the 1970s
Photo courtesy of Jill Goffin

Click image to enlarge

George Bumstead

George Bumstead photographed in his shop shortly before retirement.
Reproduced by kind permission of Stephen Wolfenden

Click the picture to enlarge

 


George Bumstead's last day in November 1984 bringing to an end nearly70 years' trading by the Bumstead business. Local news cutting kindly supplied by Heather Osmer.