No 76 High Street
  
 

1896
F William Griffith - Tailor (K1896)

F William Griffith - Tailor

 
1916
F William Griffith - Tailor (K1916) (Kelly entries to be checked)
 

1922
Misses Aldis & Dunt - Milliners. (SSW 1922, K1924) As well as high-class hats, Misses Aldiis & Dunt sell blouses and ready-to-wear frocks.

F William Griffith - Tailor (K1924) Appears to have retained a base at this address.
.
 

1933
Mrs King - 'Bettye Anne's' Arts and Crafts Depot, Milliner and Costumier (K1933, 1937, SPM1936, SRB1938) (Mrs King's forename?)

1946
Mrs King - 'Bettye Anne's' Arts and Crafts Depot, Milliner and Costumier (SRB1946, SPM1947). In 1947 the business moves across the road to No 51 High Street.

1947
Patricia Mears & Marjorie Hitchcock - reopen the premises as 'Mrs Miniver's' Restaurant.(SRB1947). Misses Mears and Hitchcock have recently been demobbed from the Army having been on duty at the War Trials in Nuremberg. The name they choose is taken from the Oscar-Winning 1942 film, 'Mrs Miniver' starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Patricia and Marjorie are believed to have applied to MGM for permission to use the name.

 
 

1952 - 53
Patricia Mears marries John Adnams of the Brewery family (probably in 1952) and Marjorie Hitchcock marries Bernard (Bunny) Henry Lee (probably in 1953) who is currently working at the Fordux factory on North Green. Mrs Patricia Adnams and Marjorie Lee continue to run 'Mrs Miniver's' Restaurant.

A stone tablet in memory of 'Bunny Lee' was set into a flower bed on North Green on his death by the Southwold Round Table. See photograph, right. We are indebted to Bernard & Marjorie Lee's son, Charles, for details of 'Mrs Miniver's' and its owners.

1960
Mrs Patricia Adnams - 'Mrs Miniver's' (Source: Judith Simmons who worked there that summer)

1965
Rex Fisher (1965-1968) Nature of business? He presumably ran his business from a first-floor office.

Date?
John Law - 'Mrs Minivers' Restaurant (Source: Becky Canham)
 

Date?
John Law - 'Mrs Miniver's' Restaurant (LM)

Date?
Mr and Mrs Eugene Cameron - take over the restaurant. (Mr Cameron is Polish but adopts his Scottish wife's surname.)

1976
The restaurant is sold (Source: M W Chalkley. See message below

Ruth Bryant - reopens the restaurant this year as 'Le Petit Bijou.'. See photo right.


 

Ruth Bryant - 'Le Petit Bijou'. At some time in the 1980s the restaurant name reverts to 'Minivers' (SST1987)
 

1990
Ruth Bryant moves her business to the former bakehouse in Blackmill Road and renames it 'The Old Bakehouse Restaurant'. (SST1990)

Mr & Mrs Beasley take over 'Minivers' and rename it 'The Honeypot' (LM)

Thank you to Becky Canham for sharing her memories of working at the restaurant. Read more here. Also to Mike Chalkley for help with names and dates.

1992
'Pearl of the Orient' - Chinese takeaway (SLHR1992) (When did this close?)
 
 

Date?
Juan Suarez and Pippa Bergsun - 'Focus Organic' - organic foods, cosmetics and toiletries. Closes December 31 2010.

2011
Aleyna Murray-Sutton - 'Calendula' Natural Health and Beauty Products

2013
Calendula closes in May

St Elizabeth Hospice charity shop opens in October.
   

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
Our forum facility has been withdrawn by the provider. Sorry for the inconvenience. We are looking for an alternative.

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.



Focus Organic closed in 2010


Calendula opened in 2011


Advertisement from the Southwold Shopping Week programme of 1922.

1960 advert for Mrs Miniver's Restaurant

Oct 1960 advertisement from the Southwold Magazine (courtesy of David Wright)

Tablet commemorating Bunny Lee

Stone memorial tablet to Bunny Lee. See note under 1950s entry

'Le Petit Bijou' in September 1976.
With thanks to Dudley Diaper for permission to reproduce this photograph.

Click the picture to enlarge

1987 advertisement in the Southwold Theatre programme, after the restaurant had reverted to a shortened version of its original name.

Pearl of the Orient Chinese takeaway photographed in approx 1998.
Photo courtesy of David Weight