Light And Gift Shop

[Eileen]

Does anyone know who this shop was built for, when, and what was it originally. I heard a story about 3 sisters and 1 being killed in a fire?

[threegee]

I guess you mean: https://www.google.com/maps/@55.128386,-1.588501,3a,75y,43.6h,91.81t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1ssDWwl61C2xJJM_1GmrOQpw!2e0

 

The name Smail or Smails rings a bell here, or have I got the wrong shop?

 

Excellent quality building but the stonework is a bit neglected where the water has been splashing off the pavement. Hope it has been re-pointed since 2009 to prevent further damage.

[keith lockey]

There's a Smails at Morpeth, isn't there? (Or have I got the wrong shop!!!)

[threegee]

  My memory may be out by yards, but it's sure not over five miles out!  And... I probably only walked/rode/drove past their sign less than 10,000 times, so how am I supposed to remember foot high letters?!

 

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smails-6

 

Interestingly, it's not just me that was confused by the appended "s" - seems like the family itself was!

[keith lockey]

Fascinating, Threegee here's the one in Morpeth I was thinking of. It's like an Awkright haberdashery.

 

[tonyg]

it  was Smails sweet  shop

[Brett]

I guess you mean: https://www.google.com/maps/@55.128386,-1.588501,3a,75y,43.6h,91.81t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1ssDWwl61C2xJJM_1GmrOQpw!2e0

 

The name Smail or Smails rings a bell here, or have I got the wrong shop?

 

Excellent quality building but the stonework is a bit neglected where the water has been splashing off the pavement. Hope it has been re-pointed since 2009 to prevent further damage.

 

The shop you are referring to has a main shop in Newcastle behind The Globe on Scotswood Rd does it not?

 

Also this is now closed and is being repurposed into either residential property or alternative fronting for a commercial premises.

 

This appears to be the planning application:

 

Conversion of existing shop and storage into 4 No two bed dwellings including demolition of modern rear store and part boundary wall

[ex Bedlingtonian]

 

The shop you are referring to has a main shop in Newcastle behind The Globe on Scotswood Rd does it not?

 

Also this is now closed and is being repurposed into either residential property or alternative fronting for a commercial premises.

 

This appears to be the planning application:

 

Conversion of existing shop and storage into 4 No two bed dwellings including demolition of modern rear store and part boundary wall

Don't think that was the same company Brett.  The owners of the lighting studio used to be members of the Chamber of Trade, and I believe still have a shop in the Metro Centre, at least they did a while ago, not been there for a while.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

My Parents moved to Hollymount Square in 1947-8..ish,and I grew up wi Smaily's shop aroond the corner.

Noo!,what curiosity dae yi think was aroused in a kid,of aboot four years and upwards,ti see folk waakin' aroond ti Smaily's shop,carrying a lang,square,funny-lukkin' glass "jar",wi a carrying handle,and full of black-lukkin' liquid,wi brass "terminals" on thi top?,[one in each hand!]

This was ,it seemed,every time we were ootside playing,that sumbody wud waak by,on their way ti Smaily's.

ACCUMULATOR'S!........the earliest form of re-chargeable batteries,wat powered the new-fangled wireless sets!

Mrs Smails played the organ at Saint Cuthbert's Church,for centuries!,but the organ bellows were so inadequate,that the attack rate,being slow,meant that the congregation used to leave the organ accompaniment,struggling ti keep in time![We kids always thought Mrs Smails was playing too slowly!...ignorance is bliss!]

I used to go in for me Mutha's shopping......."Two oonces o' tea,please,and two oonces o' sugar..."..[scooped oot o' tea-chests made o' plywood,and put in little strong broon paper bags.]

While a was waiting,in a queue,a wud stare up on the top shelf,which ran right aroond the shop...weird-looking big tin containers,wi lids on,aal different shapes and sizes,aal bonny painted wi oriental artwork,sum were really dark colours,and creepy-lukkin,ti a little bairn!

They were antiques then,aroond 1950-ish,and a often wonder wat happened ti them,they were obviously from other parts of the world,and hoo did they get there?

Old Mr Smails,was aboot ninety years old,when aa was a kid,and a can remember him taking these Accumulator's off a weird lookin' bench,wi loads of wires leading to loads of these things,aal bubbling away,creating a queer smell,as ye stood near them.[they were all being charged for customers!]

Butter was in the barrel,and yi had a chunk carved oot expertly,by Mrs Smails,hoo,like other places,[the store for instance..],cud guess the weight as near as a knat's whisker!!

We kids used ti ask for the empty tea-chests,ti mek rabbit hutches,cos yi only had ti cut a door oot,and clag a bit o' chicken-wire owa thi front,and ye had a posh hoose for Bunty!

The whole of the shop interior was fitted oot wi dark oak,panelling,counter-tops,shelves,etc,and was again,a bit daunting for kids,like way back in the hill-billy days!!

Smails at Morpeth is the same stamp,and also the hardware shop at Rothbury,[modern-day Matty Robinson's!!!] [yi cud ask for a pink elephant,and if they didn't hae one,they wud get yi one!!]

The nearest aav seen ti a shop like Smaily's,is the hardware shop at Beamish museum,[for the antiquity that is,not necessary aal the stock..]

Mrs Smails was a lovely natured old lady,well thought of in Bedlington,and aam thinking noo,that there shud have been some sort of recognition for the service to the community,which she provided,aav got a clear picture of her in my mind,after aal the years since a last saw her.

Vic,ask your Lass if she can remember these tins aam on aboot!

Oh,and a hope she is keeping weel!

[Eileen]

Thank you High Pit Wilma, you should write a book it would be so in teresting, I could listen / read your stories all day.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh! Thanks a lot Eileen!

A write like a taak,so when a pick me pen up every other month or two,as a hev been,for the last three years,[or more!],to continue on wi me life story,me pen just gaans away on it's aan,in top gear,withoot me hevvin' ti think wat ti say!

Alan wud say that's wat becomes of a gud taaker....[and Alan knaas me very well!]

Aa like ti correct folk who caal me "a gud taaker",and tell them aam a gud "conversationalist" !

From being very young,aav tuk an interest in things aroond me,for instance,a was ten years aad when "Sputnik" [thi

Russian satellite],was launched.O.K.?

Right!,a can mind playing ootside on dark neets,in thi winter,as we did,and on lovely frosty clear neets,aa wud be staring up into thi stars,lukking ti see if a cud see thi satellite gaan owa!![and also watching shooting stars]

A used ti read aal H.G.Wells's books,and even though they were science fiction,a learned a lot from the factual content included in thi stories.[H.G.Wells was a respected scientist,and already had worked out a lot of the formulae for rocket propulsion etc.]

Aal the years gone by,and aam still the syem!!...tha's nowt a canna taak aboot...oh!...politics!!...that's aboot thi ownly subject aam dumb aboot..!

Noo pitwark!....divvent set me away......!

Anyway Eileen,a appreciate your kind comments very much,and aal try not ti ramble on owa much afta this one!

[Vic Patterson]

My Parents moved to Hollymount Square in 1947-8..ish,and I grew up wi Smaily's shop aroond the corner.

Noo!,what curiosity dae yi think was aroused in a kid,of aboot four years and upwards,ti see folk waakin' aroond ti Smaily's shop,carrying a lang,square,funny-lukkin' glass "jar",wi a carrying handle,and full of black-lukkin' liquid,wi brass "terminals" on thi top?,[one in each hand!]

This was ,it seemed,every time we were ootside playing,that sumbody wud waak by,on their way ti Smaily's.

ACCUMULATOR'S!........the earliest form of re-chargeable batteries,wat powered the new-fangled wireless sets!

Mrs Smails played the organ at Saint Cuthbert's Church,for centuries!,but the organ bellows were so inadequate,that the attack rate,being slow,meant that the congregation used to leave the organ accompaniment,struggling ti keep in time![We kids always thought Mrs Smails was playing too slowly!...ignorance is bliss!]

I used to go in for me Mutha's shopping......."Two oonces o' tea,please,and two oonces o' sugar..."..[scooped oot o' tea-chests made o' plywood,and put in little strong broon paper bags.]

While a was waiting,in a queue,a wud stare up on the top shelf,which ran right aroond the shop...weird-looking big tin containers,wi lids on,aal different shapes and sizes,aal bonny painted wi oriental artwork,sum were really dark colours,and creepy-lukkin,ti a little bairn!

They were antiques then,aroond 1950-ish,and a often wonder wat happened ti them,they were obviously from other parts of the world,and hoo did they get there?

Old Mr Smails,was aboot ninety years old,when aa was a kid,and a can remember him taking these Accumulator's off a weird lookin' bench,wi loads of wires leading to loads of these things,aal bubbling away,creating a queer smell,as ye stood near them.[they were all being charged for customers!]

Butter was in the barrel,and yi had a chunk carved oot expertly,by Mrs Smails,hoo,like other places,[the store for instance..],cud guess the weight as near as a knat's whisker!!

We kids used ti ask for the empty tea-chests,ti mek rabbit hutches,cos yi only had ti cut a door oot,and clag a bit o' chicken-wire owa thi front,and ye had a posh hoose for Bunty!

The whole of the shop interior was fitted oot wi dark oak,panelling,counter-tops,shelves,etc,and was again,a bit daunting for kids,like way back in the hill-billy days!!

Smails at Morpeth is the same stamp,and also the hardware shop at Rothbury,[modern-day Matty Robinson's!!!] [yi cud ask for a pink elephant,and if they didn't hae one,they wud get yi one!!]

The nearest aav seen ti a shop like Smaily's,is the hardware shop at Beamish museum,[for the antiquity that is,not necessary aal the stock..]

Mrs Smails was a lovely natured old lady,well thought of in Bedlington,and aam thinking noo,that there shud have been some sort of recognition for the service to the community,which she provided,aav got a clear picture of her in my mind,after aal the years since a last saw her.

Vic,ask your Lass if she can remember these tins aam on aboot!

Oh,and a hope she is keeping weel!

Aye, wor lass can mind them tins HPW! and she's coming alang canny, not 100% yet, but on the mend. says ta for the card! 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Cheers Vic!,pleased wor card reached you o.k.,and also pleased for Dot!

Aye,Smailey's was like an institution,part of growing up,aalwis gaana be there,like when ye are a young kid,this is hoo ye think,a wud love ti knaa where aal the stuff went oot that shop when it was tekkin owa!

A bet sumbody made an utter fortune,for the antiques.

But it's where them tins came from,and hoo browt them owa here from India,or wherever,wat fascinates me!....cos they weren't little tins ye knaa,they wud have been aboot two feet high,mebbe more,and aboot eighteen inches wide mebbe more,like smaal milk churns.

They also had an apple orchard at the rear garden,which was high stone-walled,great for us kids at pinchy-apple time!