Pubchatter has interesting and fairly accurate description of Sandy. Most of the article is, naturally enough, about the pubs of the town which, sadly, I am not actually that greatly experienced enough to argue with. However this short run-in to the article gives a fair impression:
The town has many hairdressers, a great kebab house (which does fantastic pizza), a bakery, a butchers and a nail/tanning place and as well as the other essentials, like Budgens (which is a small supermarket for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure!), several Estate Agents and a bookies.
As an aside, it doesn’t add that Sandy, for such a small town, tends to have two of things: two Lloyds chemists a few doors down from eachother, one of them sizeable; two Forbuoys newsagents across the market square from eachother, and now two Budgens, since the new little one finally filled the vacancy on the Fallowfield estate to the north of the town.
As a further aside, the bakery is cracking if not spectacular, especially for the price. And, note that it’s not just me mentioning the number of hairdressers.
I do agree that the Queen’s Head is my favourite pub, as it is for my Dad who usually insists on a visit when he comes to see us. We contemplated a visit to the Lord Roberts one time, but when I explained that they had discontinued the meat raffles and the karaoke, whose ghostly wailing used to drift across the deseted market square on winter evenings, in favour of something more akin to Weatherspoons, he was put off and we went to the Queen’s Head again. I think it was the word Weatherspoons that did it. I haven’t gone back to the Bell since I went in there one summer’s afternoon, was made to feel like a nuisance because I wasn’t a regular clogging up the bar space, and was served a shandy where (and I’m no connoisseur) both the beer and the lemonade tasted so watered down we couldn’t finish it. I’m sure that was a just a bad day.
The issue of two chemists newsagents and Budgens is quite simple:
1. The big ‘Fourboys’ in the Market Square, used to be a private newsagents for many years, then got taken over by the TM Group t/a Fourboys. The little Forbouys down on the parade opposite used to belong to Jack Berry. When he retired and sold up, Fourboys took it over. These two units now trade under the Martin McColl banner, which is the lates incarnation of the TM Group (HO Brentwood Essex).
2. In a not disimilar fashion the two chemsts almost side by side were also competing. The big one, next to the chippy, was for many years a launderette and when first opened as a chemists, was called ‘Cooks’. The small chemist, next to the
alleyway leading to the Health Centre, used to be owned by a small independent, who had several pharmacies in the region (can,t recall their name off-hand but it was someone’s name, first & surname – female). The small chemist was eventually sold off to what is now Lloyds and the’Cooks’ chemist was already (it’s believed) another trading name of the Lloyds group. It’s not clear why both chemists now trade under the Lloyds banner but the two offer similar but differing services. The little Lloyds tends to be the more traditional type of chemist, selling prescription and non-presciption drugs OTC items & preparations, health related testing kits, general bathroom and washroom products and so on. The big Lloyds, whilst selling much of what the little one does, because of its’ larger floor and shelf space, sell a wide range of haircare accessories, beauty aids, giftware and since recent times, invalid buggies! So, in short, the two offer quite a complementary service.
3. Budgens (now franchised in both sites), part of Musgrove Budgen Londis Group (MBL), trades both in the town centre and on the new Fallowfield development in the north of the town. The Budgens franchise in Fallowfield has come after a long battle with the developers, planners and other interested parties, to get some retail provision on the new estate (at one time, there were even plans to convert the original proposed retail units into yet more housing!
So now you know – or at least my take on the issue.
Incidentally, the Post Office (where it is now used to be an Eastern Electricity retail shop) has expanded into next door, where there used to be a dry cleaners (even before the dry cleaners, it was a sports shop). Anyway, since the ‘expansion’ we now have a Spar convenience store, incorporating the Post Office, the dry cleaners (no dry cleaning on the premises – its all sent away), alimited range of Spar branded and mainstream branded grocery items and even (as if we didn’t have enough facilities already)self service take-away coffee unit. Oh and by the way, the stationers, up on the High Street, ‘The Knack’, is rumoured to be closing down soon (lack of trade?) It used to be a Video hire Shop before it was a stationers – not sure what it was before that.
The ‘proper’ dry cleaners next door, ‘Clean Stream’ used to be an estate agents (no doubt competing with Brown’s opposite). Not sure what it was immediately before that.
There is more but I’ll save that for another time.
Since my last post I have received information that in fact, what is now the Chippy was the old launderette, so I am not sure what the big chemist might have been before Cooks/Lloyds. Someone out there will surely know.