# General > General >  Long lost shops

## poppett

The thread about forgotten sweets made me start thinking about the old fashioned shops who disappeared over the years with the coming of supermarkets.

Do you have any happy memories of old fashioned shopping?

Mansons the grocers would have to have been my all time favourite.   Always a nibble of cheese to be had from the cheese wire, butter patted to order, tea in brown packets taken from a tea chest, and the McVittie and Price biscuits in display tins with glass lids.......Vienna triangles were my favourites, wafer with chocolate cream between covered in plain chocolate.

Stephen`s chip shop at the top of durness street......especially when they had bits of batter after frying fish....Seldom had the money for fish, as we used to share a bag of chips between about four or five of us, but the fishy taste was on that batter!

Brass`s sit in cafe, now that was a treat

Sutherland`s the bakers where Charlie Chan Chinese is now.   There was a bakers shop on one side and a tea shop where the restaurant part of the chinese is now.    After many years away I was surprised to find that not only  had the toilet facilities not changed there was a picture still on the wall from the Sutherlands days

There was a butchers where the opticians is now, was that Sutherlands as well?   He could always tell you the name of the beast you were eating that day!!

Shearers food shop, butchers and drapers, not all together, but three separate shops.

Craig`s ice cream parlour

Souters newsagents

Shadwicks florist

Simpsons bakers

Happy days........................any more folks?

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## johno

not from Thurso but i can recall brass,es chip shop
in a back street just off the sea front  ??

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## Solus

The sweet shop on the corner across from the Royal years ago, that place was magical ! all sweets in jars, up on high shelves, always got a little balloon or something when you bought stuff !!!

There used to be an Ironmongers where Butresses is now, i can remember going in there with my grandfather, the old worn wooden counter, buying nails by weight, in paper bags !! man, i can still picture it !

Brasses cafe was cool, the smells, sounds, used to often go in there !

 :Smile:  ah memories!

but you know what i miss most and its wide spread, a chippie wrapped in newspaper ! its not the same in plain old white paper today !! dunno why, just dont feel right.

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## Angela

We lived a bit out of Wick and I remember the vans that used to come round as well...before I was school age...
It was really exciting on a boring wet day to go inside the van and see what they had...although the fishmonger and butcher's vans were much less fascinating than the grocer's -he had all the sweeties!  ::

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## poppett

Michael Yellop from the Cliff Bakery in Wick used to come to the Thurso side of the county on a Thursday and we had cakes or scones for tea from his travelling shop.

Thankfully the Cliff Bakery is still in Wick so it`s easy to fill up the freezer now and again from there for a change.

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## henry20

> There used to be an Ironmongers where Butresses is now, i can remember going in there with my grandfather, the old worn wooden counter, buying nails by weight, in paper bags !! man, i can still picture it !


You still get nails, by weight, in a paper bag  :Smile: 

Try this link, nightowl:

http://forum.caithness.org/showthrea...ast+shops+wick

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## rs 2k

Try this
http://forum.caithness.org/showthrea...hops+in+thurso

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## Angela

> Michael Yellop from the Cliff Bakery in Wick used to come to the Thurso side of the county on a Thursday and we had cakes or scones for tea from his travelling shop.
> 
> Thankfully the Cliff Bakery is still in Wick so it`s easy to fill up the freezer now and again from there for a change.


We mostly had home baking but did go to the Cliff Bakery on Saturdays to get bread and a "sponge" for tea. I'm delighted to hear it's still there. Was there a butcher's shop next door or am I imagining that? 

We did get ice-cream in Wick as a treat on summer Sundays, it came in "bricks" and had to be wrapped in newspaper until we got it home. ::

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## Buttercup

_There was a butchers where the opticians is now, was that Sutherlands as well? He could always tell you the name of the beast you were eating that day!!_[/quote]

Before the Butcher's opened (about 1970) it was The Hole In The Wall Boutique to buy all your trendy/hippie clothes in.  Wasn't the butcher Jocky Sutherland of Waterfront fame? - who used to work in Shearer's butcher's in Sir John's Square.

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## Angela

> You still get nails, by weight, in a paper bag 
> 
> Try this link, nightowl:
> 
> http://forum.caithness.org/showthrea...ast+shops+wick


Thanks a lot for this link, henry20, it's reminded me of a whole lot of places (and people) not least the Knotty Pine.... :Grin:  ooh, the nostagia...
I'd really need a video though....to remind me of where everything was in relation to everything else... ::

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## henry20

> Thanks a lot for this link, henry20, ...


I can't take the credit - nightowl had posted the link, but it wasn't working.  I just located the thread they'd found and re-pasted the link.  :Wink:

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## Jeemag_USA

*BETTY RIDDLES - THURSO*

My favorite, toy heaven, going doen the back was like entering a dreamworld as a kid, toys from the floor to the roof!

*COUNTY STORES - THURSO

*My favorite place for fishin tackle and sporty accessories, I probably bought two ton of split shot from their in my time  :: 

*THE WEE SHOP - SCRABSTER

*When it used to be over near the bothy in Scrabster, many a time I been up all day fishing at holborn head and ran out of supplies like juice and crisps, when yeh get back down and cross that car park and get to the wee shop its like an oasis in the desert!

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## Scaraben1976

> The thread about forgotten sweets made me start thinking about the old fashioned shops who disappeared ......
> 
> Simpsons bakers....


I can't really remember the shop, but I am quite spoilt by the fact that I am good mates with one of "young" Angus's (Gus) eldest daughter, and her man, in Aberdeen. They live just around the corner from Gus and I have had the honour of eating a few meals cooked by him, and he is just as good a cook as he was a baker, by all accounts. (in fact he is a chef on a rig)

In fact he made the wedding cake for his duaghter's wedding last year and it was yummy-licious!

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## Sporran

> *BETTY RIDDLES - THURSO*
> 
> My favorite, toy heaven, going doen the back was like entering a dreamworld as a kid, toys from the floor to the roof!


I had a summer job at Betty Riddle's (MacGregor's) when I was a teenager in high school - my very first job, in fact! She stocked lots of lovely ornaments, too, as you will remember. The other toy (and ornament!) heaven was Jessie Allan's, of course, on Rotterdam Street, opposite the top of Grove Lane. The ornaments were downstairs, in the back section, and the toys upstairs. To this day, I love ornaments, due, I'm sure, to my childhood fascination with the ones in those shops, lol!

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## Solus

Jessie Allans was a cool place, upstairs was wall to wall, floor to ceiling toys, models, etc etc fond memories of standing there with my birthday money !!

Also used to be a place in Wick, cant think of the road name, but as you come into wick, past rosebank, t junction, right across the road on the corner, was another place with wall to wall toys, my grandfather bought me my first fishing rod from there and started what was to become my favorite past time ! :Smile:

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## Sporran

> Jessie Allans was a cool place, upstairs was wall to wall, floor to ceiling toys, models, etc etc fond memories of standing there with my birthday money !!


Yep, it sure was, lol! My Sindy doll (UK's answer to Barbie doll) was bought from Jessie's, and I used to save up my pocket money to buy her new outfits there, too.  :Smile:

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## Sairheed

I've been through this post and also looked at the link to the previous skirmish through this subject.

Since I see no mention of it I think I'll try to test orgers with a long memory with - Where did R S McColl have a shop in Thurso?

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## Sporran

> I've been through this post and also looked at the link to the previous skirmish through this subject.
> 
> Since I see no mention of it I think I'll try to test orgers with a long memory with - Where did R S McColl have a shop in Thurso?


Wasn't it next to the Royal Hotel, or was it the newsagent in the Arcade?

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## Sairheed

Sorry wrong.

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## Jeemag_USA

> I've been through this post and also looked at the link to the previous skirmish through this subject.
> 
> Since I see no mention of it I think I'll try to test orgers with a long memory with - Where did R S McColl have a shop in Thurso?


In the Train Station? Or where Cards and Things ended up being?

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## gleeber

> Where did R S McColl have a shop in Thurso?


It was where Grahams Beggs electrical store now is.
There was a ladies hairdresser upstairs (Mrs Henderson) and next door was Williamsons shoe shop.

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## johno

i recall another wee shop more or less straight across the road from the now police station in thurso. i used to deliver milk to it when i was a boy with the mmb. i think banks the draper from wick [mochey beelie] had another shop right next door to it.    think that,s two shoppies    ::  
      somebody must remember them

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## North Rhins

There was a ships chandlers on the quay side at Thurso Harbour. It was certainly trading in the early 70s I remember buying the wife a yellow oilskin. The wooden building is still there from what I can remember.
It was a veritable Aladdins cave of everything nautical, does anyone else remember it?

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## Jeemag_USA

> There was a ships chandlers on the quay side at Thurso Harbour. It was certainly trading in the early 70s I remember buying the wife a yellow oilskin. The wooden building is still there from what I can remember.
> It was a veritable Aladdins cave of everything nautical, does anyone else remember it?



yes me and my brother used to go in their for weights and hooks for the fishing, also have bought wellies there and we used to go there in the High School and we all used to buy our schoolbags from there, those canvas style satchel bags for fishin were all the rage for schoolbags when I was a kid, some people would tie bleach them and then draw all over them. it shut for a long while then someone opened it up as a kind of bring or buy shop for furniture and fridges and stuff, also it was a cafe for a little bit I think?

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## Jeemag_USA

> i recall another wee shop more or less straight across the road from the now police station in thurso. i used to deliver milk to it when i was a boy with the mmb. i think banks the draper from wick [mochey beelie] had another shop right next door to it.    think that,s two shoppies    
>       somebody must remember them


At one time across from the police station was a small shop that was a bicycle repair, run by a very old man, we used to take our bikes there to get fixed for buttons. After he died I think Hornes (the big shop next door) bought it and knocked down the wall and put their home brew stuff in there.

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## Rampant Rabbit

camron ,s beside the royal duncans at the harbour thurso

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## Sairheed

As expected Gleeber got it right.

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## Lavenderblue2

> At one time across from the police station was a small shop that was a bicycle repair, run by a very old man, we used to take our bikes there to get fixed for buttons. After he died I think Hornes (the big shop next door) bought it and knocked down the wall and put their home brew stuff in there.


Yes, I remember him Jeemag - I think his name was Mac Mowat and he was a champion cyclist in his day.  What a dark boorach of a shop it was but I bet he knew where everything was.  The step was worn away into a deep curve from years of wear - such a shame we had to lose history like that.

LB

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## North Rhins

Rose Street Bakery. My Grannie would make a sort of beef stew and then take it in her own enamel dish up to the bakery who would put a crust on it and bake it for you. The pastry was to dye for, on the other hand the meat that Grannie used was to be avoided at all costs!
Jeemag, the store down by the harbour, can you remember the smell? A mixture of oil, paraffin, rope and a dozen others.

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## bky

after mac mowat had the bike shop it was owned by the mannie Gaunt who did the motor bikes
I think it was Joe Grant from springpark who ran the ship chandlers

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## scotsboy

> yes me and my brother used to go in their for weights and hooks for the fishing, also have bought wellies there and we used to go there in the High School and we all used to buy our schoolbags from there, those canvas style satchel bags for fishin were all the rage for schoolbags when I was a kid, some people would tie bleach them and then draw all over them. it shut for a long while then someone opened it up as a kind of bring or buy shop for furniture and fridges and stuff, also it was a cafe for a little bit I think?


They also used to sell SeaDog jeans which were all the rage in the early 70s.

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## scotsboy

> Rose Street Bakery. My Grannie would make a sort of beef stew and then take it in her own enamel dish up to the bakery who would put a crust on it and bake it for you. The pastry was to dye for, on the other hand the meat that Grannie used was to be avoided at all costs!
> Jeemag, the store down by the harbour, can you remember the smell? A mixture of oil, paraffin, rope and a dozen others.


Thats a great service eh - put a crust on my stew!! Pure class!

Aye the ship chandlers was a great place - it oozed character. I remember always getting the wee red book with the tide tables in it and the international code of signals (flags)  :Smile:

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## bky

do you mind miller calders in where the TSB is ----
Gunn the jewellers' in a shop up opposite the music shop -- then they moved in to where the hydro is now (just been informed by mither)  - that they were in where I&D Pollard are now---
used to like the wee general stores shoppie at the end of mill bank rd where the lamp stop is now

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## Jeemag_USA

OK what about Mobile shops. DO you remember George Farquar's mobile shop, had all sorts of stuff on it from sweets to groceries and socks. I remember he used to come up to the top of high ormlie really late at night, was a great place to get fags late on, sometimes he would be there like 11.30 to midnight. Later on in life I moved to Dunnet and lived across the back from him, thats where the van was kept, he was great cause you could go round to his house and knock on the back door, he would come out to the van and sell you what you needed and then go back into his house. Always happy to be doing a trade  ::

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## Jeemag_USA

And why has nobody mentioned *Fred Shearers* yet, how many poeple on here had their parents get their school clathes from there on Tick. After is shut down it ended up becoming Mackay's or something, is it still there?

I used to love Fred Shearers, remember getting fitted out for my nice new crisp Miller Academy uniform, all ready for the music festival so I could look smart while I screwed up ma poem  ::

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## North Rhins

My Dad has just told me of an immaculately dressed Indian gentleman in the late 30s who used to cycle from Wick out to the Burn ORattar on an ex GPO push bike with large suitcases lashed for and aft. From these he would sell all manner of things to the good housewives of Caithness. Now thats enterprise.  ::

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## Jeemag_USA

> My Dad has just told me of an immaculately dressed Indian gentleman in the late 30s who used to cycle from Wick out to the Burn ORattar on an ex GPO push bike with large suitcases lashed for and aft. From these he would sell all manner of things to the good housewives of Caithness. Now thats enterprise.


Thats terrible, I remember him. He had a suitcase full of dishmops, squeedgies, dish clothes and other stuff. How he ended up in Burn of Rattar I have no idea?

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## North Rhins

Wrong end of the stick Jeemag, not in  but to the Burn ORatter, or to be precise Whitebridge where my Dad stayed.   ::

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## Jeemag_USA

Oops, slip of the keyboard, I meant in that area. I came across him when I lived in Dunnet, my sister is married to the Grants, they lived half way up the road between the main road to John O Gortas and the back road at Skarfskerry, and the area is known as Burn of Rattar. He came to their door while I was there and he also came round the doors at Dunnet, wore a nice tailored cahrcoal grey suit, a black tie and a turban. Usually still had the bicycle clips on when he was at the door  ::

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## kwbrown111

I always thought it was MacPhersons(pie shop) who owned the place where Charlie Chan is(my mother used to clean the house there). Also used to be the greasy spoon(1 part for the motorbike business and the other for a cafe). After the pie shop closed i used to go to Simpsons for their sole bread and also after dances for their pies and sausages rolls 6 at a time of each

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## Solus

> the bike shop it was owned by the mannie Gaunt who did the motor bikes


 
"Gaunts " Alan Gaunt i think it was, bky, brilliant place. My father and my uncle were always out there, think my uncle may have worked out there or did a lot of his bike repairs out there. Got some brilliant memories of that place, my first taste of bikes and it never left me since !! :Smile: 

Just thought though, i remember it out was in the country, cant remember name of place but think it was out on the Reay road somewhere.

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## North Rhins

> Oops, slip of the keyboard, I meant in that area. I came across him when I lived in Dunnet, my sister is married to the Grants, they lived half way up the road between the main road to John O Gortas and the back road at Skarfskerry, and the area is known as Burn of Rattar. He came to their door while I was there and he also came round the doors at Dunnet, wore a nice tailored cahrcoal grey suit, a black tie and a turban. Usually still had the bicycle clips on when he was at the door


Thats the very man. A character that today would seem so out of place in this high tech, high sales volume society. Apparently my Grannie insisted that his wares came specially from India, thats an awful long way on a bike!

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## golach

> My Dad has just told me of an immaculately dressed Indian gentleman in the late 30s who used to cycle from Wick out to the Burn ORattar on an ex GPO push bike with large suitcases lashed for and aft. From these he would sell all manner of things to the good housewives of Caithness. Now thats enterprise.


A wee question on this similar vein, did you have "Ingan Johnnies" on their bikes in Kaitness, I know we used to see them in Perthshire.
And was surprised to discover when I moved to Leith that this is where the Onion Johnnies were based, and they radiated from Leith to all points

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## Jeemag_USA

> Thats the very man. A character that today would seem so out of place in this high tech, high sales volume society. Apparently my Grannie insisted that his wares came specially from India, thats an awful long way on a bike!


It wasn't so far back either, it would have been around 1985 or thereabouts that I saw him.

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## kwbrown111

Gaunts was out in the old church at Shebster

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## Solus

Thats it, cheers ! Shebster..

Anyone know where the Gaunts went, wondered as there is a Gaunt that races motorbikes on a amatuer level down in England... wondered if its from the same family ?

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## Lavenderblue2

> I always thought it was MacPhersons(pie shop) who owned the place where Charlie Chan is(my mother used to clean the house there). Also used to be the greasy spoon(1 part for the motorbike business and the other for a cafe). After the pie shop closed i used to go to Simpsons for their sole bread and also after dances for their pies and sausages rolls 6 at a time of each


The 'greasy spoon cafe' was actually called 'Tilly's Cafe' it was owned by Harry & Lily Hughes the bike side was Harry's domain.  I know it was the 'pie shop' before that - MacPherson's maybe - I believe it was two sisters.

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## Buttercup

> A wee question on this similar vein, did you have "Ingan Johnnies" on their bikes in Kaitness, I know we used to see them in Perthshire.
> And was surprised to discover when I moved to Leith that this is where the Onion Johnnies were based, and they radiated from Leith to all points


 
I do remember one "Ingan Johnny" doing the rounds in Thurso in the early 60's, can still picture him heading over the bridge on his bike. Did they really cycle everywhere or did they use a van to cover great distances?

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## pat

he used to take a van full of onions then park, cycle around a smaller area, everyone assumed he carried all the onions on his bike from France, but now you know he was wiser than many of people gave credit.  
Bike, beret, striped top, french accent and most people bought the fresh onions, thinking he had cycled from France to them with all the onions  on his bike - yes he had cycled from a couple of miles down the road with a load of oinions from the van or lorry.  They were nice onions too.

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## Torvaig

> Jessie Allans was a cool place, upstairs was wall to wall, floor to ceiling toys, models, etc etc fond memories of standing there with my birthday money !!
> 
> Also used to be a place in Wick, cant think of the road name, but as you come into wick, past rosebank, t junction, right across the road on the corner, was another place with wall to wall toys, my grandfather bought me my first fishing rod from there and started what was to become my favorite past time !


That is "The Spot" which is right beside the Cliff Bakery and to my knowledge belonging to the same family called Yellop.

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## Tony

Chadwick's t.v and Radio (I think) was where Good Vibrations is/was as they are closing. 
Templeton Supermarket. 
Tobacconist on Trail Street.
I also seem to recall (in most cases Vaguely) a bakers in the arcade I and many others used to go to after getting pissed on a Friday night/Saturday morning for hot pies etc at the back entrance. :Smile:  
In the Atomics housing scheme a shop that is now Fraser's was called something else. "Collets" or similar name.

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## Buttercup

> Chadwick's t.v and Radio (I think) was where Good Vibrations is/was as they are closing. 
> Templeton Supermarket. 
> Tobacconist on Trail Street.
> I also seem to recall (in most cases Vaguely) a bakers in the arcade I and many others used to go to after getting pissed on a Friday night/Saturday morning for hot pies etc at the back entrance. 
> In the Atomics housing scheme a shop that is now Fraser's was called something else. "Collets" or similar name.


Clarks (TV's etc) used to be where Graham Beggs. Chadwicks (Tv's etc) was about where Reids/McAllans is today - before the street was all rebuilt. Weren't they next door to Liptons? 
Gussie Simpson's was the bakery in the arcade.

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## Solus

Gussie Simpsons......... after few beers stagger to that place, grab something hot and fresh out the oven !!!  :Smile:

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## Jeemag_USA

> Clarks (TV's etc) used to be where Graham Beggs. Chadwicks (Tv's etc) was about where Reids/McAllans is today - before the street was all rebuilt. Weren't they next door to Liptons? 
> Gussie Simpson's was the bakery in the arcade.


That reminds me we used to have a Curry's electric store there too where McAllans is now. Or was it where Beggs is ? Cannae mind.

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## highlander

Alan gaunt went to live in spain, harry the mechanic i dont know what happened to him, my hubby bought his motorbikes from there in the 70s

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## highlander

Do you remember hepworths, and fidlers, then there was tommy alans in princess street, gawd that was a shop you would step back in time.

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## Jeemag_USA

> Do you remember hepworths, and fidlers, then there was tommy alans in princess street, gawd that was a shop you would step back in time.


Remember Fiddlers, thats where I used to go for chrissie presents for the old wifeys in my family  :Grin: 

Also I grew up walking to Collett's before it was Frazers on Castlegreen Road.

What ws the history of the place across the street from the Railway Staion in Thurso, i seem to remember it being a tractor place or something at one time, was it CLB also at one time. Does anyone know the full history of that building since it was built. Believe it is still the pet shop now?

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## Sporran

> Do you remember hepworths, and fidlers, then there was tommy alans in princess street, gawd that was a shop you would step back in time.


Yes, I remember them all.  :Smile:  I remember when Fiddler's was in the building with the tower, which I think was a toll booth in the olden days. At the other side of the tower was Angus the butcher, then you crossed Wilson Street to the Town Hall on the same side. Around the early 70s, perhaps late 60s, Fiddler's moved to Rotterdam Street, on the same side as Jessie Allan's, but further up, nearer where Noble's the florist used to be. I haven't been to Thurso for years, but from what I can gather, Regency Jewellers is where Fiddler's moved to, after the building with the tower.





> Remember Fiddlers, thats where I used to go for chrissie presents for the old wifeys in my family 
> 
> Also I grew up walking to Collett's before it was Frazers on Castlegreen Road.
> 
> What ws the history of the place across the street from the Railway Staion in Thurso, i seem to remember it being a tractor place or something at one time, was it CLB also at one time. Does anyone know the full history of that building since it was built. Believe it is still the pet shop now?


The shop on Castlegreen Road was still owned and run by Mr Collett when I grew up in Thurso. I can still remember exactly what he looked like, and I believe he was English. He was certainly very well spoken. My mum often sent me there on errands!

At one time, there was a row of quaint terraced cottages across from the train station, right at the bottom of Castlegreen Road, and on the corner of Princes Street. Those were demolished in the late 60s/early 70s, and then the place you mention was built, Jeemag. As you faced the building, Brigitte's the haidresser was on the left, and the West End Cafe was on the right. Howard Bremner owned and ran the cafe, and before that, he had an ice cream van. The cafe was a popular hangout for teenagers from Thurso High School. Ferrier's the newsagent moved in next door after the hairdresser's. Later on, in the mid 70s, Ferrier's moved across the street from the Pentland Hotel, where Black's the ladies shop used to be.

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## Penelope Pitstop

I remember as a bairn going into a grocers shop where the job centre is now.  Can anyone mind what it was called?

Also remember "Jack Shearers" when it was where the wine lodge used to be, beside the Royal Hotel.

Jeemag, I mind a supermarket being where the pet shop now is.

I also can still remember the smell of the ships chandlers......what a blast from the past. lol

Remember the bakers van coming round (Budges)....looked forward to that!!  Also the butcher's van and........does anyone remember Dan, Dan the Paraffin Man in his lorry. :Smile:  (Dan's still on the go....he must have been quite young at the time.)

I remember the sweetie/grocers shop at the bottom of Mill Bank Road - where the light shop is now - it was run by two old dears.  There was also a sweetie shop across from the swimming pool ....run by a guy Budge from Halkirk perhaps.  (You'll note that I knew where all the sweetie shops were...lol)

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## Sporran

> Also remember "Jack Shearers" when it was where the wine lodge used to be, beside the Royal Hotel.
> 
> I also can still remember the smell of the ships chandlers......what a blast from the past. lol
> 
> Remember the bakers van coming round (Budges)....looked forward to that!!


Penelope, are you thinking of Hamish Cameron's, on the corner of Traill Street and Sir George's Street, just up from the Royal Hotel? There was a bank between the hotel and Hamish Cameron's. Hamish sold wine, etc, and the shop was painted red on the outside. Diagonally across from there was Shearer's the butchers, at the foot of Sir John's Square. When I was a wee girl, they used to have sawdust on the butcher's floor, and I used to draw patterns in it with my feet, while my mum was waiting to get served, lol!  :Grin:  

I remember the Ships Chandlers down by the river, and also when Durran's was located nearby, before they moved to Princes Street, not far from the Shieling.

Budge the baker came round the Pennyland estate on a regular basis, when I was a kid. It was Gilbert Budge who drove the van, and he and his brother(s) had a baker's shop in town. The family was originally from Aberdeenshire, and moved up to Thurso in the 60s.

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## Buttercup

Jim Ferrier went from the top of Princes Street (Pet Shop) down to one of the wee shops that was laterly taken over by the Pentland and renovated - just across the road from where he ended up. 
Fondly remember Howard's cafe, as teenagers we were quite happy to go there for a coffee or coke in the evenings. :: 
Gilbert was still doing the rounds into the 80's before moving back to Fraserburgh.

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## Spirit

I remember shearers the butchers with the sawdust on the floor. Was it not a shoe shop next door?

Fondly remember the sweet shop across from the swimming pool.

Think the co-op was where Christies 99p shop is now.  The brothers owned Northern Hardware across from the Royal Hotel.

I vaguly remember next to where Northern Hardware was or possibly part of it was a shop owned by an elderly couple selling household textiles. I always thought it looked really old fashioned but seemed such a big shop packed with so many things.

One other that I remember is the shop where the Grove bar is now.  I remember the couple that owned it, she was a wee woman and he seem quiet a tall man behind a wee wide counter spread with clothes and shoes etc.  I must have been about 5 when my mum bought me a pair of wooden sandles with a big heel.  I thought they were the best things ever.

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## Solus

Talking of butchers, there was one on cowie lane when i lived round the corner, later became a clothes shop and finally a hairdressers.....

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## highlander

I cant remember if that clothes shop was called "Impact" or was it called "The Gearbox"

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## Sporran

> I remember shearers the butchers with the sawdust on the floor. Was it not a shoe shop next door?


Yes it was, and I think it was called Gunn's or Miller's. Next up from that was Shearer's the grocers.




> Talking of butchers, there was one on cowie lane when i lived round the corner, later became a clothes shop and finally a hairdressers.....





> I cant remember if that clothes shop was called "Impact" or was it called "The Gearbox"


It must have been "The Gearbox", as "The Impact Boutique" was on Grove Lane in the 70s.

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## kwbrown111

I was thinking that the shop at the Grove Bar was MacKenzies/Speirs that had one there originally. They also had the fish shop at the side bit beside where Angus the butchers is.

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## golach

I am loving this thread, it is bringing back lots of childhood memories.
One wee question, as I attended West Public School during WWII, I have a memory of getting hot or newly baked rolls, from a wee shop next to the cycle shop mentioned earlier, my memory may be a little befuddled with age. I hope I am not suffering a major senior moment  ::

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## Solus

Anyone remember the fishing tackle shop on the road up to the library, not where it ended up next to wood bee's but before then, great fishing tackle shop !! Also the fishing tackle shop that used to be next to the Comm, its now a book shop i think, used to always go in there and grab my gear for weekends ! ran by a really nice couple

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## Penelope Pitstop

> Penelope, are you thinking of Hamish Cameron's, on the corner of Traill Street and Sir George's Street, just up from the Royal Hotel? There was a bank between the hotel and Hamish Cameron's. Hamish sold wine, etc, and the shop was painted red on the outside. Diagonally across from there was Shearer's the butchers, at the foot of Sir John's Square. When I was a wee girl, they used to have sawdust on the butcher's floor, and I used to draw patterns in it with my feet, while my mum was waiting to get served, lol!  
> 
> I remember the Ships Chandlers down by the river, and also when Durran's was located nearby, before they moved to Princes Street, not far from the Shieling.
> 
> Budge the baker came round the Pennyland estate on a regular basis, when I was a kid. It was Gilbert Budge who drove the van, and he and his brother(s) had a baker's shop in town. The family was originally from Aberdeenshire, and moved up to Thurso in the 60s.


Hi, yes I think it was Hamish Camerons right enough.  Where was Jack Shearer's - or was that what the butchers was called?  I remember the butchers where the beauty shop is now.....what I rememer is the horrible smell, carcusses hanging on hooks and the sawdust on the floor....I hated that shop. lol

The shoe shop up from it (where Durrans is now) was Millers.  It closed probably about 12 years?

Where the Bistro is now was the Ships Wheel selling antiques.  It was run by a little man.  Must admit wasn't in it much as a bairn ...... no sweeties!! lol

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## painter

George Downies on the main street. Had 2 shops I think. Lindsays the ironmongers. Had a wee china shop joined on.
 Sam the barbers ! liptons where Nobles flower shop is now.
 Gunn the jewelers up in Princes street opposite the old Hydro shop.
 The hole in the wall boutique in Brabster street.
 The Toll where Frank begg is now,where you went to pay your milk.
 The old rent office next to the comm.
 Roy Kennedys where pentland housing is now. Had that big old fashioned till.
 Dannie Craigs cafe,(Great coffee & ice cream )

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## Penelope Pitstop

> I am loving this thread, it is bringing back lots of childhood memories.
> One wee question, as I attended West Public School during WWII, I have a memory of getting hot or newly baked rolls, from a wee shop next to the cycle shop mentioned earlier, my memory may be a little befuddled with age. I hope I am not suffering a major senior moment


Hi Golach, Johnson the Bakers are there now....would it have been them...they have been in business for a few generations... a long time??

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## Gleber2

> Hi Golach, Johnson the Bakers are there now....would it have been them...they have been in business for a few generations... a long time??


The shop in question was Cathy Coghills' bakery which stopped baking in the fifties. ALACAM are now there. Coghills rolls and muffins were the big treat for West Public pupils.

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## Buttercup

> I was thinking that the shop at the Grove Bar was MacKenzies/Speirs that had one there originally. They also had the fish shop at the side bit beside where Angus the butchers is.


The Impact Boutique was upstairs where Helen Shearer had Style House. 
MacKenzie's originally had their clothes etc in beside their Fish Shop (Bank Street). When it was demolished they moved to Grove Lane but they were the next door down from the Impact.

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## Sporran

> Penelope, are you thinking of Hamish Cameron's, on the corner of Traill Street and Sir George's Street, just up from the Royal Hotel? There was a bank between the hotel and Hamish Cameron's. Hamish sold wine, etc, and the shop was painted red on the outside. Diagonally across from there was Shearer's the butchers, at the foot of Sir John's Square. When I was a wee girl, they used to have sawdust on the butcher's floor, and I used to draw patterns in it with my feet, while my mum was waiting to get served, lol!





> Hi, yes I think it was Hamish Camerons right enough. Where was Jack Shearer's - or was that what the butchers was called? I remember the butchers where the beauty shop is now.....what I rememer is the horrible smell, carcusses hanging on hooks and the sawdust on the floor....I hated that shop. lol
> 
> The shoe shop up from it (where Durrans is now) was Millers. It closed probably about 12 years?
> 
> Where the Bistro is now was the Ships Wheel selling antiques. It was run by a little man. Must admit wasn't in it much as a bairn ...... no sweeties!! lol


 
Penelope, Jock Shearer's is the butcher I was talking about, and it was where the beauty shop is now. ( "Beauty With Herbs"? )

Jack Shearer's was the clothing and drapery shop that is now Mackay's. Lindsay's the ironmonger was between them and the Ship's Wheel antique shop. I think the wee man who ran the antique shop was called Alistair Munro. I remember they used to have an old spinning wheel inside the shop, and a ship's wheel outside, above the entrance.




> George Downies on the main street. Had 2 shops I think. Lindsays the ironmongers. Had a wee china shop joined on.
> Sam the barbers ! liptons where Nobles flower shop is now.
> Gunn the jewelers up in Princes street opposite the old Hydro shop.
> Dannie Craigs cafe,(Great coffee & ice cream )


Painter, George Downie's the mens outfitter, might have qriginally been where Hepworth's mens shop was, next to Top Joe's cafe, but I'm not 100% sure about that. I do know that he later moved to High Street, just up from Jessie Allan's on Rotterdam Street, Peterkin's the chemist, and before you got to Houston's the ironmonger. I remember when Lipton's the grocer was across the street, in the old row of shops that was later replaced with the newer ones that Noble's is in now. Then Lipton's became a supermarket, when they moved across from Clark's music and TV shop. The name was later changed to Templeton's supermarket.

Was Sam the barber on Princes Street, next to the Sheiling and the Commercial bar?

I remember when Gunn the jeweller was opposite the old Hydro shop on Princes Street, as well. After he moved to the shop opposite the Arcade on High Street, a knitwear shop moved in, called "Joy's Boutique". This was around the late 60s/early 70s. I believe Pollard's mortgage shop is in there now. I also remember Dannie Craig's cafe in the Arcade - his ice cream was heavenly!





> The Impact Boutique was upstairs where Helen Shearer had Style House. 
> MacKenzie's originally had their clothes etc in beside their Fish Shop (Bank Street). When it was demolished they moved to Grove Lane but they were the next door down from the Impact.


Buttercup, I used to buy quite a lot of my clothes from the Impact Boutique on Grove Lane, round the corner from Clark's, when I was a teenager. I remember Mrs MacKenzie's too, in the 60s, when she was in the old building on Bank Street, behind Houston's the ironmonger. You could buy your cod in one shop, and your clothes in the other!  :Grin:

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## Gleber2

Jack Shearer was a butcher. Fred Shearer was the haberdasher. You've got it wrong Sporran. :Smile:

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## Sporran

> Jack Shearer was a butcher. Fred Shearer was the haberdasher. You've got it wrong Sporran.


Mea culpa, Gleber2! All this virtual whizzin' aroon 'e toon is doin' ma heid in! That's my excuse for my temporary memory lapse!  :: 

The grocer on Sir John's Square was Donald Shearer. I don't know if he, the butcher and the haberdasher were all related, or not.

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## Sporran

> Also I grew up walking to Collett's before it was Frazers on Castlegreen Road.





> The shop on Castlegreen Road was still owned and run by Mr Collett when I grew up in Thurso. I can still remember exactly what he looked like, and I believe he was English. He was certainly very well spoken. My mum often sent me there on errands!


It dawned on me last night that the shop was actually called Collett-MacPherson's, but most folk just shortened the name. Can anyone remember if Mr Collett opened a shop in Springpark or Mount Vernon, as well? I have a feeling that he did, a few years after the one on Castlegreen Road was opened in the late 50s/early 60s.

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## Gleber2

> It dawned on me last night that the shop was actually called Collett-MacPherson's, but most folk just shortened the name. Can anyone remember if Mr Collett opened a shop in Springpark or Mount Vernon, as well? I have a feeling that he did, a few years after the one on Castlegreen Road was opened in the late 50s/early 60s.


Macpherson left and it became Colletts. He also opened on Mount Pleasant Road. When he retired he ran one of the best wineshops in Scotland until he died.

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## Sporran

That's interesting, Gleber2. Is Mr Collett's shop on Mount Pleasant Road still there, and if so, does it still bear his name? Where was his wine shop located, and does it still exist? How long ago did Mr Collett die?

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## Gleber2

> That's interesting, Gleber2. Is Mr Collett's shop on Mount Pleasant Road still there, and if so, does it still bear his name? Where was his wine shop located, and does it still exist? How long ago did Mr Collett die?


The shop is still there but is a CO-OP now. Tony sold it in the late sixties or early seventies. His wine shop was next door to Jack Shearer's butcher shop(Beauty through Herbs) opposite Tilly's cafe(Charlie Chans) and continued as a wine shop for several years with new owners. It closed a year or so ago. Tony died some time ago, maybe as much as ten years ago. I've lost track of the years. ::

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## Scaraben1976

> Gussie Simpsons......... after few beers stagger to that place, grab something hot and fresh out the oven !!!


Or as I now do at times, Go for a drink with Gussie in Aberdeen, then backtohsi for a late fry up! lol

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## Sporran

When I was a pupil at Thurso High School, one of the local bakers delivered fresh baked goods during our morning break. They set everything up in a concrete shelter in the back of the school. Can anyone remember which baker it was? I think it might have been Sutherland's (of pie shop fame!) or Johnston's, but I could be wrong. I loved their individual currant tarts. They must have been about two and a half inches in diameter, by two inches deep, and were just loaded with blackcurrants!  :Smile:  If I hadn't had time for breakfast in the morning, I made sure I had one of those!

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## Buttercup

> When I was a pupil at Thurso High School, one of the local bakers delivered fresh baked goods during our morning break. They set everything up in a concrete shelter in the back of the school. Can anyone remember which baker it was? I think it might have been Sutherland's (of pie shop fame!) or Johnston's, but I could be wrong. I loved their individual currant tarts. They must have been about two and a half inches in diameter, by two inches deep, and were just loaded with blackcurrants!  If I hadn't had time for breakfast in the morning, I made sure I had one of those!


 
The Pie Shop was at the side nearest the school and Budges nearest the mart (my favourite there was their cream doughnuts) ::  
The currant tarts were a favourite of mine too Sporran, but it was currants that was in them not blackcurrants. In recent years I've discovered that MacDonald's from Wick have a very similar version.

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## poppett

I never thought when I started the thread that it would turn out to have all these wonderful memories stirring.   You have done me proud orgers, now what about a similar thread about Wick as I am sure the shops there have changed over the years.

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## poppett

For currant tarts....try Yellops bakery in Wick, they are yummy!





Making tomorrow`s memories today

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## Sporran

> I never thought when I started the thread that it would turn out to have all these wonderful memories stirring. You have done me proud orgers, now what about a similar thread about Wick as I am sure the shops there have changed over the years.


Yes, poppett, it certainly has been fun taking a trip down Memory Lane!  :Smile:  I'm sure a lot of folk will be happy to help you out with Wick shops from the past. As for me, I'm not quite finished with Thurso yet, lol!

In the 60s and 70s, there was a newsagent between the Royal Hotel and Tiffany's Boutique (which I think is now the Newmarket Bar). The man who ran the newsagent was a Mr Mackenzie or Mr Malcolm, I believe. Did the newsagent's shop bear his name, and is it still there?

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## Gleber2

> Yes, poppett, it certainly has been fun taking a trip down Memory Lane!  I'm sure a lot of folk will be happy to help you out with Wick shops from the past. As for me, I'm not quite finished with Thurso yet, lol!
> 
> In the 60s and 70s, there was a newsagent between the Royal Hotel and Tiffany's Boutique (which I think is now the Newmarket Bar). The man who ran the newsagent was a Mr Mackenzie or Mr Malcolm, I believe. Did the newsagent's shop bear his name, and is it still there?


Maggie Mowat's paper shop was inherited by her nephew, David Mackenzie. When he died the business was run for a while by his daughter and was then bought by the owners of the Newmarket and is now vacant and for rent.

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## The Pepsi Challenge

> _There was a butchers where the opticians is now, was that Sutherlands as well? He could always tell you the name of the beast you were eating that day!!_


Before the Butcher's opened (about 1970) it was The Hole In The Wall Boutique to buy all your trendy/hippie clothes in.  Wasn't the butcher Jocky Sutherland of Waterfront fame? - who used to work in Shearer's butcher's in Sir John's Square.[/QUOTE]

My family ran the D&C Gordon Butcher Shop - on 2 Brabster Street/ 3 Sir George's Street - from 1977 to 1987. After we left it became Maronique, a ladies clothing store, but I remember seeing photographs of the place when it was the Clydesdale Bank.

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## Sporran

> In the 60s and 70s, there was a newsagent between the Royal Hotel and Tiffany's Boutique (which I think is now the Newmarket Bar). The man who ran the newsagent was a Mr Mackenzie or Mr Malcolm, I believe. Did the newsagent's shop bear his name, and is it still there?





> Maggie Mowat's paper shop was inherited by her nephew, David Mackenzie. When he died the business was run for a while by his daughter and was then bought by the owners of the Newmarket and is now vacant and for rent.


Thankyou Gleber2, you are such a mine of information!  :Smile:  I remember Mr Mackenzie and his daughter Liz. She would be around my age, maybe a couple of years younger.

Any idea when Tiffany's boutique closed? They were quite upmarket, and catered to women of all ages.

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## Gleber2

> Thankyou Gleber2, you are such a mine of information!  I remember Mr Mackenzie and his daughter Liz. She would be around my age, maybe a couple of years younger.
> 
> Any idea when Tiffany's boutique closed? They were quite upmarket, and catered to women of all ages.


Became the Stardust circa 1979 or 1980.

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## Buttercup

> Before the Butcher's opened (about 1970) it was The Hole In The Wall Boutique to buy all your trendy/hippie clothes in. Wasn't the butcher Jocky Sutherland of Waterfront fame? - who used to work in Shearer's butcher's in Sir John's Square.


My family ran the D&C Gordon Butcher Shop - on 2 Brabster Street/ 3 Sir George's Street - from 1977 to 1987. After we left it became Maronique, a ladies clothing store, but I remember seeing photographs of the place when it was the Clydesdale Bank.[/quote]

Sorry Pepsi, forgot it was your dad's. But didn't he work there?

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## Sporran

> Any idea when Tiffany's boutique closed? They were quite upmarket, and catered to women of all ages.





> Became the Stardust circa 1979 or 1980.


Ah, and I left Thurso in 1978!

On the Olrig Street side of Cardosi's Central Cafe, (Top Joe's), there was the Central Drapery, and a newsagent's next to it. I think they were both owned by the Cardosi family as well. Do those still exist? (Although I have a notion in my head that the draper's shop closed while I was still living in Thurso, and that the cafe then extended into there.)

In the 60s and 70s, there was a wee shop called Caithness Crafts. It was in the same building as Houston's the ironmonger on High Street, across from Angus the butcher. I can't remember if the entrance was on High Street, or round the corner on Bank Street, near Mrs MacKenzie's fish shop. I think it might have been owned by Jack Saxon or John Humphries, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

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## poppett

Was chatting on the phone tonight and this old thread came into the conversation.   Hope I won`t get into trouble for bringing it up again.   I am sure there will be more added to this list now.

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## Buttercup

Another "old thread" about old shops (in Thurso) has been added to, so just thought I'd bring this one back to the front page again in case the new members missed it. ::

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