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Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Wigan Album

Shevington

43 Comments

Dandy's newsagents and sweet shop
Dandy's newsagents and sweet shop
Photo: Frank Orrell
Views: 4,858
Item #: 26029
Molly Dandy at her newsagents and sweet shop in Broad o'th' Lane, Shevington, in 1972.
Husband Tommy had his barber's shop upstairs.

Comment by: Alan Wright on 16th February 2015 at 23:51

Looks a great shop, and such a friendly welcoming smile!

Comment by: Jarvo on 17th February 2015 at 09:47

Has anyone noticed the penny chews on the counter? Treets later became M and M's. Jacob's Clubs being sold individually? Hmmm...Great pic.

Comment by: Colin Harlow on 17th February 2015 at 10:18

Lovely shot of a bygone age,Frank. There's many of these products still going. Club biscuits, Mr Kippling, Golden Wonder, Quavers, Mars, Aeros, Revels brillo Pads and so on.

Comment by: RON HUNT on 17th February 2015 at 10:49

A PROPER Shop. What a great feeling it was to go into a shop like this with 6d to spend. Great Photograph.

Comment by: Giovanni on 17th February 2015 at 11:09

Sixpence was a small fortune Ron when I was a lad! Liquorice (Spanish) strings, sherbet dips, gobstoppers, Trebor chews the list is endless!

Comment by: irene roberts on 17th February 2015 at 11:26

Fantastic. I LOVE these pics of old shops, and so much detail! All that's missing is a string of three-cornered toffee bags hung up to hold 2oz of toffees for a little child. A lovely photo.

Comment by: RON HUNT on 17th February 2015 at 11:33

Gio. 3d was a fortune in the 50's. If a relative visited and gave you 6d that was a King's Ransom.. 6d would get you a days enjoyment. 2d each way on the bus, 1d platform ticket for the North West Station, and 1d for a pkt of Beech Nut, together with some butties. and a bottle of water.
Today give a kid a £300+ X box and within an hour they are BORED...

Comment by: Giovanni on 17th February 2015 at 11:38

You are so right Ron. The value of things means nothing nowadays. And all this consumerism started in.....the 50's and 60's!! lol

Comment by: Giovanni on 17th February 2015 at 11:45

You reminded me Ron of butties and bottled water. During the school summer hols you would take off to the local rec with a few mates to play football. By the end of the day you'd be still playing only sometimes twenty-a-side and the score would be 40-38!!

Comment by: Albert. on 17th February 2015 at 14:37

Back in the very late thirties, you could get a paper packet, with five woodbines in the packet, for one half penny, or it may have been a penny, out of a cigarette machine, outside of Rushton's shop, in Spring view, on the corner of Henry Street.

Comment by: MikeW on 17th February 2015 at 15:20

We moved to Shevington in the late 60s and I can remember the shop and olds Mr and Mrs Dandy. She ran the shop and he delivered the papers on his old bike.
My lad who must have been about 8 at the time came home from school one day with a brand new bag of marbles, under questioning it transpired he had pinched them from Dandys shop. We frog marched him back and in tears he made his apology to Mrs Dandy. After that he never got himself in trouble again throughout his formative years. Different times now.

Comment by: irene roberts on 17th February 2015 at 15:35

Well done, Mike W!

Comment by: Peter Schofield on 17th February 2015 at 16:40

I grew up in Shevington and moved to Springfield in Wigan when I got married in 1070. Remember this shop very well and Molly more or less knew the your name, Very friendly people were Molly and Tommy who had his hairdressing above the shop.

Comment by: Willy Wackum on 17th February 2015 at 18:53

Peter do you remember the 'Battle Of Hastings'?

Comment by: Jarvo on 17th February 2015 at 19:13

The battle of Hastings....HA, HA, HA, HA...OMG...Tickled me that! lol

Comment by: Garry on 17th February 2015 at 20:58

The battle of Hastings was 1066!!!

Comment by: Roy on 18th February 2015 at 00:59

We know that Garry, but if he got married in 1070 then he would be have been around for the Battle of Hastings. I have been in Molly Dandy's many times and knew her very well, a PROPER shop.

Comment by: mary on 18th February 2015 at 15:50

Anyone remember LUCKY NUMBERS toffees they were like ROSES/ QUALITY STREET also the penny tray i to only got 3d to spend you could get blackjacks, fruitsalads,penny arrows/dainties,mojos, halfpenny chick, milk teeth and lots more, i would have loved to have 6p for a MARS BARS sadly Mars BARS today are more like MILKY WAYS

Comment by: Peter Schofield on 18th February 2015 at 16:10

Willy Wackum. Should have read 1970 and many thanks for pointing it out. May have been at the Battle of Hastings in a previous life and I have brought the scars through time with me. The Tardis does come in handy at times !!

Comment by: irene roberts on 18th February 2015 at 17:40

Lucky Numbers were more sickly than Milk Tray etc. They were more like fondants if I remember rightly, not so much chocolate and garish colours. I certainly remember the penny tray and all those sweets mentioned, as well as penny bubblies,(Anglo Bubblies were they called?) penny arrows penny Dainties and halfpenny "chix". You could stand at the window with a threepenny bit for half an hour!

Comment by: irene roberts on 18th February 2015 at 17:43

Sorry, Mary, I've just realised you'd already mentioned penny dainties and halfpenny chix! You'd fired off my imagination back to childhood days so strongly that I didn't give myself time to read it properly. My apologies.

Comment by: Giovanni on 18th February 2015 at 19:07

Lets not forget Wagon Wheels. The size of tea-plates!!

Comment by: Mary on 18th February 2015 at 19:13

Irene do you remember flying saucers,sports mixtues,aniseed balls,alsorts of spanish shapes,barleysugar sticks, coltsford rock. Wagon Wheals were 4d as i said i only got 3d i went ito the toffee shop with good intentions of only spending 2d and saving 1d for the next day so i would have 4d to spend on a Wagon Wheal alas i never did LOL

Comment by: Jarvo on 18th February 2015 at 19:20

Lucky Numbers were made by Cadbury's, and Irene is quite correct: they were horrible.

Comment by: irene roberts on 18th February 2015 at 20:22

Mary, I certainly do remember Flying Saucers and Sports Mixtures. I am not particularly a sweet-tooth, preferring savouries, but I love 2oz of Sports Mixtures now and again. I buy a quarter between Peter and myself, and I even make a little three-cornered bag for my share. Do you remember Lucky Bags, Mary? ( This is for you too, Jarvo.) I quote here from Christopher Fowler's autobiography, but I'm sure it will strike a chord with all us 50s/60s children: "A Jamboree Bag....so-called because it had a poorly-printed picture of Scouts on the cover. Inside were: A handful of tiny round pastels as hard and tasteless as coat buttons;
Two of the most utilitarian toffees wrapped in waxed paper that proved impossible to separate from the toffee.
A toy so poorly assembled it was impossible to figure out whether it was a submarine or a farmyard animal.
A joke like you get in a Christmas Cracker.
The only quality the Jamboree Bag possessed was its mystery, and it therefore remained far more interesting if left unopened. Things invisible to the eye contained hope."
I couldn't agree more, and the "toy" I remember getting most in Lucky Bags was a pretend set of lips to hold in your mouth, as if you wearing lipstick, but we continued to buy them, with their rubbish toffee, when we could have bought threepennyworth of decent toffee! But then, we wouldn't have been children, full of hope, would we?!

Comment by: Mary on 19th February 2015 at 08:10

Yes Irene i do remember Lucky Bags and i to was betwixed LUCKY BAG or 3D OF TOFFEE. The Lucky Numbers all i could recall were the sweet wrappers having numbers on them;thanks Jarvo and Irene for info on them,i did not know they were made by Cadburys, now i know why they never made it into the 21st century they must have been horrible lol. I laugh to myself when i see money on the pavements 1p,2p,5ps and even 20p;what us kids would have loved to find just one big 1d, i pick the money up and pop them in a charity box.

Comment by: Dave Green on 19th February 2015 at 10:50

Bazooka Joes with a transfer inside to stick on your arm.Collectable cards with gum. I collected `American Civil War` `The Monkees` and `Man from Uncle`

Comment by: owd viewer on 20th February 2015 at 00:00

Irene do you remember choc sticks I loved um looked everywhere don't know if they still make them ?

Comment by: irene roberts on 20th February 2015 at 09:27

I remember the name choc-sticks, it rang a nostalgic bell immediately, but for the life of me I can't remember what they were! Please remind me.

Comment by: irene roberts on 20th February 2015 at 09:51

Choc-sticks! They came flooding back into my memory about half an hour after my last posting......it had been driving me mad! The name was so familiar. Thin sticks of toffee coated in chocolate. Got it! No idea if they are still made, but thankyou for reminding me of them.

Comment by: irene roberts on 20th February 2015 at 09:56

"Chewing Nuts" were the same sort of thing, but were little round toffees coated in chocolate instead of a stick-shape. Nothing to do with nuts, that's just what they were called.

Comment by: owd viewer on 21st February 2015 at 00:20

Irene choc sticks was like barley sugar but toffee with chocolate down the center what about tick tacks and suger lips.

Comment by: irene roberts on 21st February 2015 at 12:28

I remember tick-tacks, Owd Viewer, but was it not Cherry Lips rather than Sugar Lips? And Sweet Tobacco, which came in a yellow packet like the yellow paper that used to be wrapped round Lucozade bottles. It was coconut strands dyed brown. Does "Owd Viewer" mean you are from Spring View? Some of my family were from Spring View.

Comment by: Giovanni on 21st February 2015 at 12:58

I remember my old Nin giving me Barley Sugars before a bus ride. "It'll stop travel sickness" she would say. I wouldnt mind but I only went three stops!lol

Comment by: Jean J on 22nd February 2015 at 14:35

I remember spanish gold in little bags. Also some tiny plastic glasses that looked like knickerbocker glory glasses, and you got a little plastic spoon to scoop the inside out, I think it was chocolate filled. Popeye cigarettes, we used to pretend to smoke them! There was toffee whistles too. Milk Maid chocolates. Treacle lollys on a foil base, they did toffee ones too. Frozen Jubilies which always pinged out the triangle cardboard. Kiora orange in a carton. Sherbert and caylie. The list is never ending.

Comment by: irene roberts on 22nd February 2015 at 16:40

Jean, I had forgotten the tiny knickerbocker glory glasses and the treacle lollies in foil. I remember pretending to smoke toffee cigarettes, then they changed the name to Candy Sticks because they said they were encouraging children to smoke. Rubbish! I must have eaten enough to sink a battleship and have never once had the urge to try the real thing. There used to be "Chocolate Smokers' Outfits" at Christmas too. I bet Mrs. Dandy would be happy to know the memories her photo has brought back.

Comment by: own viewer on 22nd February 2015 at 23:36

Irene I lived in spring view from 1949_1968 you said you worked in Ashton i worked at crampons from 1965_85.

Comment by: owd viewer. on 23rd February 2015 at 00:16

Irene cromptons.

Comment by: irene roberts on 23rd February 2015 at 09:10

Owd Viewer, I only worked in Ashton for a year, 1969-1970 at Richardson's Chemists in Gerard Street. I worked for them for four years but the last three years were at their shop in Standish. My Spring View relatives were the Griffiths from Taylors Lane; my Uncle Jimmy, Auntie Harriet and cousins Marion, James, Doreen, William and twins Joyce and Lorraine. My other relatives were the Gittoes from Hope Street; my Auntie Sally and Uncle Bill and their son amd daughter Billy and Sheila. My older brother Colin married Pat Cooksey who lived on Warrington Road between the Walmesley and the Police Station. She had a brother Philip. I wonder if you knew any of them?

Comment by: owd viewer on 25th February 2015 at 23:23

Irene Jimmy griffiths was two years above me at spring view but know him after we had left school, I Know a Colin Roberts very well but not sure if same Colin as your brother,he was about same age as me born 1949,I moved to higher ince in 68 and lived with me aunt.

Comment by: irene roberts on 26th February 2015 at 09:19

No, Owd Viewer, my brother is Colin Griffiths.....Roberts is my married name. I knew a Colin Roberts from when I worked in the pubs in Platt Bridge. We lived in Higher Ince until 1971 when they demolished our house and moved us to Platt Bridge. We lived in Ince Green Lane near St. William's.

Comment by: owd viewer. on 26th February 2015 at 23:07

Irene, sorry Irene about Colins name I lived in leeway just round the corner from you than moved to lower Ince.

Comment by: NEIL Gibbons on 28th February 2023 at 13:38

I was a paper lad for Molly from 1970 to leaving school in 75. Mornings and evenings
Lovely people Molly and Dolly.

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