Union Street

I wonder what the two old men who are pictured in this photo were talking about? The picture was taken in Union Street in the early 1900s and the old railway arch can be seen in the background. The shop on the left is the 'New Penny Bazaar' and the sign on their window reads, ' Look around and see the goods - you will not be pressed to buy!'. Two ladies, one holding a small child, are looking in the window. It would be lovely to be able to see what all the items for sale were. Cheaper than today's 'pound shop', everything appears to cost just 1d. I suppose a penny went a lot further in those days! Marks and Spencers started up their 'Penny Bazaar' over 125 years ago and to celebrate this, offered many items for sale last year at just 1p. The older shops used to keep everything behind the counter and once a customer had asked to look at an item, they then felt obliged to buy it. The Penny Bazaar's sign tried to make people feel more comfortable about just browsing. The shop beside the bazaar advertises, 'Cricket, Football and Tennis Wear'. At one time, there were shops like these up and down Union Street. The tramway would have ran along the road to the right of the photo together with horses and carts, hand carts and bicycles. Much has changed over the years and a lot of the quaint, interesting shops have now disappeared either due to bombing in the Second World War or modernisation in the years after. Even in the 1970s, I remember many second hand shops along Union Street but these have been cleared away to leave wide open spaces or newer run-of-the mill buildings with little or no character. It's certainly changed a great deal even in my lifetime and, to me, seems to have lost a lot of the charm that it once had.