Went into a Pool shop last week and by the door they had a selection of very smart and expensive pool tables for sale. I thought I was in the wrong place but further into the shop they had domestic swimming pool equipment, pumps, chemicals and cleaners. Covering both bases. Genius!
Unusual shops
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I particularly like the stamp shop
https://www.bladerubbercraft.co.uk/
Not post office but all rubber stamps. I always wonder how they sell enough to keep going but happy that it’s so
My favourite shop for browsing is Mr P Milne’s Emporium of Curios and Antiques in a courtyard on Elm Hill in Norwich. I say browsing as I’ve never been in the market for a skeleton, a stuffed badger or a creepy Victorian doll wearing a miniature flying helmet but if I ever am then Mr P’s will be the very first place I look.
Sounds like the kind of place where David Sedaris would shop!
There’s a shop in Glastonbury called Ethically Sourced Taxidermy. They sell other things; typical Glastonbury esoterica. There used to be another shop in the town which sold antique taxidermy, but that closed.
I seem to remember that one of the ‘attractions’ at Jamaica Inn in Cornwall used to be hundreds of stuffed animals, which I doubt very much were ethically sourced when made many years ago. I think the collection was auctioned, and dispersed.
The Leicester Square branch of Westminster libraries has a strange exhibition of taxidermy scattered among the shelves of the ground floor. It consists of recreations of famous paintings using stuffed animals. It includes American Gothic using chickens and a hare and the Laughing Cavalier as a fox. Creepy in itself, but they also have music recitals on the top floor, and the last time I was there, the sound of a gothic Liszt piano piece was drifting down the stairs in the Winter gloom.
Don’t have nightmares!
That’s horrific but also very funny.
Years ago when I used to visit mates in Islington, I’m sure I passed a taxidermists on Essex Road called “Get Stuffed”. Not sure if it’s still there or not. Seeing that name now reminds me of the cooking programme that used to be on in the small hours with the same name.
Blimey – it looks like it is:
https://www.thegetstuffed.co.uk/
Eric Ravilious did a series of shopfronts which are worth looking up, those that know me will understand why I chose this one.
I’ve got the facsimile edition of High Street by J M Richards, in which all his shopfronts appeared. Lovely book – a first edition will set you back at least three grand.
There used to be a shop in Sydney called Animal Fetish which dealt in taxidermy – you could either buy one off the shelf (lots of novelty mice on bicycles or doing other odd things) or they could stuff your late pet for a price.
There was also a shop which sold nothing but candelabras, which was open 24/7….all above board, no doubt (taps nose).
On the subject of taxidermy, this amusing but thought-provoking article about how Aussie animals have been horribly misrepresented by taxidermists is well worth your time.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-05/poor-taxidermy-making-fattypuses-out-of-australian-animals/101827332?fbclid=IwAR04JojJgFLaYFRzpTPoiip3-vI26oB-t1KWJeZVGNl_aFOU-xeAcLTGa-8
A new shop opened here just before Christmas situated at the end of an otherwise empty alley in a building that was until recently a small betting shop. Half of the shop is dedicated to selling traditional sweets from the jar, whilst the rest is a collection of novelty gifts and new-age clobber, including a large selection of joss sticks.
It’s a pity that they’re not named “Incense & Peppermints”.
There’s also a trophy shop not far from me. I wonder how many vanity trophies are commissioned? There was a storyline in the Brady Bunch where the underachieving middle brother Peter was miserable because he’d never won anything. The siblings got a trophy made saying “Best Brother” and presented it to him and this made things better. In real life, I actually think this would have made things worse.
I also recall a shop that sold just about everything you needed. An Open All Hours-type place but much smaller. Crammed to the ceiling with every conceivable item. It was run by male identical twins who had mad curly hair, thick glasses and a really high-pitched reedy voices like a castrato John Major. The shop was called Roy’s and we never knew which one was Roy.
A very busy sandwich shop near where I worked had twins working there which I didn’t know. I remember thinking, “That blonde woman is totally insane she’s either sweet as pie or nasty as shit.” It was only after about a dozen visits I saw them together and realised there were two of them.
When you walked in you either got, “Yes love, can I help you?” or “Whatta ya want?” I mentioned them to a co-worker and he said, “They are too spooky I never go in there.”
Anybody remember the Falafel House on Haverstock Hill in London’s trendy Belsize Park? There were Israeli twins working there as waitresses, drop-dead gorgeous and absolutely identical in every respect. It was a surreal experience eating there – you’d watch one of them disappear into the kitchen and then the other one would instantly pop up at your elbow with the bill.
There’s a shop near me which sells both trophies and fishing tackle. On the edge of the Fens, which are very flat, almost riverless, and about 100 miles from the sea.
One on my nearest shopping parade used to be ‘the biggest carp fishing shop in Essex!’. I have no idea if there is any fishing to be had near me and there certainly isn’t any that is well know. Maybe that’s why it closed and is now a karate studio/dojo for kids?
Re: “On the edge of the Fens, which are very flat, almost riverless ….”
I don’t know the Fens very well at all, but I always thought that the Great Ouse was, like, a big deal in Fenland. Have I been misinformed?
Fenland Fenland Fenland….
Fenland has it alllll
It’s within walking distance of the Great Ouse, but a long way upstream. There’s a wooden bridge across the river nearby, but an adult could jump it with a run up.
I’ve never seen any fishing taking place there.
I lived in Tooting, in south west London, for a couple of years and was aware of a curious place that sold both legal firearms and musical instruments under one roof. Somewhere along the High Street, along from the covered market. I can’t recall ever wanting (or needing) to go in.
Eddie Izzard referenced it in a bit on his breakthrough ‘Definite Article’ tour DVD. Guns and Banjo’s as he chose to call it.
More on Tooting, SW17.
There was a joke shop also. A standard sort of arrangement, a small shop with a window display. However the owner must have been ever so slightly odd. The display was usually full of what must have been his entire stock of false rubber arses. About 20 of them in 4 rows of 5 filling the window.
I have been thinking about this shop for a couple of days now. As it’s a joke shop, I assume the rubber arses weren’t pervy sex toys, so I am trying to work out what you would need a rubber arse for? Having a rubber arse at a fancy dress party perhaps? Max Wall impressions?
Maybe your actual arse is busy and you need one for comedy purposes.
I’m thrilled and worried you’ve been perusing this for a few days.
Of course I should clarify. Yes, joke shop arses. Hollow rubber things with, helpfully, tie strings attached so you could attach them to your own trousered arse and look like the fucking twat you (meaning me) so were.
We bought a couple. I think we ended up putting them in our front room window for want of anything else to do with them.
I suppose the joke shop owner went through the same process.
A rubber arse positioned in your yard makes an excellent bike stand.
Not exactly the same, but there used to be a place in Montreal called The Swimming Pool, I didn’t see too much swimming going on, but it was a music venue with about a dozen pool tables, so you could enjoy the show while playing pool!
I thought you were going to say that it was a swimming pool + concert venue. Sounds like fun but probably a bit of a health & safety nightmare. And imagine the fuckwits divebombing in, halfway through a gig.
There was a long YouTube clip I saw several years ago, of an orchestral performance, where the musicians were dispersed around a large indoor swimming pool, some of them on balconies and some down at poolside.
The audience were all actually in the water of the pool or floating on it on rafts.
I’ve just looked for it but can’t find it. Unfortunately I can’t remember what piece was being performed, who it was performed by or where it took place.
The Popaganda music festival here in Stockholm used to take place at Eriksdalsbadet, in the outdoor pool area (there’s an indoor swimming facility as well). In between the two stages one smaller pool would be open for festival visitors to swim in, while the 50 meter pool was used for the annual male synchronised swimming show, as a sort of half-time extravaganza.
(I say used to because I’m unsure of where they stage the festival these days – it’s moved around a few times, and during covid the festival was paused, and still is, I believe.)
@Mike_H
Handel?
Sadly, I never went to Popaganda at Eriksdalsbadet,@Locust.
I am sure I would have loved it
It’s a favourite place of ours in the summer. Magnificently international and very laid-back.
I can’t remember if I went twice or three times…three I think, but could have imagined the third time… All I remember is that the last time I went was absolutely brilliant, the other time(s), not so much.
Nothing to do with the music, all to do with the attitude of the audience!
We have the Robin Hood Watersports (not the ones mentioned by Roy Harper) shop nearby selling Scuba gear, windsurfing, snowboarding, canoeing, kayaking and kitesurfing.
Our nearest beach is fifty five miles away. I wouldn’t suggest trying anything watersportery in the local river, not if you value your health.
However it’s been on the go since 1981 so it must be doing something right.
Probably a front for Albanian money launderers – were they even a thing in 1981?
Appen we had our own money launderers in them says, now we have to import them. Try to get anyone to do a dishonest day’s work… They look askance.
A place I used to frequently drive past when working is Dive Force Marine in a little cluster of shops at the junction of the A10 Great Cambridge Road and the A406 North Circular in That (North) London.
https://www.diveforce.com/
They sell scuba gear, (wetsuits, drysuits, gloves and masks etc.) and can refill your air tanks or sell you new ones.
Just recalled that I’ve passed here a few times, Mountain scuba diving centre 1,200 feet above sea level.
Could you also place complicated bets on football results?
There’s a violin repair shop about three minutes walk from where we live. It was here before us and we’ve been here 24 years this year.
Sounds like the shop has “straddled various” decades!
Blimey…. that’s the last time I buy those cheap Christmas crackers
Here’s your coat…
Well I liked it…
Take a bow…
I could pop in and tell them but maybe I won’t.
If only they also repaired saxophones then I’m sure someone here could come up with a suitable new name for them.
A place I used to frequently drive past when working is Dive Force Marine in a little cluster of shops at the junction of the A10 Great Cambridge Road and the A406 North Circular.
https://www.diveforce.com/
They sell scuba gear, (wetsuits, drysuits, gloves and masks) and can test or refill your air tanks, or sell you new ones.
Driving in circles, mate!
…for a living.
Mostly sitting in traffic, actually.
When we could be diving for pearls
I have a harp shop at the end of my road.
Never been in (obvs) but apparently the reviews are excellent. Definitely not the type of place that can rely on passing trade but seems to be thriving.
I’ve sometimes suspected it’s a front ( as they’re often away attending ‘festivals’) but can’t figure out what for.
I seem to recall reading that there are no equivalents to the Stradivarius in the world of harping. Harps only last so long as usable instruments and then gradually become unplayable and in need of replacement. The tension the harp’s frame is under means that eventually it becomes unstable and cannot be kept in tune for long.
They are very high-cost items and I should think a reputable harp seller can generate a good deal of business by going to all the Eistedfodds, festivals etc.
That makes sense, Mike.
You go where the business is, rather than requiring footfall.
I can’t imagine there’s a harp equivalent of pimply youths wanting to hack their way through ‘Smoke On The Water’ in that kind of shop, like every guitar emporium I remember from yesteryear!
The pimply youths don’t know what they’re missing.
Consider my gob well & truly smacked!
Fantastic!
If a choice between a pair of pimply youths and these two should ever be demanded of me, I know which way I’d vote.
The come-hither harpists?
So they don’t actually stay sharp to the bottom of the fàs.
(Tha mi a’ toirt taing dhut, tha mi an seo fad na seachdain!)
I used to get the train in to Manchester Piccadilly from Heaton Chapel. Only about 20 minutes or so, we passed though Levenshulme where there always used to be an advert which said “Conference Facilities plus Skid-Pan for hire.” Listen to a motivational talk from the boss and then go burn some do-nuts I guess.
There used to be a Christmas shop in Windsor which sold tree decorations, fairy lights, Santa models etc….all year round
When I lived in Bounds Green in the 80s there used to be a gents’ outfitters in Myddleton Road which had been frozen in time back in 1939. It sold lovat shirts, cravats, foulards (are they the same thing?), knitted ties, sleeveless jumpers (definitely not tank tops), corduroy trousers with turnups, cardigans with suede fronts, football buttons and elbow patches, even sock suspenders. Things in the window had little handwritten labels attached saying, ALSO AVAILABLE IN GREEN, or sometimes, USEFUL GIFT. I never saw anybody going in or coming out, and he was closed more often than not.
I went in and bought some socks once, and it was exactly as you’d expect – dark and gloomy, with an elderly gent in a brown Open All Hours-style coat behind the counter. He didn’t seem especially surprised to see me, served me politely enough but with a complete absence of chat. It’s gone now, of course.
There used to be a female equivalent in Palmers Green, with a window full of salmon-pink corsets and enormous bras. I never went in though.
There’s a gentleman’s outfitters down an alleyway in Cambridge which continues to refer to the Open University TV broadcasts for fashion advice.
Ever wondered where today’s academic buys his wing-collar shirt, kipper tie, corduroy flares and herringbone sports jacket with leather elbow patches? I know.
There’s a place that sells music – sheet music, nothing beyond 1920 – in the same row.
The cheese shop next door is ace, though.
Not so very unusual, in the nature of their business, is Protex Pest Control at 191 Bowes Road (North Circular) and the corner of Warwick Road London N13. Lots of business for pest controllers in London or any other big town or city.
What makes the shop notable is the sign outside, facing the road, “Pest Of The Week” which, as implied, is changed on a weekly basis. The shots of the place on Google Street View show “Brown Rat” as PotW.
https://goo.gl/maps/RTaf55Zs1idpUR8fA