I'm sure most of you exiles remember Greens Foodstore in Bow Street. It has been there for as long as I remember. It's a popular place and has regular customers who have been doing their shopping there for years. I think it even keeps a "book" for customers who pay monthly or weekly. It is a good shop for "one-stop" shopping, as it keeps about everything. However, I just heard yesterday that it has been taken over by Euro-Spar. Sign of the times, I suppose. I do my shopping mostly in Tescos as it is just down the road from me, but Greens did keep some lovely fresh ham and bacon and had an extensive and varied delicatessen which will be missed by their custeomers. Another change.

Ann
I still remember Liptons and Johnny Carlile, both opposite where Greens is. I think before Greens moved there it was a hardware store, Redmond Jefferson???
donald

HHi Ann, That's sad, as its one of the last individual grocers really in the town as the rest are all multinationals, Jacquie Greens I remember as a butcher first before they went into groceries and ended up a supermarket, even today I would use them as they served Boned Rib at the butcher counter and they still served a great selection of hams & Bacons as well as there cheeses and salads, they will be greatly missed and the town has enough closed premises at the moment without this adding to the list, Just thinking Lisburn people must have been big meat eaters when you think of the butchers there then, on each side of Green's there was Minne Davis, Cummins, Drakes, in Bow St alone and were Felix Elmore was there use to be Devenney a very large butcher,

Ann, Customers keeping a book to buy groceries at their local grocery store used to be very common around Lisburn, I remember as a kid using it very often at Isac Collin's shop payable on a weekly or two weekly plans.

My Grandparents also had a book with a clothing firm in Belfast where their representative would come to the house for a weekly or monthly payment,very convenient for buying new clothes but I often wonder how they could have afforded it on their then meagre pensions. Mauri

Hi Ted And All .

Do Any ,remember JAMES MADDENS where my granddad worked , I remember going up the back yard ,and into the shop for some messages ,and seeing my grandfather ,packing sugar in brown bags .
Memories !

I still remember the "tick men" coming around on Friday evenings to collect their cash for the wares they gave out on credit. There was a credit draper who lived in Hilden and had a store in Lambeg. No one was interested in the price of the wares then they were happy to have got the stuff on tick.

Another collector was the "society man", that was the insurance men who collected their premiums for deaths insurances which the people had to cover their burials and the time off work to attend the funerals of relations who passed away.My gran once came into the house shocked by a comment from the insurance man, he said "Missus for what you are insured would not carry you to the top of the street" She immediately raised the sum and automatic the premium

donald

I, too, remember most of the grocery stores that were in Lisburn, long before supermarkets. There was usually, not always, a girl or girls behind the counter. My mother perused the shelves and requested what she wanted, then the attendant would weigh the tea, sugar, etc. and pour these into brown bags. There was usually a queue of people behind waiting their turn. My mother used Davis' butchers and I'm sure she didn't buy sirloin or fillet steaks there. More likely she would have bought mince steak, sausages, veg roll and a marrow bone for making vegetable soup. Sometimes we had stewed steak with onions and carrots, which was tasty. Liver was another dish which was on the menu fairly often. Again, cooked with onions and accompanied with a lovely gravy. I remember when my mother came home from town with her two big bags of shopping, we would rush into the kitchen and, like savages, delve into the bags to see what goodies were inside. Not any luxuries, but a nice piece of strong cheddar cheese would do or a plain biscuit. We never had chocolate biscuits because they would have been devoured immediately. As I say, we were devoid of any kind of manners when the groceries arrived.

My computer just shut down for no reason half way through another posting about society men, etc. We had a woman who called every Friday night for payment on cheques she supplied when we needed new clothes, etc. Many a time I had to take an item of clothing which was not to my liking because the cheque wouldn't cover my choice. People didn't have the money in those days to go out and buy just anything. Many sacrifices were made, I'm sure, so that we were well kitted out with good footwear, warm coats and raincoats. My aunts helped out a great deal too, knitting and crocheting for us and one aunt making clothes for the family as well. We never went without but there were no luxuries. Families were closer in those days and there was never a day we didn't see an aunt or visit my granny's house. It's sad that they're now all gone. That's life.

Hi all,

Just lost a reply to above comments, can,t be bothered to retype it, so it is lost to cyberspace AGAIN!


Pat

Hi Tommy, Wasn't Maddens shop at the corner of Haslem's Lane and Bow Street or am I mixed up with some other store,I remember there was a yard behind the store with an entrance off Haslem's Lane where they used to kill cattle,sheep and poultry the noise from which was unbelievable. Mauri

Hi Mauri, Maddens was next to Felix Elmore it would probably have been 11 Bow St, The slaughterhouse belonged to Cummins the butcher was many years ago my Grandfather worked there killing as well as butchering, they use to kill on a Sunday morning and it wouldn't have been a pleasant task,

Thanks Ted, The old memory playing up with me again,to think that I once knew just about every shop in Lisburn never mind just Bow Street,my favourite one for buying candy etc was "Moores" in Warren Park probably long gone now, then there was "Dowlings"and "Livingstones" on the Longstone plus a couple of others on Chapel Hill the names of which I have forgotten except "Ferris"s facing the Chapel,I could go on and on but better quit now. Have a Great Day. Mauri

I remember E.T.Green's, Maddens, Lipton's, Maypole and Stewart' Cash stores.
We also had McKeown's, Curry's, Smith's and Billy Refausse's, Ned Kearney's,and James Buchanan's,all in the Co.Down. Now I suppose they are all "gobbled" up by the big guys. Our friend Margaret Scott could tell us if any of those old shops still exist.
Incidentally I was message boy for Refausse's 1950/51.

Beano