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Paine's Of Grays (Paine's Corner). Information and photograph's by Ann Claydon. |
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Paine's shop front in 1935. |
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Paine's shop front in 1936. |
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My father Alfred James Perkins was born in 1910 at Noke Street,
Wainscott, Kent.
The
firm had 3 branches. The main shop in Chatham originally traded as
pawnbrokers. The items pledged included clothes and household bedding
and to have a better selection to sell, if the pledges were not
redeemed, extra supplies of new goods were bought.
Eventually the pawn broking trade declined and the shop became
an outfitters and toyshop. Both
the other shops, one in Strood and the other in Grays, Essex, also had
a pawnbroker’s section. The apprenticeship lasted 5 years, followed by a period of ‘improving’. When dad had finished his 5-year apprenticeship (age 19) he went to work at the Grays shop. In 1929-1932 he was employed as an ‘improver’ for 3 years and then from 1932 as under manager. Because of the travel distance involved he lodged during the week with a family in Brook Road, Grays. This was how he met my mother who also lived in Brook Road, no. 42. They married in 1936 at Grays Parish Church and held their reception at the old Drill Hall and set up home in Grays. |
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Dad was moved back to the Strood branch in 1937 and became manager. He
and he and mum moved to a newly built house in the area. (They remained
living in the same house for the rest of their married lives).
Then
the 2nd World War started and dad was called up in December
1940.
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In fact all of the 3 shops were sold off.
The Chatham one (at least the building) still remains, but the
one in Strood which like the Grays one was very prominent on a corner
position, was also demolished some time ago for road widening
Paine's at Grays had a number of different
departments. The front part onto the High street was the men and boy’s
outfitters and toy department and was managed by a Mr. Lynn.
Dad was manager of the rest of the shop. This included a shoe
department, china department, jewellery and haberdashery and of course
the pawnbrokers area. My
recall of the upstairs was that it was a very dark area with lots of
wooden shelves (and not very clean).
Apart from holding spare stock this was where the pawned goods
were also stored – either to be redeemed by a due date or if left
uncollected for a certain period of time they were then sold. |
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Once a
year the rat man used to call to clear out dead vermin and lay new
poison. The smell when he
was there was awful. I
recall lots of the parcels in the upstairs were tied with brown paper
and string. In fact this was what was used for wrapping some goods up in
the shop area. (Dad was
always trying to teach me how to tie a slipknot).
Each
department had its own entrance door and for the jewellery, china and
pawn broking sections this was the only entry for the public (although
internally they could all be accessed through each other).
The shoe and haberdashery sections you could walk through to.
The
shop had an ‘office’ which was a partioned off, raised room area in
the haberdashery department with glass windows and a door. Payments
would be sent through to the office via a cash railway.
A wooden container would have money and the bill placed in it and
it would then be screwed into a metal holder and propelled by a catapult
to the cash desk. A handle on a rope, which would be suspended from the
ceiling, operated it. The assistance would pull this down and it would
wind the machine up. Upon
release it sped off along a wire near to the ceiling to the cash office
and then any change etc. would be sorted by the cashier and returned to
the department in the same way. There was a network of rail tracks along
the ceilings in all the departments for this purpose. I think it was likely that this was a Rapid Wire.
I
worked there during some of my school holidays when I was old enough (c.
1960’s) I can still remember the special ‘code’ that was used on
the price tickets which showed what the goods had actually cost.
My father used to make the long journey from Strood to Grays each day
Monday to Saturday (even for the half day Wednesday) for many, many
years. This involved a 20 minute walk from home, 30 minute bus ride to
Gravesend, then the old ferry over the Thames to the riverside where he
used to board the train for Grays.
Often when the weather was bad and there was dense fog, the ferry
would not be running and then dad used to travel up and back via
Blackwall. The riverside
terminal used to be such a bustling area, full of people and noisy and
lively. I remember the
bookstall and at Christmas the very large Christmas tree that was always
there. (I often used to wonder whom the boxes, which were tied onto the
tree, were for!)
Of course by the time the shop was sold, the pawn broking side of the
business was no longer operating.
I can recall dad saying how there would be queues of the
‘usuals’ waiting outside for him to open on certain days.
He also spoke of a particular lady called Annie who used to
urinate on the floor whilst waiting there.
(I can recall early on that there was straw laid on the old
wooden floorboards. People would come in a small side door and into the area.
Dad would stand the other side of a high counter/wall and
negotiate prices etc.
The hours were long and there were not the holiday periods we know
today. Christmas would be
2 days only, and on Christmas Eve I recall that my father used to have
to phone up the bosses (the sons of Henry Paine.) to say what the days
takings had been. He
refereed to them always as Mr. Eric and Mr. Will. By Ann Claydon, Feb. 2009 the daughter of Alfred Perkins. |
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