Henry's stall on Woolwich Market

Image: © Roger D Kidd Taken: 1 Apr 1964

During the 1960s Henry had his stall by the Tip Top Bakeries shop near the junction of Beresford Square with Woolwich New Road. With Sarah (in the head-scarf; was she really his mother?) fronting the stall and taking the money he usually commanded quite a crowd as he "bawled out his wares" with an almost non-stop tirade of sales patter. Basically he sold the lowest quality items very cheaply, though I had an excellent pocket knife from him once. "Come 'ere ...tell yer wha(t) I'll do. Never mind a shilling each. There's one; there's two; there's three ...come 'ere … there's four ... come closer, 'av a good look. Never mind Sarah. She 'ad a barf this morning ... there's five. Not five shillings, not four not three not two; not even one. Come'ere ... take all five for ninepence, Thank you madam, thank you sir ...any one else? Come on! Get yer skates on Sarah; don't stand there scratching …" and so on. :-))) Tip Top Bakeries was a chain of bakery shops. They sold delicious extra fruity buns for 4½d (just under 2p). The image has been scanned from a 35mm Ilford FP3 monochrome negative, date circa April 1964.

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