15 Sydney Street

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 24 Jul 2011

Another building in the street that was initially a residence until the early twentieth century which was at first a hairdressers then a series of businesses until after the First World War when it became a refreshment room then briefly a greengrocer before Allen & Sons converted it to a butchers and later expanded their business into both Image and Image In the early 1950s the shop was taken over by Frank Share who was to operate out of it for the next thirty years. From the 1950s the street was to be well known locally for its butchers of which there were seven trading throughout the 1950s to 1970s five of which ended up being owned by Frank Share including one run by his wife at Image which specialised in cooked meats. Many of these shops lacked refrigeration which turned Saturday afternoons into mini auctions as the butchers sought to get rid of their stock and those on tight budgets knew that a late afternoon stroll could result in picking up a cheap joint for Sunday’s roast. Share seems to have retired in the mid 1980s and the shop was taken over by PCH Butchers who survived until the turn of the twenty first century, the last of the butchers in Sydney Street. Its replacement epitomises the changing nature of retail in the street, Fat Mamas sold skateboards, accessories and associated fashions, lasted a few years before it was replaced by a succession of second hand book shops, the current occupiers being a charity concern for Amnesty International. OCCUPANTS 1904-12: HAIRDRESSERS: John Williams (1904), Cecil Parks (1905-11), B Walker 91912) 1913-17: DRAPERS: A Clegg (1913), S Diamondstein (1916-17) 1914: BUTCHER: C Cochrane – also 1918 1915-27: ICE CREAM/REFRESHMENT ROOM: Margiotta Lawrence (1915, 1919-27) 1929-30: GREENGROCERS: Thomas Iliffe 1931-2001: BUTCHERS: Allen & Son (1931-49), Frank Share (1951-84), PCH (1985-2001) 2002-06: SKATEBOARDS: Fat Mamas 2006-11: SECOND HAND BOOKS: The Cheep Shop (2006-07), Books for Amnesty (2007-11)

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