35 Gardner Street

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 25 Sep 2011

In the 1840s the house was briefly used as a workshop of Magnus Volk prior to his move to Western Road where his more famous son who shared the same name would be born in 1851. After Volk the building returned to residential use until the 1880s when the Groizards opened their toy shop which would trade here for the next 54 years. They would also trade at 24 North Road until 1949. Another long term resident followed, Reginald Peters and later his son expanded into the shop from Image and traded here for 56 years being the last greengrocer to operate in the street. Plate Expectations would often pile their china wares outside the doors but would eventually move to Trafalgar Street to share a shop with another trader after the rates became to high to sustain the business. Punktured moved here from 76 North Road providing an indication of how acceptable body piercing and tattooists have become over the last decade. When I wanted my ears pierced in the early 1980s I had to find a jeweller. OCCUPANTS 1846-48: WATCHMAKER: Magnus Volk 1881-1935: TOY SHOP: W Groizard (1881-1904), A Groizard (1905-10), R & E Groizard (1911-35) 1937-94: GREENGROCER/FLORIST: Reginald Peters (1937-72), Peters & Son (1973-94) 1995-2004: CHINA/KITCHEN WARE: Plate Expectations 2005-11: BODY PIERCERS: Punktured

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