A shopping tour of Elgin in the old days
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My grandfather, ‘Jack’, established his own thriving music business – Barr Cochrane and Son – on Elgin’s bustling High Street.
That son was my father who joined after he returned from the Second World War.
This family shop was home territory, so my sister and I were familiar with the town centre from an early age.
Elgin’s streets were alive then and my mind's eye often takes me back to that colourful time.
Friday was market day when the High Street filled with huddled groups of ‘news-ing’ farmers.
They came to buy and sell livestock at the local mart. They also came to deliver their produce and buy from the numerous local food shops.
Bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers filled the centre of Elgin, peppered with ice cream parlours, cafés, bars and hotels. It was a thriving market town.
Recollections of grocers Gordon and MacPhail in South Street are of a tall pyramid of Heinz tomato soup cans which really did resemble glossy magazine photos of the day.
Mr Mackenzie, the manager, was the builder of that masterpiece. However his pride and joy was a gigantic red coffee machine in which he roasted coffee beans once a week – on a Wednesday, I think it was – and you could smell the rich aroma all over town.
Spoilt for choice but still aware of rationing, housewives were selective in their purchases.
Duthie the baker at the top of the High Street was the place for fresh warm softies, spicy hand-made perkins and crisp golden rice biscuits.
Austin's Tea Room in South Street was at the luxury end of the market. Their buttery croissants, baked only on Friday, were so popular that pre-ordering was a must.
Their celebration cakes were also legendary – an incredible dream of feather-light royal icing piped with intricate sugar lace and flowers.
Frances Grant, the chief confectioner, was a family friend. She was headhunted to work on the Queen Mary, but declined the offer because she loved her work at Austin's.
Personally, I'm glad. Frances taught me from an early age and I am incredibly grateful for that.
Down on the High Street the Vienna bakery gave us all our first taste of continental breads – oh, their warm freshly baked baguettes!
Not far away, Coopers’ grocery sold dark rich mature cheddar cut from a massive whole cheese which sat beside the counter.
A short walk brought you to Royan the butcher, which had fresh chickens hung in the window still beaked and partly feathered. Eager patrons queued out onto the street while, inside, sawdust was scattered on the shop floor.
Further along Strachan’s butchers sold succulent tender steaks.
Then came Murray the baker well known for an old-fashioned top baked pan loaf which made wonderful toast.
The Geddes brothers, Angus and Willie, ran another family butchery business nearby, their dry cured bacon top of the list for bacon butties.
Almost at the top of the street, Mr Jackson’s grocery shop was an Aladdin’s cave of different ingredients, tins and packets – a friendly family business where nothing was too much trouble.
A traditional grocer in South Street called Simpsons was owned and managed by Mr and Mrs Greenwood.
She was a trained grocer of great depth of knowledge. He was a tall intellectual man with a great interest in foreign wines which he imported, including large bottles of an Italian wine called Donini, along with other exotic ingredients such as pasta!
Mr McMurrin and Mr Johnston the greengrocers provided the community with fresh local produce and, occasionally, a touch of the exotic, such as bananas, melons and oranges.
On a Saturday after work shopkeepers congregated in the Thunderton bar, known as the Thunderbox, for a dram and chat before heading home.
Sometimes Dad would call on David Johnston the greengrocer to buy us a treat on his way. Fullers bakery in Aberdeen supplied David, so it was a real treat when Dad bought one of their feather light cakes!
Peanuts and raisins, penny dainties, cherry lips, gobstoppers, cinnamon balls, mint humbugs came from the one and only Elgin sweet shop.
This was run by Florrie Milne who dished out her wares from large glass jars, popping the sweets into brown paper bags, deftly twisting the corners to trap their precious cargo.
Entering her small corner shop was like going into a real life Punch and Judy show – no wares on display just a tiny hatch slid shut over a small counter.
You had to knock on that door, whereupon red-headed Florrie would appear; behind her shelf upon shelf of sweet-filled jars of every flavour, colour and shape imaginable.
A visit to Florrie’s was an adventure indeed.
Unfortunately few of those Elgin emporiums still survive now, but the vivid memories remain.
Written by Liz Ashworth, who now lives in Lhanbryde.
