George, the elder brother, stayed here at the family home with his wife and four children, whilst Oliver and his family lived at Thirlestaine Place. Oliver’s business continued there but George had left this property by the turn of the 20th century and it became a hairdresser’s under the ownership of firstly Mr Frederick Arthur Tarling and, by 1904, Thomas Teague, who also traded as a tobacconist.

​The next occupant was Mr Harry Mitchell, of unknown occupation, who resided here until the start of the Great War when it became an eating house run by the Misses Tame and Strange.

During the 1920s (and possibly before) these premises became the home and shop of Mr and Mrs F Trotman. Mrs Elizabeth Trotman was a stern lady and it was she who ran the business selling tobacco, confectionery and her home-made ice-cream. It was described as a ‘clean, wholesome shop’ and Mrs Trotman was the sort of lady who wouldn’t let it become anything but!

In 1931 the shop was purchased by Mr Arthur Watkins Barrell for £415. He too sold ice-cream and confectionery but also various grocery items, so could call himself a grocer.

Mr Lane was born in Stroud and had worked for the butchery chain of Eastmans, in their Gloucester branch. When the position at Mudway’s was offered to him he moved to Cheltenham and lodged with a family across the road. When he married his wife Kathleen they relocated into the accommodation above this shop.

Inside the shop, during the normal working hours, payment was made at a small window opening from the office, where Hildred Reay would handle the cash. Miss Reay (more widely known as Sue) kept the account books, dealt with telephone enquiries, received payment for bills, prepared the delivery roundsmen’s dockets with account customers details, administered first aid to members of staff and carried out many other small jobs for Mr Lane. During World War II there were times when only Mr Lane and herself were left to look after the shop and she had to spend long hours counting and dealing with customer’s ration coupons.

​Dennis Eldridge, who was born in 1926, left school at age 14 and found his first job with Mr Lane as his butcher’s boy. There he learned how to produce some cuts of meat, make sausages and dress poultry, as well as how to pluck and dress game birds, such as pheasants. On his eighteenth birthday in December 1944 he enlisted in the Royal Navy, returning to Lane’s after the War. Dennis Eldridge and Sue Reay met and fell in love at Lane’s and were married in June 1947. Dennis had moved to work for Dowty’s in 1946, where he remained for over 40 years. Sue left Lane’s to raise their family in 1950 but later returned to the shop for a few years.

​The roof of the shop was blown off by a bomb during a wartime air raid that destroyed the houses behind the shop. It was replaced by a temporary slate roof that eventually leaked terribly badly. Fortunately Mr and Mrs Lane had already moved from the flat over the shop in 1939, to a house in Mead Road. They later moved again to Crippetts Lane in Leckhampton and he died on 9th April 1988.

The business suffered a tragedy on 5th January 1948 when the delivery van was involved in an accident with a private car in the Leckhampton Road. The van driver, Joseph Smith, received serious head injuries and died later that day in Cheltenham General Hospital.

In his younger days John had been made responsible for riding the delivery bike. Since he alone knew the rounds, in later years Mrs Lane would drive the van with John directing her to the customer’s addresses.

Although the main body of the building is original, the front had become quite unstable and was renewed in about 1955. John Rood also added a small extension in the rear during his ownership of the business.