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Widow Maria Workman, a dressmaker, lived in this cottage at the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the next. It then remained empty for about three years until a Mr Barber lived here for a short time.
In 1909 the house became the home and business premises of dairyman William Frederick Sims, his wife Sarah and their family. Their daughter Daisy worked as a dairymaid and their second son, Thomas, was also part of the business, which was known as the Moorend Dairy.
Initially the shop was located in the front sitting room and there was a small front garden. The Sims rented the property for £14/6s per year in 1910 and the shop front was added about a year later. Mr Sims advertised “pure new milk from Leckhampton Court Farm delivered twice daily” and also sold cream butter and eggs.
William and Sarah later moved to Crook’s cottages in Pilley and that was where he died, after a long illness, on 31st July 1926. By now Thomas had established his dairy at 133 Bath Road.
The next 10 years saw a succession of five dairymen or women. The first, Alfred Squires, was followed by Edward Crawford, George Shoesmith, Mrs A Povall and finally Mrs V. Bonniface. With the exception of Mrs Bonniface, none of the others stayed here for more than three years. She lived in nearby Naunton Way and mostly ran the shop on her own. Although other shops stayed open later, she tended to close at about four or five o’clock, especially on Saturday. By the early 1950s Mrs Bonniface had sold her business to Mr William Hicks.
Mr Hicks had a wholesale dairy at Church Farm in Leckhampton which traded as Leckhampton Dairies. The acquisition of these Bath Road premises gave him a retail outlet to sell his dairy produce and a few years later he acquired the adjoining property (see 2 Rose Cottages). Major refurbishment created a large retail food store supplying grocery, greengrocery, meat and dairy produce; it also contained a wines and spirits department.
The closure of the Leckhampton Dairies shop in 1984 ended the dairy trade here after more than 70 years and the building was divided back into two. Thresher, a division of Whitbread PLC, opened a wine shop here in 1985, having been in the adjoining shop for a while. They were here until about 2009 when the current business, Cook, specialising in hand prepared frozen food, took over the premises.
See the Local Memories page for this property.
Researcher: Marilyn West
Updated: Stuart Manton (December 2016)
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