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Studley in the fifties was like most villages all over the country. No video shop, launderette, bookmaker, TV shop or Off Licence but quite a few converted front rooms into little general stores.
I was an apprentice grocer with the Alcester Co-operative Society and my 48 hour week for £2.17.6d (£2.87) was sheer hard work. My duties included shoveling coal into the shop boiler, delivery on a bicycle of sacks of wheat, potatoes and chicken grit and doing any other heavy or dirty work that needed doing. I also helped to weigh sugar, currants and raisins into blue bags, tap the new vinegar barrel, bone sides of bacon, skin cheeses and feed Ada Herbert's horse when she called with her horse and cart with deliveries, as well as serve customers and help out on the bread van when required. This was 1958, less than 40 years ago.
There were some fifty shops in the village then and if you would like to join me on a walk around Studley I will tell you what and where they were. Coming from Spernall Ash, the first shop on the Alcester Road was Coopey's Post Office and General Stores. Further along was Edgar Allen's Butchery Shop with his grocery the other side of the arch. The slaughter house nearby was in frequent use. At the top of the hill opposite the Manor was Redfearn's General Store, just three doors away from the Co-op. In the dip between these shops was the Gas Showroom. On the corner of Manor Park Road was Henry Hall's Bakery, with Bulmer's little General Stores opposite, just below the Doctor's house. Further on there were several shops by the Bank: Chamber's Drapery and George's the Bicycle Shop who also repaired wirelesses. A ladies' hairdressers also traded here. Crossing the top of Castle Road, the first shop was Foster's Hardware Shop - the depot for their vans was in Redditch Road. Next door was Johnson's. As well as being Newsagents, they were also the main Post Office. Next came Hum's Shoe Shop, which supplied all the village shoes. Owen's dealt in fruit and vegetables and Tommy Davies, the Barber, entertained the youth of the village with tales of his Welsh upbringing. Timothy White and Taylor's was the village chemist and the wool shop kept the knitters busy. Geoff Hill's wood and tin building served delicious fish and chips, wrapped in newspaper. Across the top of Bell Lane and next to the Police Station was Scriven's 'the Butchers.
Mr. Wilkinson, the other village Barber, rented the room on the end of the Barley Mow. Another butcher's and a general store were around the corner, in Redditch Road. Just into High Street, known to the locals as Fleece Hill after the Inn once on that site, was George Mason's. Mr. Perkins was the manager and Alfie Smith the baker's roundsman. Opposite them was Hunt's, the bakers, a very busy shop patronised by the giant Needle factory, dwarfing their shop. On the left was Marble Alley, one side the factory corrugated iron green fence, the other side mostly cottages with only a Ladies' Hairdresser, Gerrard's Ladies wear and Humphries' shop. Continuing up High Street was a Haberdasher's (later to be Dyson's Fish and Chip Shop,) Franklin's Bakery and the Co-op Butchers under the management of Mr. Albert Cooke. Opposite these shops was Duffin's General Store. Mr. Duffin supplemented their income through taxi driving. A few feet away was another General Stores - Suitor's, and next to the Coach and Horses was Dyson's Fresh Fish and Fruit shop.
Further up High Street was Crow's depot, Foster's rival in the paraffin and hardware trade. A few doors up past the Swan was Miss Jones' tuck shop, well known to the pupils of Studley C. of E. School next door. Opposite these was a boot repairer, Merten's hairdresser and Mrs. Swingler's Singing Kettle Cafe.
The two shops in Station Road were Cotterell's General Stores and a few doors away from Tommy Watton's scrapyard was yet another front-room General Store, run by another lady by the name of Jones. Turning left down Node Hill and just past the Jubilee Inn was Craner's Haberdashery Shop and deaf and dumb Mr. Bailey, who was a shoe repairer. Crooks Lane boasted two General Stores - a tiny shop run by Mrs. Bownes 2d sticks of liquorice a speciality - and Mr. Frost's shop at the top end, a general shop fronting the recreation field, home of Studley Speedway (bicycles) and the village football pitch. Another tiny shop in New Road replenished the pupils of Studley Catholic School. Mr. Brewer of the local fairground family was a frequent visitor on his bicycle packed with everything from pins and needles to handkerchiefs for sale to the village housewives. Mr. Bolt organised the Sunday papers from his house in Manor Park Road and a Lady from Node Hill was the agent for Spirella Corsets to the village ladies. Yapp's Dairy in Bromsgrove Road supplied the village milk along with Quinney's of Sambourne and Canon Kemp dealt with the village's spiritual needs. If that didn't work, Alec Dyer and Sons of New Road buried everybody with dignity. Alec also supplemented his income as projectionist at the Cosy Cinema in Bell Lane.
Some people never left the village from one year to the next, a walk down 'The Park' sufficed as a holiday.
Who could blame them? Very little money, the bus the nearest thing most got to personal transport, with no desire to see the sea.
The people of Studley knew almost everybody else. The village had a certain kind of culture, down to earth, proud and independent-like existence, which had not had the juice, squeezed out of it by too much standardisation. There was affection and tolerance, common sense and individualism to the extent of eccentricity. Sadly these qualities have all but disappeared and Studley is the poorer for it.