CORNERING THE MARKET

It was heartening to read in the Scunthorpe Telegraph's business section of significant refurbishment and investment in the shop on Atkinson Avenue, Brigg - at a time when many small retail outlets are really feeling the pinch from large supermarket competition, and even closing altogether.
With Glebe Road an obstacle course, due to the cable-laying reported earlier in Brigg Blog, I was unable to get to the shop I'd normally visit the other night, and so rode the Grammar School Road speed humps and negotiated the many parked cars to make the short detour to Atkinson Avenue, to make my small purchase there instead.
And I bet I'm not the only customer Glebe Road shop lost as a result of the roadworks! Will any compensation be paid?
Older Brigg residents will remember, in the 1960s and 1970s, when the shop serving the Springbank estate was run by Mr and Mrs Lilley.
The premises have been extended down the years, and it's good to see the place still going strong.
If, or when, the huge Brigg North housing development gets underway - scores of new homes on land stretching from Western Avenue to Atherton Way - it will create additional trade for this retail outlet.
Similarly, in Glebe Road, when Keigar Homes put up new properties on the former school site it will mean extra customers using the small shop opposite, if only to pick up a copy of their favourite local newspaper.
Glebe Road shop used to benefit from the passing trade created by the school - before the new one opened in Atherton Way - with parents arriving to pick up their youngsters maybe getting a few items, and children popping in for crisps and sweets.
Turning the clock back to the late 1960s, we would make regular visits to Mrs Gray's shop, as it then was, for our sweets, chewing gum, or a bottle of pop, as a treat.
Famously, on one occasion, when senior pupils were given the summer task of repainting the outside of the Glebe Road school swimming pool, our teacher (Brian Neale?) said we would need to apply plenty of elbow-grease, as well as paint. This led to Mrs Gray's staff being asked for some tins of the stuff. I kid you not - but stress I was not one of those who fell into the trap!
While dwelling on the subject of small shops, we should not forget Dave Dent's Spar, in Queen Street. On Brigg Amateur Social Historians' excellent calendar there's a picture of these premises three or four decades ago. Still instantly recognisable.
Long may small general stores like these continue in Brigg. But, like many things in life these days, it's a case of 'use it or lose it'.
Let's all think about that next time we are planning to make a small purchase. It's great to have Tesco and Lidl for the 'big family shop' but, for many of us, particularly men who don't do much shopping, convenience counts for a lot.
We've lost a few small shops down the years, of course. There used to be Button's, on Bridge Street, opposite the Brocklesby Ox, later taken on by a Mr Rae, if memory serves me correctly. Button's also used to handle parcels on Lincolnshire Road Car buses which stopped outside.
And Bowen's, of course, had a shop attached to their bakery, near the junction of Grammar School Road and Glebe Road, where you could buy groceries as well as freshly-baked bread and delicious cakes.
Further down Grammar School Road - next to the Ancholme Inn - was Ernie Robinson's shop. It later belonged to Ian Reid, a member of the well-known Brigg family from Springbank, but was eventually demolished and is now the site of a couple of new houses.
Way back in the '60s, there was Cordock's little shop alongside The Monument, next to Sass's garage showroom. How many remember that one?
Last, but by no means least, was George Hewson's in Colton Street, selling a wide range of items to people on the Newlands estate. George was a very well-known and long-serving councillor, and Mayor, serving local government at town, borough and county level. The main council offices in Brigg, Hewson House, were named in his honour.
If you can recall any further convenience shops which were serving Brigg folk in the 1960s and 1970s please email nigel.fisher@gsmg.co.uk or scoopfisher@aol.com