GOOD TO SEE NEW USE FOR A WELL-KNOW BRIGG SHOP WITH HISTORIC SIGN KEPT 'ON THE MAP'

Well-known retail premises in Brigg are now hosting the Decozo shop, which supplies the public as well as curtain makers, soft furnishers and interior designers.
www.decozo.co.uk
This set us thinking above previous uses of 47 Wrawby Street, almost opposite Wetherspoon's White Horse pub/restaurant.
Our picture, taken at the weekend from Grammar School Road South, shows Decozo - another niche business of interest to shoppers in the town.
In the 1960s the ground floor housed George Mason's - a sizeable grocery business which offered a delivery service.
By the late 1970s and 1980s, the Linsports sports shop was supplying local players and clubs from these premises. We recall this being where Brigg Town Cricket Club bought its match balls, while discounts were offered to members who bought shirts, boots and bats.
More recently, and for a considerable time, 47 Wrawby Street was occupied by Brigg Auto Extras, supplying the needs of local motorists, including a range of oils that helped keep a faithful old Peugeot of ours on the road for many years in addition to the efforts of the ever-helpful Vicarage Motors staff in Wrawby.

 

Still evident on the frontage (above Decozo's new sign) is a yellow Keep Brigg on the Map board, erected in the 1970s or possibly the late 1960s. We think this is the only survivor; there used to be others in the town centre.
Some traders back then were concerned that the Brigg by-pass (a section of the M180) would reduce through traffic and lead to a reduction in custom as many motorists no longer came through the town along the A18 and stopped off to buy things.
Keep Brigg on the Map was a well-meaning campaign. However, in the 1990s a second (inner) by-pass was installed (via the new Ancholme Way Bridge and upgraded Barnard Avenue), paving the way for pedestrianisation of the town centre and removing further through traffic which passed retail premises.
Some businesses did close in the period that followed, but the pedestrianisation scheme is viewed by most people today as a welcome addition.
We've got to admit having some personal doubts about the scheme when it was drawn up and following its introduction, but since then we've done a U-turn.
A driving force behind the relief road and pedestrianisation was Coun Terry Atherton, of Kirton Lindsey, who was the Leader of Brigg-based Glanford Borough Council.
In the early 1980s he gave us a front page exclusive while reporting for the Lincolnshire & South Humberside Times at 57 Wrawby Street. Terry wanted Brigg to retain its historic nature but to be traffic-free for shoppers. He also wanted old buildings to be restored and improved (the eventual Brigg Regeneration Project).
Other forward-thinking reports he gave us during the same period included a shopping arcade (later to become Springs Parade) and a store on Cary Lane (originally Kwik Save, now Wilko) close to the town's main car park.
He also pressed for job-creating industrial development. Atherton Way - serving the town's business park and later two schools - was named after him.
Terry was the go-to man if the Lincs Times ever found itself short of a front page 'lead' story as the weekly deadline drew near.
He always had something newsworthy up his sleeve and was prepared to share details.


PICTURED: Decozo at 47 Wrawby Street (top), a view of Auto Extras in 2016 (below) and a close-up of the Keep Brigg on the Map sign.