Unlike today's urban planners, the architects of Saltaire scattered numerous corner shops amongst the houses, particularly in the later stages of the village's development. I'm told that at one time there were 40 shops in the village. Few remain, apart from those on Victoria Road. This general store on Titus Street still seems to be thriving, and appears little changed on the outside.... but most of the shops have closed - though you can still see evidence of them if you are observant. Funnily enough, a row of houses on Gordon Terrace, on the main Bradford to Keighley road, was converted into shops between 1900 and 1910, and now provides Saltaire's busiest shopping area.
Another sad fact of so-called modernisation and progress. We are all now herded into giant aircraft hangers to do our weekly shop.
ReplyDeleteIn everything from butchers, fishmongers, bakers, to banks we are slowly but surely losing not only our cultural identity and past but also the the heritage and social structure that came with these "little corner shops".