1960s shops

All shopping in the 60s was done at the local small retailers; butchers, groceries and corner shops. The butchers sold fresh meat, groceries: vegetables and fish and the corner shops was all other essentials. Corner shops sold sweets in jars along with the traditional sweet shops. Fruit however was sold separately by what was called a 'pear boy' who was a gentleman who rode a horse and cart and sold fruit door to door. Moreover milk from the milkman was delivered in the morning daily. For a family of five, £2 was an average the amount spent in the sixties to buy the essentials from your local retailer and 3 pence piece could buy you a beano comic and some sweets or an ice lolly. Cheese was cut off a large block and weighed for price, vinegar was dispensed from a barrel. Sweets were sold in huge bottles which would be weighed for price as well; normally into quarter pounds/4 oz, biscuits additionally were payed by weight and unwrapped. Freezers and microwaves didn't exist in the 60s so everything was sold fresh and eaten as soon as possible or at least nothing was wasted. Eggs and cheese meals were more popular as meat was expensive so meat was used up as much as possible in meals. Shampoo was bought in individual sachets and your hair was washed in the sink, the toilet being in the garden and a coal fire as the source for heating the house. In 1968, trolleys were introduced and you could shop around your retailer picking off the stock you wanted then going to pay for it- some shops even introduced self-service.