NEWBERYS

Gift Shop, 46 Holyrood Street

If you would like to share or you have different memories of Newberry’s you can complete our 'Your Memories of Chard' form here, message us on the Museum Facebook page or visit us at the Museum.

In the 1960s the property was a cottage owned by the Beasley family. It was converted into a pottery shop downstairs and a ladies hairdressers upstairs.

In 1969 the Newberys purchased this property, paying a peppercorn rent of £5 a year to buy the lease.

They ran it as a gift shop with a gents barbers upstairs. In 1980 they bought No.44, next door, and renovated the whole property. They created a sweet shop and a video library with living accommodation upstairs.

By 2015 Shane was sole owner and reconverted No.44 back into a cottage, bringing the shop back to its original size.

In its heyday of the 1980s Shane employed 6 staff and the shops were always busy. In those days most families owned a video recorder to tape their favourite TV programmes.

Most towns would have several video shops where people would be members and could rent videos of films for a few days.