NEWBERYS

Gift Shop, 46 Holyrood Street

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.

If you would like to share or you have different memories of Newberry’s you can message us on the Museum Facebook page, email us at info@chardmuseum.co.uk, or visit us at the Museum or any Chard Revealed event.