The Pop-up Beeston shop
40 Beeston High Road
I did another stint at the Pop-up Beeston Shop yesterday afternoon and enjoyed the company of a steady stream of visitors, including two very special ones, not that I knew this at first — that came later in our conversation...
The extra special visitors turned out to be Steve and Lynn Hallam who own the shop. The other person in the pic, which was taken by Dan Walker of C.P. Walker & Son is me (Robert Howard).
I thanked them for their support and explained what we were trying to do; that it had all happened so quickly, that we were all volunteers, and we hoped the experience gained in their shop would enable us to work with Dan Walker when shops become empty in the future.
Steve Hallam was originally a Beeston lad (he's not related to the town's other Hallams) and his great-grandfather, a baker, Philip Wells Glover, came from Kegworth (follow this link to the Beeston-Notts History website).
Until Steve and Lynn came in none of us knew who the landlord of the old Thornton chocolates shop was or who we had to thank for our good fortune.
Later Steve and Lynn came back with Dan Walker and inside the shop was lit for the first time, which enabled me to take some better photographs. As this pic shows the lights being on even softened this exterior view and made the shop look more inviting. I also found more people came into the shop during the hour or so the lights were on; the whole shop was just so much more inviting.
The shop just looks better as these three pics show…
As I have mentioned in a previous post about the pop-up Beeston shop there is a need for what I call 'PUB commandos, to help us keep the shop open. A mix of 2–3 hour sessions Monday to Saturday covering the hours 10am–4pm will be more than enough. I say this based on previous experience in Lenton helping to run the then Crocus (community) Gallery for three years in a empty shop owned by Nottingham City Council (the flats were going to be demolished together with Church Square, where the empty unit, next to the Crocus (community) Café).
By the end of this week I will have done six sessions. I prefer to stay in the shop waiting for visitors to come in and when they do it is often to ask what is happening to the shop or to share reminiscences. The local historian in me believes the latter is reason enough, together with the We Are Beeston panels. Tomorrow (Saturday) I will take a contact notebook along to the pop-up shop.
Visitors who ask for more information about the shop are being directed by me to the excellent Exploring Beeston's History website, which has a section devoted the High Road and an entry for no.40, which is the pop-up shop. Follow this link.
I have taken the liberty of capturing this image of the shop from the website.
A lady came in last week and said she started worked in the 1950s in Ferrands when she was 15 and clearly remembered her time there with fondness.
But there is a downside to running a pop-up shop — you need money to pay for electricity and water. That's about it, but in a shop such as this it will not be cheap. Beeston & District Civic Society is going to take the lead, but they will need our help and support.
I see this very much as a community venture drawing in local folk of all ages and by this I mean anyone who lives, works or has an interest in Beeston.
So over to you. What can you do? What would you like to do?
For now contact me via the comments section, but I will change this bit ASAP to a proper contact.
This is an exciting venture — be part of it and share the pleasure.
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