Clarendon Park 1909 businesses directory

Ok so the title of this article was a bit naughty.  There was no directory of Clarendon Park businesses in 1909 (Nowadays we have The Clarendon Directory, delivered free to our doors).  But there was a selection of directories available for Leicester folk to find their shops, businesses, gentry and postal delivery times, and I thought it would be interesting to list the businesses listed under Clarendon Park addresses.  Actually this is part of a much larger project I am working on, to record all the businesses and in particular the shops of Clarendon Park from its earlier days to the present.  I love the fact that there are and were so many shops here, and there is still a lot of evidence remaining of the shops that have long since been turned into private dwellings.

So here is an edited list of the shops and business of Clarendon Park in the 1909 edition of Wright’s Directory of Leicestershire:

• Aerated water manufacturers – 2
• Agents (house, land and estate) – 1
• Bakers – 4
• Boot and shoe makers – 11
• Builders, bricklayers, joiners and contractors – 18
• Butchers – 7
• Carters (general) – 3
• Chemists and druggists – 1
• Chimney sweepers – 1
• China, glass and homeware dealers – 1
• Clock cleaners, makers and repairers – 2
• Clothes and wardrobe dealers – 1
• Coal agents,  dealers and merchants – 8
• Confectioners and pastry cooks – 2
• Confectioners and sweet dealers – 6
• Cowkeepers and dairymen – 3
• Cycle repairers, dealers and makers – 2
• Drapers and haberdashers – 9
• Dress makers – 14
• Fishmongers and poulterers – 4
• Florists and seed dealers – 1
• General and hardware dealers – 3
• Greengrocers and fruiterers – 6
• Grocers and general provision merchants – 5
• Hairdressers – 4
• Horse and trap proprietors – 2
• Ironmongers – 2
• Launderers – 5
• Market gardeners – 3
• Milk dealers – 3
• Milliners – 2
• Newsagents – 1
• Plumbers, glaziers and fitters – 4
• Shopkeepers (not otherwise listed) – 21
• Tailors – 5
• Wine and spirit merchants – 2

I love the fact that Clarendon Park had not just one, but two aerated water manufacturers (one of which was our friend William Tom Hind).  Also that there were so many butchers, bakers, greengrocers and fishmongers.  All of which still exist in Clarendon Park today, but not in anything like the numbers.  We could blame Sainsbury’s (or Jacksons, as it was until a few years ago), but there has always been a Co-op in Clarendon Park Road and I would guess that people’s changing cooking and eating habits are just as much to blame.  I am just grateful there are still useful shops to be found.  Regards, Elizabeth.