The corner shop at Towns End (currently V’s Café) has had a varied history. The March photo in the Reepham Life 2019 Calendar shows it when it was run by George Grief, selling radios, televisions, domestic appliances and, of course, bicycles. He took over the shop in the 1940s, moving from Wood Dalling, and lived in Reepham for at least 50 years.

In its lifetime the shop has also been a grocers and drapers. In the 1920S there were at least seven grocery shops in Reepham. Three of these were in the Market Place, one in Back Street, one on Townsend Corner (Frost’s, which later moved to Station Road), one at Station Plain and one at The Moor.

The earliest picture in the Reepham Archive shows the proprietor as James John Dixon, who began his working life as a blacksmith in Wood Dalling, later moving to Reepham as a cycle maker. He was an agent for Triumph and also Humber, who were both manufacturers of cycles, motorcycles and later of cars.

In 1910 he supplied an electrical landline from his premises to Dr Perry’s garden (Eynsford House) to supply lighting on the occasion of a grand garden fete, where a stage was set up and lit for the first performance of Reepham Black Diamonds.

The picture below shows the shop as a grocery store with garage facilities, including petrol pumps for Shell and BP, possibly in the 1920s. The garage building next to it was later acquired by Norwich Corporation Electricity Department.

Correction

The caption for the February picture of the Roger Korval sports shop in the Reepham Life 2019 Calendar should have read 1980s and not 1960s.

Janet Archer

The Reepham Archive is open to the public on the first Wednesday and Saturday of the month from 10 am – 12 noon (or by appointment), upstairs in the Bircham Centre, Market Place, Reepham. Email: reephamarchive@gmail.com

Buy the Reepham Life 2019 Calendar HERE