I’M probably a bit longer in the tooth than Victoria Miles (Letters, July 18), but the Poundland shop is historically in exactly the right place, if we’re making bygone comparisons.
The west side of the Square was always regarded as ‘downmarket’, with Woolworths, M&S, C&A, BHS, Samuel’s and the like, whereas the east side of the Square was considered ‘upmarket’, with the likes of Beales, Plummers, Brights, Allens and Maples. Westover Road (‘The Bond Street of Bournemouth’, allegedly) contained the furriers (Madame Campbell et al), high-class jewellers, better-class cinemas, and the Pavilion.
To drive this comparison home, the ‘Poole’ side of the Square used to close for half-day on Wednesdays, like downmarket Poole, whilst the East Cliff side of the Square closed for half-day on Saturdays. I’ll leave religion out of the equation!
Bobby’s ‘in’ The Square, struck a sort of happy medium, but when my mother brought me into Bournemouth from Poole when she closed her shop for half-day on Wednesdays, I was always taken to Brights, Beales or Allens for afternoon tea, where I witnessed the few surviving blue-rinse-pearls-silk-gloves-to-the elbows redoubtable Bournemouth ‘ladies’. Sticks in the mind!
GEOFF BEARD-WALKER, Withermoor Road, Winton
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