Made with Xara Croft Village Cheshire Although much has been written about Croft in the last century, not a great deal  has been put on paper about how it was sixty or seventy years ago, when we only had a two-hourly bus service (from 2pm) and we could sit in the middle of the road on summer’s day bursting tar bubbles.  We did not see a car for most of the day.  The high spots of the year were the visits of the Fair in the School Meadow, and the appearance of the threshing machines on the local farms. The main business are of Croft was on Lord Street: • Number 1 was home of Bricklayer - Mr. Billy Snailham. • Number 7 - The Police House - was the home of a local “bobby” named Bannister. • Number 38 was a Sweet Shop run by Mrs Banks. • Number 32? was a Fish and Chip shop run by Margaret (Maggie) Roberts.  As well as being the disperser of first-class Fish and Chips, she was also skilled inthe art of midwifery, and helped bring many Croft children into this world. • Number 18 was a Painting and Decorating business owned by Jonathan Gibbons. • Number 7 was the home of the local Bricklayer William Snailham. • Number 28 was a local Butcher run by Joe Millington. • A Haulage Business run by Philip birchall was also on Lord Street. • Number 6 was the hhome of the village Sweet Shop and Newsagents which was run from the mid 1930’s until the 1960’s by Mrs Leigh and her son Norman. • Number 20 was the village Store and Post Office run by Mrs Birchall with help from her daughter Eva. On Smithy Lane: • At Number 13 was an Electrician by the name of Austin Banks (son of Mrs Banks in the Sweet Shop). On Smithy Brow: • There was a Blacksmith Shop, next to the present site of the Horse Shoe Pub.  Hence the present name of the “Horse Shoe” pub. • Number 1 - Home of Irene Kirkwood’s (nee Bell) Granny - Sarah Ann Maines.  Irrene now lives in George Town, Tasmania, having emigrated in 1964, and she has provided some real valuable historic facts for our web site. • Number 2 - was a Cycle Repair Shop owned by Walter Maines.  His mother had also ran a sweet shop from this same premises for a short time. • Next to the house called “Rose Mount” were some hen houses and a Potato Merchants business run by James Abbey and Joe Dean. On Heath Lane: • Number 30 - was also a Potato Merchants business run by Edward Barton and his son Jack.  One of their buildings is still being used today for the repair of cars. On Mustard Lane: • Number 103 - was a Cycle Repair Shop.  This was the longest established business and owned by John (Jack) Wheelhouse.  He had extensive workshops at the rear of the property. On Stone Pit Lane: • Toffee Show run by Alice and Fanny Welsby - 111 or 112? On Spring Lane and New Lane: • There was an old Unitarian Chapel located on the corner of these two lanes.  Sadly it was demolished. On Dam Lane (better known to us kids as Pound the City): • Jack Collier had a scrap yard.4 • These was also a house called “Cherry House”. Return to Home Page Return to Home Page