Parry's penny sweet shop

Parry's penny sweet shop

Church Street

 

Originally built for the Battens of Church House as a stable with accommodation over for the coachman, the "penny shop" was a sweet shop in Church Street from at least the 1920s (the premises of WR Saunders) until 1974. For seventeen years - from 1957 until 1974 - it was run by Trevor Parry, known as "Pop" to generations of Yeovil schoolchildren.

When Trevor took over the shop it stayed open from 8am to 8pm to catch the trade at the Central Cinema next door. At this time there were still cobblestones outside and a rickety iron staircase at the back leading to the first floor rooms where the coachman is supposed to have lived.

The building was demolished in 1988, at the same time as the Central Cinema.

 

gallery

 

A view of Church Street with the sweet shop at centre, next to the new Central Cinema, rebuilt after the disastrous fire, and photographed here in the 1930s from Princes Street. 

 


Courtesy of Rob Baker

A colour photograph of Parry's sweet shop and the Central Cinema in Church Street, probably dating to the 1960s.