By John McNaught

THE face of retail is changing and genuine neighbourhood shopping is making a comeback, or so we are told.

Back in the day (in the 1960s and maybe into the 70s) the ‘weekly shop’ was a local affair and, invariably, local neighbourhoods would have their own fishmongers, grocers, dairies, butcher and bakers, although candlestick-makers were further back in the dim and distant.

Hyndland in Glasgow’s west end offered a choice of grocers: Masseys, and Hunters, with the adjacent Wilkies striving towards the delicatessen end of the market styling themselves as ‘Italian Warehousemen’ to match their more exotic offerings.

Hunters, on the other hand, were for the basics, where half a pound of butter was fashioned with wooden spatulas out of a large butter block and wrapped in greaseproof paper, bacon was sliced to your desired thickness – Wiltshire back, Ayrshire middle or Belfast ham – and coffee beans were ground to order.

Bakeries were also class acts. City Bakeries dominated the local Glasgow scene with everything baked daily and distributed to their neighbourhood shops throughout the city. Basics included the Oval Brown tin loaf as well as their own-baked plain and pan loaves. More exotic offering were their tea cookies and the iced pleat – a glorious concoction of pleated, fruit bread topped with vanilla icing. Fern cakes and pineapple tarts were also staples. Peacock the Bakers were more upmarket with their domino cake, eiffel towers and more, for those special occasions.

Other bakers included Walter Hubbard with its art deco shop frontages, still visible opposite the Coopers Building at Kelvinbridge in the form of what later became Cleopatra’s night club (nicknamed Clatty Pats by clubbers of the late 1980s), later Viper. Similarly, Colquhouns in Byres Road. Both Hubbards and Colquhouns had large upstairs tearooms for morning coffee, afternoon teas and the popular high teas majoring on breaded haddock with chips, buttered bread, and a selection of sweet cakes to accompany the pot of tea.

Hubbards' bakery was in Otago Street from where a fleet of van departed every morning to deliver the freshly-baked goods to their shops. Many more neighbourhood had their local ‘home’ bakery and later the likes of Aulds and Bradfords had several shops with tearooms. Mostly now things of the past.

Malcolm Campbell were dominant in fruit and veg, with local shops throughout the city. They were also one of the first to go ‘self-service’ where customers selected and bagged their choice of goods and paid at the early-day check-out cashier at the door. Ross’s Dairies and Henry Healy both had branches throughout the city offering their own ranges of dairy offerings. I can’t recall any city-wide butchers but most neighbourhoods had their local butcher where cuts of meat were prepared to order, steak was minced before your eyes and own-make sausages made through the back.

All of this is a far cry from the local shopping of today. Greggs dominate the ‘bakery’ scene but in reality, are more of a grab-and-go, fast food outlet; most everyday needs are fulfilled by smaller supermarket offerings – think Tesco Metro, Sainsbury Local or M&S Food.

Sadly, we are unlikely to see any return of the ‘local’, city-wide chains.