Description

Summary: digital image, scan of black and white photograph of the mock-Tudor building on the corner of the High Street and Milford Crescent. In the 1930s this was an off-licence until at least the mid-1960s, run by the Isle of Wight brewers Mew & Co. Jack Meffen managed the off-licence and lived in the flat above, with his wife Vera and children.

Identification note: A steep flight of stairs ran from the side door on Milford Crescent to the flat. The stairs had no handrail and prams had to be hauled carefully up and down. The kitchen was long and narrow with a coke boiler to heat the water and the only radiator in the main bedroom. A long airing rail held the wet washing; there was no machine or even wringer. The smaller bedroom was also long and narrow, and the larger bedroom looked out onto the High Street. The children liked to sit in the window and watch the people and farm carts go past, as well as the herds of cows being driven up the street. The sitting room had the large bow window, again a wonderful vantage point. The only electric power point was in this room too. Jack plugged the old valve radio in so Vera could listen to Mrs Dale's diary and he could hear the football results on a Saturday.