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Saturday, October 13, 2007

Seaside Postcard 19 - Gone Fishin'

fishing comic postcard from Ramsgate

In honour of our new wet fish shop, this card dates from 1913 and contains 12 photographic views of Ramsgate. I expect the fishing was a little easier then - no limits on catches, perhaps a harbour with a bit less sand, certainly more fish shops to supply in town.

Just as an example of how things change, here are the fishmongers listed in the 1957 Kelly's Directory, no less than 14 of them:

Clements Sidney Jsph, 5 the Centre, Newington
Goldfinch Wm, 22 Plains of Waterloo
Hall A & Co, 93 King Street
Ideal Fisheries, 20 Addington Street
Janes A H & Sons, 7 Southwood Road
Johnston Wm., 27 & 29 Margate Road
Lycett, Eric L, 105 Southwood Road
Moore R.W., 70 King Street
Munday Geo., 16 Grange Road
Nunn J.T. and Sons, 55 Albert Street, West Cliff
Tuttle, Stanley, 152 King Street
Whitwell L., 3 Bellevue Road, East Cliff
Williams, Geo. J., 105 High Street
Wright Wltr Wm & Son, 104 King Street

Nicely spread between the town centre and local shopping for local residents, this just shows how retail patterns have changed. And Yellow Pages now? Just the two - M & P Penn on Southwood Road and the new one, Eddie Gilbert's, 32 King Street. Maybe it's not all the fault of Tescos and their competitors - but maybe it is...

4 comments:

Richard Eastcliff said...

Of course the chance of actually landing any fish here these days must be nil, now that our harbour entrance is a beach.

Anonymous said...

Councillor Latchford says there is no problem with the harbour entrance, are you saying he is wrong? Or are you being childish, and with nothing better to do with your time than make false accusations, like our local fisherfolk.

ZumiWeb said...

Now that's hardly fair, we all know perfectly well all TDC councillors are models of honesty and propriety, have no connections with local developers and certainly only have the very best interests of the electorate at heart, showing vision, courtesy and common sense at all times.

Then again, an exclusive development of a tower of flats (sorry, luxury apartments) on a sandbank the shape of Thanet just inside the harbour entrance would have unparalleled views of the town, with easy access to the sea. If it's good enough for Dubai...

Anonymous said...

Careful, if they see that they might seriously consider it as a viable proposition!