Looking in shops windows this evening I see that today was Independents’ Day in the South and Vale. This was a day when people were encouraged to use twitter to promote local Independent Shops.

Here is one of the tweeted pictures with a Mostly Books Book, thanks to the Chamber of Commerce …

At Fabulous Flowers I discovered there is also a book called Oxfordshire Independents’ Day. In it there are a lot of Abingdon shops have advertised.

Ever since Hadleigh Crystal and China Shop closed, other businesses at 20 High Street have used the same blue on white look to the sign.

There was a Medical Centre

Then the Supermarket.

But now that both replacement signs have come down the old Hadleigh sign is looking very tired. Could it be time to try a new look next time?

Thanks to Tim who got up at 03:00 am to get a picture of his milkman who retires today. He says that Graham (Williams) always came at this time, rain or shine. Graham has been doing milk rounds in North Abingdon man and boy for over 38 years.

Tim has not found anyone who can remember the milkman before Graham, and he wanted to do a report to thank Graham for his many years of service and to wish him a happy retirement and a nice lie-in in future – if that is possible.

I learned from the web site of Milk and More that the great British milkman first appeared in the 1860s when the new railway network began to bring fresh milk cheaply and quickly to the towns. Loaded into churns, the milk was carted around and measured out into the customer’s own jug.

In the 1890s pasteurisation was introduced and allowed milk to be kept longer. This took off with the arrival of mass-produced bottles. The mechanisation of the milk cart followed.

In recent years milk deliveries have gone digital and you can order milk and many other products up to 9 PM the night before at  milk and more. So there could still be a future for Graham’s successor – the great British milkman & more.

This Saturday the election of the Mayor of Ock Street takes place. According to the book ‘Ock Street Remembered’, by the Ock Street heritage Group, Ock Street housed almost a third of the town’s population in the nineteenth century.They also note that during the slum clearances of the mid-twentieth century much of the traditional character of the street was destroyed. But there are still a large number of businesses.

Since last year there have been a couple of changes to businesses in the street.

In the last month Megabonus who supplied new and reconditioned household appliances have moved out

and a sandwich bar has moved in.

And where the Tattoo parlour was, before relocating to the town centre,  there is now a hairdresser.