Village Shop – Thurgood’s

By 1929 Mr William Thurgood had taken over the large shop on St John’s Cross from Mr Kerridge. William came from London and was a successful businessman.  He installed electricity and improved on the poor standard of the shop as it had been under Mr Kerridge.  The shop sold a wide range of goods as did Holman’s which was taken over by Mr Thurgood in 1945. He offered to buy Holman’s as a consortium with  Mr Frost who ran it from 1953-1962  and Mr Kemp who ran it from 1962-1970.  He, like Mr Holman owned several properties in the village as well as a cycle repair shop. The photograph shows him with Edie Dyer, a shop assistant and daughter of Stacey Dyer standing outside the shop.