Village Shops

In the 1700s and 1800s every village had all sorts of shops, and Sutton Benger was no different. It had wheelwrights, carpenters, tailors, drapers, painters, decorators, plumbers, butchers, bakers, gunsmiths, dairies, groceries, and several public houses and smaller beerhouses. The village even had its own watchmaker. The photograph from the 1940s / 1950s shows (left) Oliver Heath, the Park Lane baker and Michael Goddard (right) in their delivery van. Michael later took over the bakery business from Oliver when he and his wife Agnes retired. The 1930s Church Magazine shows an advert for other well-known Sutton Benger shops.