Viva Lewes Issue #138 March 2018

INSIDE LEFT
JENKINS & STRIPP, 1953
It’s easy to work out when pictures of newsagents
were taken: just take a magnifying glass to the
publications in the shop window, or in this case of
Jenkins and Stripp at 30 Station Street in Lewes,
hanging off the wall.
At first we spotted the Christmas 1953 edition
of Tatler, which came out on November 19th of
that year, then we noticed a copy of the (weekly)
Picture Post, with Queen Elizabeth on the front,
which hit the streets on November 30th. There’s
an ad for Triumph and Tragedy, the last volume
of Winston Churchill’s war memoirs, published
that month: Churchill’s face also fills a November
edition of Life magazine.
The façade has changed significantly, but this is
the building, opposite the Royal Oak, which until
recently housed a café, first the Snack Bar, then
the short-lived PJ’s@30. The building had previously
been used as a newsagent for many decades.
A search through Kelly’s Directory suggests that
F Jenkins and R Stripp took over an existing
newsagent, called ‘HG Hirons’ in 1938; before
that, from at least 1909, Albert Banks had sold
newspapers from the building.
Mr Jenkins seems to have moved to New Zealand,
leaving Mr Stripp (first name Roy, born 1912)
running the shop, and another he later opened in
Malling Street. Before long he was called up and
saw active service in the Royal Navy until 1945.
This photograph, Tom Reeves surmises from the
archive notes, was taken by his father Edward for
‘Newspaper and Stationer’, presumably a trade
magazine. We’re told (by Peter Fellows, on Facebook)
that the well-groomed man is owner Roy
Stripp, the woman his assistant Sheila Cornford.
The Stripps moved to Australia in 1962, running
a shop in the outskirts of Perth. The newsagent
kept its old name until it became ‘JW & JS Stock’
in 1974, known locally as ‘Stocks’, which is how
many will remember it.
In 1953 there were no fewer than ten independent
newsagents in town, and no chains (though WH
Smiths was soon to arrive); we are sad to note that
before our next edition Lewes’ last dedicated indie
newsagent – John and Liz Aitken’s – will close,
though they will still continue their delivery
service. Will we ever see another open up?
Alex Leith
114