diamond geezer

 Wednesday, July 15, 2020

50 years ago Early Closing was a thing. Shops closed on a particular afternoon to give staff a break. But which day did shops around London close early?

County	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Saturday
Middlesex		Ashford, Enfield, Harrow, Hounslow, Northwood, Uxbridge	Edgware, Mill Hill, Staines
Herts	Abbots Langley	Berkhamstead, Bishops Stortford, Boxmoor, Broxbourne, Buntingford, Bushey, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Hitchin, Kings Langley, Knebworth, Letchworth, Radlett, Redbourn, Rickmansworth, Stevenage, Tring, Watford, Welwyn, Welwyn Garden City	Baldock, Barnet, Borehamwood, Cheshunt, Elstree, Hatfield, Hertford, Hoddesdon, Potters Bar, Royston, St Albans, Sawbridgeworth, Waltham Cross, Ware, Wheathampstead
Essex		Epping, Grays, Harlow, Purfleet, Tilbury	Brentwood, Hornchurch, Rainham, Romford, Upminster, Waltham Abbey
Kent		Bexley Heath, Biggin Hill, Bromley, Crayford, Dartford, Dunton Green, Eynsford, Farningham, Gravesend, Hildenborough, Sevenoaks, Swanley, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Welling, Westerham, West Kingsdown, Wrotham	Sidcup
Surrey		Addlestone, Ashtead, Caterham, Cheam, Chertsey, Cobham, Coulsdon, Croydon, Dorking, Epsom, Esher, Ewell, Godstone, Guildford, Horley, Kingston-upon-Thames, Lingfield, Merstham, Morden, Oxted, Purley, Redhill, Reigate, Ripley, Sanderstead, Selsdon, Surbiton, Sutton, Walton-on-Thames, Warlingham, Weybridge, Woking	Egham
Berks		Ascot, Sunningdale, Windsor		Virginia Water
Bucks		Beaconsfield, Bletchley, Chesham, Eton, Fenny Stratford, Gerrards Cross, High Wycombe, Langley, Princes Risborough, Slough, Wendover	Amersham, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Chalfont St Giles, Chalfont St Peter, Chesham, Colnbrook, Great Missenden, Stoke Missenden, Waddesdon
Beds		Luton	Bedford, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Woburn
Oxon	Banbury	Thame	Bicester, Oxford
Sussex		Arundel, Bognor Regis, Crawley, Eastbourne, East Grinstead, Hassocks, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Lewes, Littlehampton, Newhaven, Uckfield, Worthing	Chichester, Horsham
IoW		Brading, Cowes, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor, Yarmouth	Bembridge, Freshwater, Newport, Ryde

» Early closing was legally a thing in Britain between 1904 and 1994.
» Ian Visits has the full backstory, if you want that.
» South of the Thames Wednesday was a lot more popular than Thursday.
» North of the Thames early closing days were more equally distributed.
» Sidcup and Egham look like real county outliers.
» Leatherhead, apparently, had "no fixed day".
» I'm not sure what was going on in Abbots Langley, Banbury and Virginia Water.

• This table is compiled from the front of several old bus timetables.
• My chief source is page 15 of a 1972 London Country bus timetable.
• I have used the county designations as they appear in that particular list.
• Yes, I know a lot of these counties became part of Greater London in 1965, but it's too late to tell the timetable compiler that.
• I could have thrown in Norfolk, Leicestershire and Wales too, but life's too short.
• I couldn't resist 'Early Closing Days on the Isle of Wight', though.
• My apologies that most of London is missing, but I couldn't find the data on that.

posted 09:00 :

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