Badsey Spar, 14 & 16 High Street
The two houses that now comprise the Spar are probably Georgian in origin, in keeping with the other large houses around them. At the time of enclosure in 1812 it was in the possession of Thomas Byrd, a prominent local landowner. Between 1851 and 1901 various families lived there, including the Daniels family who were laundresses. By 1891 Eliza Knight was running a shop here in one half, and in the other lived William Crisp, a butcher. In 1911 No. 14 was the Telephone Office, inhabited by George Walker, a painter and paperhanger, and his wife Emily, a telephone operator. Next door at No. 16 was Lewis Stribblehill, wheelwright. The same two families were still there in 1921, with Kate Walker being a General Shopkeeper, and Lewis Stribblehill a Vehicle Builder. The pattern was now set for what is now the centre of the village. In the 1939 Register the shop was being run by Ernest and Ada Jones, with the Stribblehills still resident next door. In addition to being a wheelwright, Lewis Stribblehill was also an undertaker.
The picture below was taken in 1913 and shows him with his cousin Ernest Pillinger standing beside the newly built cart for Frederick Stewart for delivery of produce and coal. The sign on the cars says “FREDK STEWART, FRUIT & VEGETABLE GROWER” on one side and “FREDK STEWART, COAL MERCHANT, BADSEY” at the front. The business continued until his death in 1949.
When Mr and Mrs Jones gave up the shop it was bought by Lucy Ryman, the granddaughter of the Wheatleys from The Poplars, who was only 14 at the time she took it on. Lucy continued to run the shop until her retirement in 1997, when it was bought by George Singh Sangha and his brother Amrik from Birmingham.
Lucy Meadows’ shop in 1968