A Stroll round 1960s Saltcoats

[sweet caroline]

Hi ,Interested in the Piacentini's that ran the Station Bar.Where they from Ralph Piacentini from Raise St.There is that many Piacentini's running cafes ,and my Mother used to take me to them all .Interested in what cafe Matthew Piacentini ran ,forbye being in Kilwinning at one point .Also the Central? cafe in Glasgow St.

[Penny Tray]

Sweet Caroline,

As always, I stand to be corrected but I don't remember the Piacentini's being involved witht he Central Cafe in Ardrossan. All during my growing up that was the Deprato family?

[sweet caroline]

PT,
Was the Central Cafe the one that sat left side up Glasgow St.Had a newsagents side.Must be a relation somehow.Perhaps wife was a Piacentini.

Thanks PT

[sweet caroline]

Yes one of the Piacentini's married a DePrato.
That solves that for me.They all came from Raffaelo Piacentini c 1825.2 of his son's came over from Italy (that i know of.)

[sweet caroline]

Been looking at my Scotlandspeople records.
41 Countess St,was John Piacentini that was 1917 ,he was the shop attendant.He had the Confectionary shop at 42 Hamilton St.Died in 1957,Wife was same in both places.
Well better let you get on with the stroll around Saltcoats .Love it .Especial the three blind mice ,where i also scooted up stairs to watch the telly.
Veronica's was last mentioned,i believe.Remember when it had all the Seaside things hanging outside.

[Penny Tray]

Susan,

Veronica McDougall or Hendren, wife of David, sister of Betty and Robert, and auntie to at least one young women whose name for the moment escapes me. Veronica was a legend in her own life time. A rough, tough, dynamic business woman. I often think she was the model upon whom Asian immigrants to the United Kingdom modelled themselves - first shop to open in the morning - last shop to close at night. I recall too that she kept a piece of paper pinned to the wall beside a telephone upon which she or her staff wrote down the name of any item anyone asked for that wasn't currently stocked. This indicated a weakness in her current marketing strategy and before the day was out or certainly within 24 hours this commodity would then be available. In complete contrast to her husband, who was a placid, quietly spoken man (whom as I recall worked in THE FACTORY as an engineer), Veronica was a loud and abrasive but a tireless worker. I was in and about 45 Countess Street between 1955 and 1963 and have a vivid memory of her about half past five one evening shouting at the shop staff - "Why are there so many early edition papers (Evening Times and Citizen) still unsold? The late editions will be here at twenty past six." She grabbed them, tucked them under her arm, and within seconds was parading up and down the bus queue alongside the red bricked public toilet opposite. She was roaring TIIIIIIIIIIMES AND CIIIIIIIIIITIZEN and before I left the shop she had returned empty handed, lambasting the staff whose inactivity she claimed would be her financial ruin.

This rough exterior however, masked a heart of gold. She owned many, if not all the flats above 45 Countess Street, and many who had fallen temporarily on hard times benefited from free accommodation or greatly reduced rents there. The local polis knew too that any stranded Glasgow families (many missed the last train for different reasons) would never be turned away. Even the polis might have to absorb two or three minutes abuse before she agreed but they always knew she would. Many folk in the Threetowns benefited too, I suspect, from interest free loans to tide them over. She was very good too with what you might call "poor souls" and would often march them into the Regal Cafe two or three doors down and pay up front for a cup of tea and a filled roll, never giving them actual cash to maybe squander on alcohol. Drugs weren't an issue in those days. There were others who were maybe mentally challenged and she was never averse to giving them papers to sell in the street or around the pubs under trust to bring the money back at which time they would be paid substantially more than the seven pence ha'penny a dozen she gave those of us she deemed to posses all our faculties. And I never knew of one of the former group to let her down. Three of the latter group, that I'm aware of, were rewarded with glowing references to join the police and all subsequently attained high rank. She was an angel in disguise but her discguise, I have to say, was exceptionally good. I met many shrewd, tough cookies in my day but Veronica was up there with the best of them.

[morag]

P.T. I believe her niece was also Veronica. I was going to mention the shop but wasn't sure if we had reached it yet. ( a few posts back)

[down south]

Penny Tray,

Thanks so much for that wonderfully vivid portrait of Veronica.

I remember hearing once that her father started out as a newsboy who cried his wares on the streets of Glasgow. So she'd obviously inherited a good grasp of the required technique....That may explain too her soft spot for young paper deliverers and helping them get a start in life.

Susan

[Penny Tray]

Morag,

I just needed someone to suggest the niece was also Veronica to say, "I agree." That's what I was thinking but wasn't 100% sure. In the early days her mother, Betty, ran the Canal Street shop, branching out eventually, I think, to perform a similar role in the premises at Stevenston Cross.

Incidentally, all the 'evening' newspaper boys and GIRLS collected their papers at Saltcoats Railway Station and on a Veronica imposed rota one, before setting off on his or her own round, had to run from there down to the Canal Street shop with two substantial bundles of Times and Citizen. This was particularly frustrating to those of use who were anxious to catch buses to Stevenston and Ardrossan but I don't ever remember anyone saying, "I'm not doing it." That was unthinkable.

Susan,

How could she help but have a soft spot for those of us who worked 7 days a week for her (Monday to Saturday delivering) but also reporting on a Sunday to cash in our money and any 'returns' (unsold papers).

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I meant to say too Susan that I attended Veronica's funeral service in St. Mary's Star of the Sea Chapel where for the only time ever in my experience the priest, whilst doing her great justice, also expressed a modicum of relief. Apparently it was not uncommon when he was enthusiastically preaching for Veronica to shout out - "What a load of nonsense. That's an old wife's tale, not possible"

[meekan]

P.T. I believe her niece was also Veronica. I was going to mention the shop but wasn't sure if we had reached it yet. ( a few posts back)

I sure there was also a relation of Veronica who I believe was her niece called Irene, who eventually married Dennis Nelson of the motor cycle shop.

[down south]

It's only struck me now, PT, how young you were starting out with Veronica; though I suppose you may have tagged along to help older siblings at first. Makes me feel quite ashamed of my sheltered and privileged upbringing.

Susan

[down south]

Moving on now, next door at No 47 was the shop of Munro Cleaners, the biggest of the local laundries, whose works used to be one of the landmarks of Ardrossan's Dalry Road.

As you can see from the advertisement, they also had a shop in Glasgow St; one we managed to miss off the list when we remembered all the shops down there.

In the days before washing machines were widespread and launderettes came in, laundries like this and Eagle Cleaners had a good local trade among the better-off households, who sent some or all of their laundry there every week. My mother for one, though in her case only the bigger items like sheets. Here's one of Munro Cleaners' laundry lists with prices from the very early sixties; the minimum wash was 1/6d worth. A reminder ( including some of the more outmoded items ) of a vanished era :

As I remember it, Munro Cleaners closed down very suddenly at the start of the seventies; I seem to recall there was some industrial dispute with the workers and they just responded by shutting up shop ( thinking no doubt that laundries were a dying trade anyway by then ). Can anyone confirm this story ?

Susan