Picture of Vegetables in a greengrocers shop in Headingley, Leeds.Here we are a brand new year, 2011 and my post today is one long overdue about a long standing family business in Headingley, Leeds and it is... a greengrocers!
Here in North Lane next door to the butchers shop is a greengrocers in a shop that has traded as such for around 100 years. R K Harris & Sons have been a family run greengrocers here for 35 years and prior to that it was called Hammonds.
Josy over at New Providence Daily Photo commented on my post about Steve the butcher.. But, ehm... what is a "greengrocer?" I am pretty hazy about the origins and indeed history of greengrocers and surprisingly so too is Wikipedia. However here in the UK they are shops that have been around for at least 200 years selling fresh vegetables and also fruit. Back in Victorian Leeds around 1881 there were quite a few shops trading as Fruiterer, so I suspect that either back then fruiterer was either a posher description of greengrocer or they just sold fruit. I notice that on their business website R K Harris & Sons describe themselves as High class fruiterers since 1972.
Normally for a shop like this one I would stood outside to get a few pics of the frontage with the fruit and vegetable stacked up outside but on the day I visited it was misty, overcast and they were packing up for the day. I am interested in social history and have access to The Leeds Library so I will look further into this subject and post more a later date.
Posts
Hi Steve, Thanks for visiting Coronado Daily Photo! You're lucky to have green grocers in England. We have Farmers' Markets, but they're generally open just one afternoon a week.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!