3 Erskine Road: Elizabeth Somers, Chandler’s Shop

2022 Ice Cream Bar

History:

  • CHIMNEY SWEEPER     Thomas Barrows  1871
  •  FURNITURE DEALER    Richard Gifford    1895
  • CHANDLER’S SHOP      Mrs Elizabeth Somers 1922-30, see below
  •    Mrs B.R. Stratford  1935
  • SHOPKEEPER  William Neck  1940
  • NEWSAGENT George Lemon 1945-57
  •    Jeans  1960-65
  •    Haskin’s 1970-72
  •    Alec’s   1980
  • DISPLAY EQUIPMENT  Stephenson Systems       1986
  • BEAUTICIAN The Studio 1991-94
  • ART SHOP later 1990s
  • WOMEN’S CLOTHES & ACCESSORIES 2004 Press
  • ICE CREAM BAR Reenie’s 2022

These photos were supplied by Philip Somers, great-grandson of Mrs Somers. Philip writes:

This photo [second photo, with cat] was taken on 7 September 1925. You see Elizabeth Somers with her elder son, Walter Reuben Somers (my grandfather). At this time, Elizabeth was a second time widow. Her first husband, Walter Langley Somers had died in 1911. Her second husband, Aaron Logg, was a teacher at a local school and he died in 1920. She lived above the shop until she died in 1948, whereupon the premises passed to her younger son, Edward. He never married and continued to live in one of the flats and owned the premises until his death in 1977. Walter R. Somers then sold the property.

In 2022 the shop is now Reenie’s ice cream bar. Picture of the owner, Matt, below.