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9 Suffolk ParadeOriginally a residential property with a small front garden, this house was associated with the building trade from about 1850 when it was home to a builder called Mr R. Keitley. By 1865 a painter and decorator named Mr William Hand occupied the premises, remaining here until about 1883, when Mr Edwin John Knight, a builder & house decorator took over. There was a complete change in the first decade of the 20th century, when the shop front was built to accommodate Mr W. Musgrove's newsagent, confectioner & tobacconist shop. Mr Musgrove, a former military man, was an army cadet instructor at Cheltenham College for 15 years before his death in 1912. He was succeeded by his wife, Mrs Rose Elizabeth Musgrove, who remained here for about the next 25 years, before passing the business over to Mr Howard Lorton.  1950
Mr Lorton continued the newsagents shop until 1957, when he sold it to Mr W.G.(Billy) Thomas. The shop was managed by Roy Manton from the autumn of 1957 until early in 1961 and he lived, with his wife Kath and children Stuart and Nicola (who was born here), in the house behind and above the shop. At that time there was a full sized billiards table in one of the upper rooms and Roy's brothers sometimes came around for a game.
Unlike today, in the 1950s shopkeepers paid particular attention to their window displays, as shown in the photographs on this page which date from 1957. Some readers may recall the Christmas annuals in the shop window. When the newsagents closed in the early 1980s, after more than 60 years, these premises were taken over by Cotswold Carpets for a short time and then by Severn Catering Equipment, who sold a range of commercial catering equipment. Then, in 2010, the building had a glamorous makeover to become the hairdressers called Gorgeous Hair. Researchers: Stuart Manton & Jill Waller (May 2015)
See also the Local Memories page for this property
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Gorgeous Hair
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