S.H. Wesley & Son Ltd. Newsagents

S. H. Wesley & Son Ltd., Baslow Road newsagents

This is a photo taken in March 2013. Does anyone remember Stan Harry Wesley, 187 Baslow Road, newsagent next door to what is now Mellows coffee shop above the Co-op? He was there between 1936-1969 according to Kelly's Directory. The old fascia has emerged (temporarily) during the building work to convert the purpose built shop to accomodation.

A search through the back issues of Totley Independent has turned up a number of entries including a letter from Mr Wesley's widow, Kathleen, in the issue for October 1997. She enclosed a photograph of the Co-op stores and two adjacent shops, the other being occupied by W.T. Hutchings, chemist, for many years. The couple left Totley in 1968 to live in Dorset.

Other people remember the newsagents shop fondly like Robert H. Carr in the November 1997 issue: "Certain shops stand out in the memory, Wesley's on Baslow Road with their halfpenny and penny trays (containing liquorice and sherbet etc.) each item priced accordingly. There was also a twopenny tray. You were really in the money if you could afford that one!" 

And Andrew Russell in the July/Aug 1998 issue: "Further down Baslow Road lay the newsagent's owned by Mr. Wesley. This was a treasure trove of sweets, comics and other items. At the back of the shop, to the left of a high counter where people bought their newspapers and sweets lay books and matchbox cars. It was here that I bought my first Biggles books and I would spend some time looking at what he had in stock, particularly near to bonfire night."

Jo Rundle had this to say in July/Aug 2005: "Stan Wesley's father was the first Newsagent in the shop next door to the Chemist at no. 187 when my youngest brother Jeff's Saturday job at the age of twelve was delivering newspapers and other purchases for him around Totley on his newly acquired bike. Stan Wesley married Kathleen, grand-daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Kenworthy who lived in one of the cottages at the entrance to Summer Lane, with whom she spent long holidays in the summer, sometimes attending Totley school, as deemed necessary to please the school inspector."

S H Wesley advertisement from the 1950s

Stan and Kathleen Wesley's son, Richard A. Wesley wrote a lovely letter to TI in November 1998 from his home in Wimborne. He advised that his father had passed away some twenty years earlier but his mother was in relatively good health, then in her eighties. When Richard left Totley in 1969 to join his parents the business was owned by R. Orme & Sons.

Paul Hibberd's memories of Wesley's

S. H. Wesley & Son Ltd. reappears at 187 Baslow Road (our thanks to "NE2 3PN" at flickr.com for the photo)

Paul Hibberd has contacted us with his memories of his sweet shop in the 50s and 60s. 

Paul writes.....

I lived on the Green Oak Estate from birth in 1948 till we moved to Abbey Lane in 1966. I currently have a thread on Sheffield Forum entitled ' Totley in the 50s and 60s.' I've mentioned Wesleys on several occasions in this thread but surprisingly few people have shared any memories of a shop that was an important part of my life in Totley.

I knew Stan and Kath and their son Ricky really well. I'd been a junior customer from my early years and memories of their glass showcase full of penny sweets will always stay with me. I bought matchbox cars, Airfix kits, footballs, rolls of caps and later penny bangers and Beatles Monthly.

I had a paper round from being 13 till I was almost 18. I delivered on Green Oak Estate in the morning for 8/6 but on Sunday I delivered round Totley Bents collecting money at the same time for a massive 5/6.

Further Update

Sue Bellamy (nee Beatson) has written to us with this lovely story about Stan Wesley and she has some new queries of her own.

I remember Stan Wesley very well as he always pulled my leg about buying my 'Pop Weekly'. His joke was how could anyone fill a magazine with stories of lemonade and dandelion & burdock, pretending not to listen when I said it was of all about my favourite pop stars. 

My friend Barbara Lidster and I went in every week for sweets and comics on our way home from school (Grange Grammar School) and it was a busy friendly shop.

Does anyone remember a lovely dress shop just up from Wesleys (don't think it was there very long) and the crumpet factory, where my Mum used to work.

Happy memories of growing up in Totley, as I lived there from 1950 until 1971, but still visit often as my sister in law still lives there.

Kind regards

Sue Bellamy nee Beatson

We are still researching all of the shops and businesses in Totley. Censuses and trade directories tell us a lot about the years up to the 1930s and articles in Totley Independent give us a lot of material about the period since the 1970s but information on the 40s, 50s and 60s remains surprisingly thin. There are the advertisements in the Parish Magazine but we have few first-hand accounts.