A Trip to Town, 1958
Memories of Richard Parrish as an 8 year-old.

I lived in Ashley Rd only a few yards from Wellington Rd, part of the main artery between Bristol and Exeter with Taunton forming a considerable bottleneck in the middle. Traffic would often be log-jammed for hours, particularly in the direction of town. From Ashley Rd to the town could take two or more hours during the holiday season by car.

Where SCAT now stands was the seasonal site of the visiting circus, as children we would play on the sawdust ring when the show left town. Further down the road Marshalsea’s Garage had a test ring at the rear where we would pretend to be racing drivers on bicycles, then off to St John’s Rd to the scrap yard (now the Magistrates Court), which was full of decomposing coaches and buses. From this wonderful play area we would tour the world and be home by teatime.

Over the bridge at the bottom of St John’s Rd and into the gas works site, the bit used to store pipes and other maintenance items. This is now all car park, but back then large areas were overgrown with very tall brambles. So tall that the base of the bushes formed a labyrinth of tunnels – ideal for gang HQ, secret from the rest of the town.

Passing the showman’s caravan site and the small shop run by Mrs Lee opposite my Primary School, St John’s, I would pass the hutted site occupied by today’s Beech Court. I can recall being in my pushchair years before and waiting outside the huts whilst my mother collected rations of orange juice, powdered milk and cod liver oil.

On the corner opposite today’s Moose Hall stood the Somerset County Gazette Office and printing works, where huge rolls of paper were often stacked on the pavement awaiting the next run. If it were raining I would walk through Somerset Motors from the bus station side and into Corporation St, coming out opposite Collards Provisions Stores. A charming man called Mr Points ran the chemist shop next to the Art College. The town’s library, now a pub, was always busy but for me the main attraction of Corporation St in those days was the Green Lantern Café, under the arches where Wilkie, May & Tuckwood now trade. If luck was in I would be treated to a fried sausage in a bun and a mug of milk. Absolute bliss!

From here and turning into High St with two-way traffic and car parking on street I would pass the Saracen’s Head, George Hotel, Nell Gwynne’s Tea Rooms and into Barrington’s for the bread order, never passing Adam’s dairy if I had money in my pocket because they sold the very best homemade ice cream ever. I remember the fishmongers and Kinnersley’s Hardware Shop and of course the chip shop which formed part of the tunnel through to the Crescent car park. At the end of this tunnel Cecil Barrington kept a goose called Percy. If Percy didn’t like you watch out, he was a psychotic fowl.

At the top of High St next to Vivary Park I would pay 6d into my TSB account and head for the abattoir in the Crescent, now part of County Hall. Sometimes a horn or hoof could be found – what a prize. Mum will be pleased! Then a proper boy’s hair cut at the salon next to the Winchester Arms and off towards home, waving to the same hapless motorists I had greeted hours earlier.

Richard Parrish