I have very fond memories of Irwins the grocers,they had shops all over Liverpool. Quite grand in design,this was before the supermarket age and the counters were great wooden topped affairs with goods stored in the shelf units behind the counter.Flitches of smoked bacon hung from the ceiling and Crawfords and Jacobs biscuits were in rows of glass topped tin boxes on the customers side of the counter. There was always a chair or two for customers to sit on whilst their order was made, the manager and his male staff had a pencil behind their ear to write out your grocery list and do the totalling.I remember that the female staff wore little hats, so very 1930's. The aroma was unique ,being a mixture of spices ,cheeses,smoked bacon and biscuits. I can think of nowhere today that you smell that aroma ,it was made up of all the things that were from our Empire. When I was 15 ,the manager of the Irwins in Garston tried to persuade me to leave the Butchers and work for him....................the temptation of being 2nd Mate on a bacon slicer was very great. I went to sea instead.
BrianD