There was a time when retail had a more personal touch. Between the wars Magdalen and the old Botolph Street were brimming with artisan tailors, shoe makers, grocers, butchers , chinaware stores and all manner of independent traders proudly selling their wares.
As one who remembers 1930’s Magdalen St told us:
“The Little City we called it. You’d get off the bus at Stump Cross – there wunt no need to go up the other side of the river – there was everything we needed right there -”
This song takes its direct inspiration from a traders’ brochure of 1930. “Magdalen Street Shopping Week”promoted all the ‘Little City’ had to offer; before the bombs laid their waste, before the developers and town planners imposed their ideas of a better future, shops Over the Water thrived.
