Where was

Colonial Meat Co

shop in Edinburgh?

Colonial Meat Co

Thank you to Anthony Ward for allowing me to reproduce this photograph of his father's shop.

Anthony wrote:

Where and When?

"According to my Mum, her father George Headspeath had a butcher's shop in Edinburgh. She never said where the shop was located.

This photo was amongst our family photos.  My Grand-dad lived at 33 Patriot Hall and 55 Cumberland Street at different times.  I wonder if anyone knows anything about the shop or where it was."

Anthony Ward, Camberley, Surrey, England:  March 12, 2011

Reply to Anthony?

Please email me if you can suggest where and when this photo might have been taken.  Thank you.

The shop may well be listed in one of the old Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories.  I've checked the first two directories that I have at home (i.e. 1903 and 1930) but the shop is not listed in either of those. 

The only clue that i have to date is that there appears to be a house No 45 on the wall to the left of the shop in this photo.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh:  March 15, 2011

Reply

1.

Dave Blackburn

Morvenside, Edinburgh

Thank you to David Blackburn who replied:

Colonial Meat Co

"My mum said that the full name of the grocers' stores, which were a chain, was 'Home & Colonial Meat Co', so it might be better to do a search for that.

One shop was, if she recalls correctly, in Shandwick Place.  You could use ration books there during the war."

David Blackburn, Morvenside, Edinburgh:  October 9, 2011

Reply

2.

Gus Coutts

Duddingston, Edinburgh

Thank you to Gus Coutts who replied:

Colonial Meat Co

"Could The Colonial Meat Co. not be a predecessor of the now gone Alex Munro chain of butchers which was the Scottish arm (trading as Dewhursts outwith Scotland) of the Vestey Empire which specialised in meat imported form South America primarily Argentina?"

Gus Coutts, Duddingston, Edinburgh:  October 14, 2011

Reply

3.

Norman Finnimore

Thank you to Norman Finnimore who replied:

Colonial Meat Co

"I've heard of  The Colonial Meat Co.  It's not the same as the Home & Colonial.  They were Lipton's (provisions).

I'd say that with the glass in the window and that amount of meat, the photo would have been taken between the wars."

Norman Finnimore:  December 31, 2011

Reply

4.

Winnie Lisowski

Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Thank you to Norman Finnimore who replied:

Colonial Meat Co

"I asked my Mum, this morning, where this shop was.  She thought it might have been in Fountainbridge, but as she is 98 years old, I would not count on that being accurate."

Winnie Lisowski, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland:  February 23, 2012

Where is it?

Around Edinburgh