This month we are returning to The Haddingtonshire Courier for 1950 and some interesting adverts. Please click to enlarge the adverts, as they will be easier to read.
The Corn Exchange was a regular source of entertainment for people in Dunbar in the 1950s and particularly in 1950, as TV was still 2 years away in Scotland. This hypnotist seems to have extraordinary powers! Tickets could be bought from Mrs Maitland at Downie’s paper shop in the High Street.
This advert is unusual in that the firework display is not in November but in August and this was one of the many different entertainments on offer at the outdoor swimming pool. Interestingly, the pool is referred to as Dunbar Swimming Pond and of course, the person in charge – later Mr Bradbury – was referred to as the pondmaster. You can also see that tickets were being sold for inside the pond gates but also (cheaper) for the Glebe, where the less well off (or the more mean!) could watch from a distance. Note also that there was an Information Bureau in the High Street to encourage tourism in the town.
The Gift Shop opened in 1950 and this advert is from 22 September 1950. The shop stood where the present Paris Steele Property Centre is located in the High Street. The shop was getting in early for Xmas that year and offering some interesting children’s objects that you could not buy today e.g. Chain Driven Tricycles, an example of which you can see here. The trains sets came in different sizes as the prices range from 8/11d to £2 15s, which was more than a quarter of the average weekly wage at this time. Xmas clubs were a popular means of saving in 1950 when Britain was still suffering the after effects of WW” and rationing had another 4 years to go.
Greco’s cafe and ice cream parlour was located at the end of the High Street where Knox’s paper shop now stands. As the advert states, Greco’s ice cream was made in their factory which was behind the shop and cafe. Greco’s was a very popular shop for locals and the many summer visitors who came to Dunbar in the 1950s, often for a week or a fortnight. The shop sold ice cream at the counter but people could also buy cartons of ice cream to take away for the children’s parties in the advert. Ice cream and jelly was a favourite party element in those days.
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