Four generations of hardware and ironmongery

"One hundred years ago two young men set sail in a coastal tramper from Hoylake on the Wirral [Cheshire] and eventually, after a great deal of seasickness, landed at Fishguard harbour.
Alf was an upholsterer and his brother Edgar was a cabinet-maker. They came to Fishguard in 1908 after finishing their apprenticeships and decided to set up a business here. Their father who was a coastguard living in Fishguard gave them £100, and along with a bank loan of £100, they bought 46 West Street.
All the furniture was made in the shop and all went well until, at the start of the First World War in 1914, Edgar went to work at an aeroplane works in Bristol. He returned after the war but when the depression started there wasn't enough work for the two brothers so Edgar went to Australia. Things were just as bad there and he returned in the early 30s. Soon after he contracted rheumatoid arthritis and took no further acive part in the business.
Numbers 44, 48 and 50 West Street were purchased as the business expanded rapidly to become a department store.
By 1947 Alf's son Barton started full-time work in the business after being demobbed from the Second World War. He completely renovated the inside of the shop and introduced new lines.
Barton's two sons, Peter and Richard, joined the business in the 60s and now it is run by Richard's youngest son Andrew, the fourth generation of the founders."

I've quoted this newspaper story from 2008 because of the endearing image of the two young men setting off by sea down the coast of Wales to seek their fortunes and to found a dynasty of shopkeepers who have supplied the local farming and fishing community with buckets, brooms, spades, screws, nails, knives, paint, pegs, mats, mousetraps, torches, tools and saucepans for over a century. The shop still sells beds but in the last 20 years has shrunk in size and no longer sells the furniture, fabric and haberdashery, toys, china and glassware that you could get here 20 years ago. Prices may be a little higher than in the big DIY chains but you can still buy single hooks and screws if you wish and the service is always friendly and helpful.

If you know an old-fashioned shop like this do get out there and photograph it. Even the ones that haven't bitten the dust have a tendancy to change into something with more gloss and less character.

This is a One Street blip.