Historic High Streets Community Exhibition – Elmbridge Museum

Do you want to support your local high street? Then Elmbridge Museum needs you!

In this 1950s snapshot of Walton-on-Thames High Street (above), a throng of women and men is gathered, frozen in fascination, around a shop window. The scene is intriguing – and not just because the concept of people grouped closely together has become so foreign in recent months.

The photograph effortlessly depicts the excitement of the onlookers. All had eagerly gathered, long after sunset (something not so easily visible from the photo!), to peer in at the new, cutting-edge technology which featured in the Rogers & Sons shop window. The modern devices on display, which transmitted moving images and sounds onto small screens, were otherwise known as televisions. They would soon be making their way into homes across Britain in their thousands.

As is signalled on their store front, Rogers & Sons originated as a successful family business in Weybridge. The store began at number 56 Weybridge High Street, as a garage, motor and cycle shop. After a boom in business and the acquisition of R. Seaman & Sons butchers shop next door in the 1930s, they expanded their offer to include the sale of radios, gramophones and other technology across multiple outlets. Sadly, the shops never made it into the new century, with both branches closing in the late 1900s. The Walton shop building is now occupied by Rentstart, a charity helping local Elmbridge people who are homeless. The Weybridge store was knocked down, and later redeveloped into the current Waitrose site.

The scene in the photo captures a unique glimpse into one fleeting and never-to-be-recreated moment in history. This one image alone has heaps to tell us about the former appearance, usage and character of our local Elmbridge high streets, from the many things that have changed – the fashions, companies, and social distancing practices, to name but a few – to the things that have remained the same.

Since being taken, the photo has been stored away safely in Elmbridge Museum’s huge collection of 43,000 images, objects and memories. But the story it tells is just one among a colourful mosaic of experiences and personalities which, put together, make up the vibrant history our borough’s local high streets.