The Story of Stepps

Shops & Trades

According to local tradition the first shop in Stepps, during the late Victorian era, was a small grocery run by a widow, Mrs McCartney, who found time to bring up a family simultaneously - a true working mother of the period. By the turn of the century the redoubtable William Stein had appeared on the scene. His shop suffered mishap during the weekend of 11th-13th June 1904, as reported in the Kirkiutilloch Herald:

The premises of Mr Wm. Stein, grocer, were broken into between Saturday night and Monday morning, and a quantity of tobacco stolen. Mr Stein was spending the week end at the coast and the shop was locked up as usual on Saturday night. On Monday morning it was discovered to have been entered, the front door having been forced. A roll of tobacco, a quantity of cigarettes, a dozen bars of tobacco, and a smoked ham are among the stock missed.

On Monday 13th June, the same day that the burglary was discovered, the shop suffered another loss, when £9 was lifted from the till while the shop assistant was through in the back shop.

By December 1905 there had clearly been a considerable increase in the number and range of shops trading in Stepps. The Established Church Bazaar Guide Book, published during that month, carried advertisements for a number of local traders, including "Duff Bros., Family Butchers, Dean Terrace", "John S. Austin, Baker, Confectioner & Purveyor, Dean Terrace", "E.Caldwell, Grocer & Draper, 1 Edward Place", "John McKavanagh, Boot & Shoemaker, Stepps", and "William Stein, General warehouseman, Craigielea Terrace [corner of Cumbernauld Road and Cardowan Drive, Stepps". Stein's business was said to embrace "Teas, Groceries, Provisions, Hardware, China & Glassware, Incandescent Fitttings, Patent Medicines & Proprietary Articles". Around the same period the late Miss Janey Watson recalled a confectionery shop, in Cardowan Drive, run by one Jean Reid, where favourite purchases included cinnamon balls, striped balls and liquorice straps. This shop was more popular than Stein's, for children received "an extra ball for a ha'penny which was a consideration when pocket money was scarce". Unlike William Stein, Jean Reid was considered to be a "children's friend".

Between the Wars, most of the best-remembered shops were in the row on the north side of Cumbernauld Road, between Lenzie Road and Blenheim Avenue. Proceeding from west to east, the first in line was David Brown the Butcher. Next door, kindly Miss Agnes Bannerman sold drapery, wool and haberdashery. She was in the habit of going into town on a Wednesday to obtain items specially requested by customers. Row of shops

At Christmas time she always had a special window display, featuring toys, streamers and a clockwork Santa Claus. Next again, Moffats' was a traditional fish shop, with large cold slabs running with water, and an open window. Dr Maguire's surgery had a chemist shop, with large coloured glass jars in the window. Inside were many small drawers, each labelled with the name of a chemical and fitted with a white porcelain handle. Further along was a fruit shop run by Jean Mackenzie, who travelled each day from Condorrat. Next was a confectioners', run by a Mrs Prentice, who performed the same service as Jean Reid, mentioned above, advising children on the best value for pocket-money, often only a single penny (or two halfpennies). The grocers' shop of Adam McNish was another traditional establishment, with sugar in dark blue bags, cheese cut by a wire and butter patted into round shapes of accurate weight. Finally came Gillies the Baker, famous for its skilfully prepared cakes, each a work of art in its own right. On the other side of Cumbernauld Road the principal shops were the Shettleston Co-op (with butchers', grocers' and drapery departments), in Dean Terrace, and Mackenzie the Grocer, at the corner of Cardowan Drive and Station Road. Later on, this business moved across the road to Stein's former shop in Craigielea Terrace. Grocers

In Cardowan Drive was Glass, the newsagent, tobacconist and confectioner - an alternative destination for children's pocket money. Across the railway bridge, in Edward Place, a popular attraction was Brunetti's ice cream shop.

One of the best liked families in Stepps was the Swart family - Mr & Mrs Hielke Swart and their four daughters and three sons. Hielke Swart was a cheery Dutchman, a native of Groningen in the north of Holland. He had arrived in Stepps by 1891, when he was working as a porter at the railway station. Soon afterwards the family began to operate the local postal service from "Greenbank", a building down on the low ground between Edward Place and the railway bridge. By 1894 daughter Trudy was installed as postmistress, a position she held for 51 years. Hielke Jr ("Hilly") also worked in the postal business during the early years. In due course the office at "Greenbank" was found to be too small, and a new Post Office was opened in a red sandstone building, christened "Groningen", on the north side of the main road, just west of the long row of shops. Trudy was renowned in Stepps for her gentle, patient and sympathetic nature. When she eventually retired, in 1945, collectors went round the doors to gather for a presentation, raising, for the period, the remarkable sum of £150. At Trudy's own request the presentation was staged modestly, in a private house, chaired by County Councillor D.Pollock Smith. She retired to a council house in Coshneuk Road, Millerston, but later moved to Broomhill Home, Kirkintilloch, where she died.

At Trudy Swart's presentation, on 14th September 1945, one of the speakers was Mr Peter Milroy, who spoke of the great pleasure he had experienced in working as postman for Miss Swart over the previous 25 years. Peter Milroy, universally known as "Peter the Post", was another of the great personalities of Stepps. The Wedding

Following World War I service overseas with the King's Own Scottish Borderers, during which he was severely wounded, he came to Stepps about 1920, to take up duty as village postman. His popularity was quickly established, so that by the time of his marriage in 1927, to Miss Mary Barbour, it was appropriate that his presentation should be accorded the status of "major local event". On 5th September the Union Hall was packed to overflowing to witness the community gifts of a handsome oak clock, a wallet of treasury notes, and a wristlet watch for his future wife, being handed over. Musical contributions to the evening included piano selections by Miss Ella Bulloch. "Peter the Post" eventually retired from his position in 1949 and died in 1957. Another personality associated with Stepps Post Office was Annie Cree, who served as assistant (and housekeeper) to Trudy Swart for many years. Later she became postmistress at Muirhead; she died in 1990.

Of comparative importance to the Post Office was the Telephone Exchange, for many years located in a flat above the shops in Dean Terrace. At the beginning of the century it was operated by a Miss Reid, but was later associated with Mrs Peat for a long period of time. The earliest remembered telephone call in the village was at the time of the Relief of Mafeking in May 1900, when William Barnett, an early telephone-owner, received the news by phone and rushed over, in the early hours of the morning, to tell Frank Watson's family. He banged on the door and shouted the news through the letter box. The Established Church Bazaar Guide Book of 1905 had a full page advert for Alex Morton's Stepps Hill Dairy Farm ("Families supplied Morning and Evening with Warm Milk - Milk and Cream delivered Morning and Evening - One Cow's Milk kept for Babies - Fresh Butter and Country Eggs'). The Mortons were a well-known local farming family, also associated with Whitehill. Joseph Asprey had a successful painters' and decorators' business in the former Post Office at "Greenbank" (109 Cumbernauld Road). Another well-known painters' business was that of Allan Melville, beside Woodend Garage. A ubiquitous presence was maintained in Stepps for many years by the firm of George R. Maxwell & Sons, Coal Merchants & Contractors. During the post-war era two sons of the founder, George and Willie, carried on the business, until the latter left in 1958, to set up his own firm.

With the introduction of the internal combustion engine and the acquisition of motor cars by increasing numbers of Stepps people, a demand arose for a facility to supply petrol locally.This was met in the early 1920s, when Charles Cameron and Nelson Campbell erected "The Garage" on a site opposite the Police Station in Cumbernauld Road. This was taken over, in March 1928, by the Stepps Motor Company, under the management of Mr Allan Buchanan. The firm announced that they were "prepared to execute repairs to all makes of cars in a thorough manner, supply petrol, oil, and motor accessories". Spare parts and a "large selection of tyres" were said to be held in stock. This business continued until the 1950s. Meanwhile, Nelson Campbell had established his own "Woodcnd Garage" on the corner of Cumbernauld Road and Cardowan Road. Woodend Garage

There he supplied petrol, carried out car maintenance and operated a taxi service. He sold the garage to John Turnbull in 1943, who in turn sold it to the Esso Group (in the 1950s). It finally closed in 1992. With the closure of Parkers Garage, at Stepps Hill, around the same period, Stepps was left without any filling stations at all.

During the late 1920s a laundry was established by a Mr McLaren, in the lane which left the main road at the former Police Station (later known as "Laundry Lane"). The business passed to new ownership in 1946, and was registered as a limited company - "The Hygienic Laundry (Stepps) Ltd" - in 1947, with capital of £7,000. It functioned as a general dyers, cleaners and launderers. The directors were John C. Muir, Jean L. Muir, Nathaniel Muir and Agnes C. Frew, all of Hamilton. These new owners enlarged the building from one to two bays and employed about 30-35 people. They operated three vans for the collection and distribution of laundry. In time, the services offered were extended to include dry-cleaning. The business was sold to Mr George Reid in 1979 and continued to function into the 1980s, by which period, however, the continuing proliferation of washing-machines for domestic use rendered closure inevitable. The premises are now used by Auto Engineers.

During the 1920s an engineering workshop was established on the east side of Cardowan Road, near to its junction with Cumbernauld Road, by Nigel and Ronald McClure. Activities there included the manufacture of the "Hot-Scot" washing machine, an early example of this kind of domestic appliance. The business was transferred to premises at Moodiesburn in the 1950s, where it continued under new management until the 1970s.

Back - Index - Next