A glimpse into the past of a former café that was adored by Watford fans for many years has been revealed.
Workmen are currently refurbishing the premises that were occupied by Domenic’s Café in Vicarage Road for 40 years until it closed earlier this year.
The picture at the top of this page was taken by nearby resident Andy Platt and it shows the name ‘A. Southwood’ above the windows, with ‘fruiterer’ to the left of it and ‘greengrocer’ to the right.
The main entrance to the cafe was in the shop nearest to the road, but the business also owned the neighbouring premises above where the greengrocer's sign was uncovered.
Andy got in touch with the Watford Observer to tell us about the shop sign which we showed to Watford Museum.
Volunteer archivist Christine Orchard has looked back through records in Kelly's directories and these show the earliest mention of the ‘Southwood’ name at No. 16 Vicarage Road was in 1929 when Albert Southwood was shown as a greengrocer.
That was still the case in 1947, but the 1958 directory showed the name had changed to Leonard Southwood.
He was last listed as a greengrocer at the shop in the 1972 directory.
- If you can tell us anymore about the history of Southwood’s greengrocers, or have any old pictures of the shop you’re happy to share and be potentially published, email amatthews@london.newsquest.co.uk
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