Back in Time for the Corner Shop

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The Ardern family go back in time to run that great British institution, the corner shop.

The Ardern family embark on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure - going back in time to run that great British institution, the corner shop.

Series 1

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Sara Cox

Polly Russell

Chris Bavin

Rachel Jardine

Victoria Bell

Emily Shields

Charlotte Ball

Gary Thomas

Joe Pedder

Abigail Watts

Laura Tjia

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Back in Time for the Corner Shop: Series 1: 20s, 30s and 40s

20s, 30s and 40s

BBC Two - Back in Time for the Corner Shop, Series 1, 20s, 30s and 40s

The Arderns continue their time-travelling journey in the 20s, 30s and 40s.

The Arderns continue their time-travelling journey in the 20s, 30s and 40s. From Izal loo roll to powdered eggs, they learn how life behind the counter reflects 30 years of change.

The Ardern family from Sheffield are embarking on an extraordinary adventure, going back in time to run that great British institution, the corner shop. They experience 100 years of shopkeeping, discovering how what they sell, how they sell it and who they sell it to, reflects the changing lives of ordinary families in Britain.

We’ve taken over a former corner shop in Meersbrook, a working-class suburb of Sheffield. Purpose-built as part of the city’s urban expansion in the late 19th century, we follow the story of the corner shop through a century of trade. Guided through their time travel by presenter Sara Cox and social historian Polly Russell, the family of five will work and live in the shop. Starting in the Victorian era when locals relied on it for all their daily provisions and ending up in the late 1990s when convenience and last-minute items were the name of the game.  

This time the family are running a shop in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. It’s the golden age of the corner shop, when professional grocery skills are at their height, and shopkeeping is seen as a science. Ardern and Son supplies almost everything its local customers could need and new branded goods like Cadbury’s Dairy Milk to Heinz Tomato Ketchup are jostling for space on the shelves. The shop has bespoke fittings, a cash register and even a beer pump, so customers can take home freshly pulled jugs of ale. 

Presentation is crucial to the 1920s shopkeeper, so Dave and Sam’s first job is to create a window display to promote the new cleaning products on offer. Jo and Olivia are still confined to the kitchen – this time making a very modern treat, ice cream!  But in the days before fridge freezers, that means chipping a huge block of ice delivered straight to the back yard. One child declares it 'the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten!'.

By 1921, hard times hit the Sheffield steel industry, which means the Arderns need to work harder to bring in business. Offering goods ‘on tick’, delivering further afield by bike, and baking cheap treats for the shop. It brings home that in Britain’s industrial heartlands, the 20s were hardly roaring.

Enterprising 20s shopkeepers came up with all sorts of attractions to get ahead of the competition and gambling was all the rage. So the arrival of a fruit machine in Ardern and Son looks set to pull punters through the door. Delivering beer in buckets to thirsty workers in the local steel mills is another earner.

Winning a reputation for skill with a professional qualification from 'The Institute of Certified Grocers' might also help shopkeepers stand out from the crowd. Sam and Olivia are joined by grocer extraordinaire Chris Bavin to learn the art of tea tasting and blending.

A new decade brought new hardship to Sheffield, with the Great Depression hitting the city hard. In 1930 the Arderns discover that shopkeepers sold scraps to the poor – bacon rind, bruised apples, even cake crumbs. There are also new responsibilities. Poorer families were eligible for food tickets, and shopkeepers were expected to make sure vouchers were only spent on necessities. But the Arderns also get a trip out, hawking Jo’s homemade ‘stale’ bread pudding to crowds out making the most of the entertainment of the local brass band.

By the mid-30s, Britain’s economy was on the mend. Going to the pictures was Britain’s number one past-time, and new products in the shop promised to help people get the Hollywood look. Jo and Olivia join Sara at a salon to sample some of the delights of a 1930s beauty regime. 

The start of World War II brings new challenges for the corner shop, and 20-year-old Sam is called up almost immediately. The shop is shorthanded just as it called on to handle a critical wartime role – rationing. Finding enough food for 40 million people was a vast challenge, and shopkeepers were on the front line, keeping tabs on what and how much people got each week. Bacon, butter and sugar were restricted immediately, with margarine, meat, tea and a host of other goods following soon after. Plus, there’s 'Macon' (mutton bacon) for lunch, which doesn’t go down well.

1940 sees a visit from Reg, who has lived a few doors from the shop all his life. He was nine years old during the Sheffield Blitz, which devastated the city in December 1940. A bomb fell right outside the shop – and Reg remembers it as 'the biggest bonfire you’ve ever seen'.

1942 brings a moral dilemma – will Dave and Jo sell the black market eggs stashed under the counter? And with sweets on ration, Jo and the kids have a go at making carrot lollies – as bad as they sound! 

1945 sees Victory in Europe and the return of Sam to the shop. A party for the whole community is a moment for reflection on the vital role the corner shop played in difficult times in Sheffield.

Back in Time for the Corner Shop: Series 1

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