BEFORE the days of supermarkets and retail parks, the corner shop was an important part of Bolton life.

Many households in the early 1960s still relied for supplies on their local corner shop which would sell an expansive range of everyday grocery items.

Many people did not own a car and shopping was done on a much more regular basis with the amount bought in one trip — governed by how much could be easily carried home — a lot less than the bulk-buys filling our trolleys at the supermarket today.

By the ’60s many corner houses in the terraced suburbs had seen their front rooms converted into shops and they were an important part of the community — a place to pick up all the local gossip and where you got friendly service with a personal touch.

There was always a cheery shopkeeper and, despite the small size of the shops, they were Aladdin’s Caves, always seeming to stock whatever was needed.

This picture shows a typical shop located at the Gilnrow Lane and Gibraltar Street junction, off Deane Road, 45 years ago in 1963.