Gregory's General Store is an exhibit at the

Black Country Living Museum The Black Country Living Museum (formerly the Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is located in the centre of the Black Country, west of Birming ...

. It once occupied numbers 89 & 90 Lawrence Lane,

Old Hill Old Hill is a small village in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England, situated around north of Halesowen and south of Dudley. It is part of the West Midlands conurbation. History ''Kelly's Directory of Staffordshir ...

, and was rebuilt on the museum site in 1980. It is set as it would have been in 1925.

History

Gregory's was originally a pair of houses built on Lawrence Lane,

, in 1883 by Charles Gregory, an iron worker. In the early 1900s the houses were converted to a double fronted shop with living accommodation up stairs for the family. The two houses were originally separated by a central tunnel or 'entry' to the back garden. When it operated as a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

, Gregory's held a wide variety of stock, meat and fresh produce. This was served from the right hand counter, and included; bacon, ham, beef

suet Suet ( ) is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Suet has a melting point of between and solidification (or congelation) between . Its high smoke point makes it ideal for deep frying and pastr ...

, butter, cheese, eggs, homemade

faggot ''Faggot'', often shortened to ''fag'', is a Pejorative, slur in the English language that was used to refer to gay men but its meaning has expanded to other members of the queer community. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21s ...

tripe Tripe is a type of edible lining from the stomachs of various farm animals. Most tripe is from cattle and sheep. Types Beef Beef tripe is made from the muscle wall (the interior mucosal lining is removed) of a cow's stomach chambers: th ...

and cow heel. The left hand counter sold various other items including sweets, cigarettes, clothes, hats and haberdashery items. The middle counter sold groceries and green grocery, however most of the fruit and vegetables would have been displayed outside the shop. Fruit and vegetable would have been available on a seasonal basis, and not all fruit and veg would be available all the time like we are used to today. Gregory's General Store catered for those on low wages, often allowing eggs to be sold individually and half loaves to be brought. Common essential items like tea,

paraffin Paraffin may refer to: Substances * Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid (also in liquid form) that is used as a lubricant and for other applications * Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for med ...

and butter would be sold by the penny's worth. Mrs Gregory also allowed customers to have items on the tick, meaning that she would give them the items on the basis that they would pay her when they received their

wages A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', '' prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remune ...

. She would write what each customer owed in a book and tick their names off after they had paid her, hence the phrase 'on the tick'.

References

{{coord, 52, 31, 22.78, N, 2, 4, 37.57, W, region:GB, display=title Black Country Living Museum Relocated buildings and structures in England