The Magic Has Gone!

[Derek Jempson]

Whilst doing some family research on the British Newspaper Archive site, this advert caught my eye.

The Magic Shop HSLO 1957.12.07.jpg (55.51 KiB) Viewed 13489 times

It appeared in the Hastings and St. Leonards Observer on the 7th December 1957. I was ten years old at the time and very much into conjuring and magic tricks, inspired by television magicians such as David Nixon. That shop in Bohemia Road was an Aladdin's Cave for me – a magnet to which I was drawn whenever I had pocket money to spend, and I spent a great deal of it in that shop. Having bought the latest trick, I couldn't wait to get home and practice the magic in the cupboard under the stairs (yes I was there before Harry Potter was even a gleam in J. K. Rowling's eye).

This is the present day 110 Bohemia Road and the facade is just as I remember it, but of course it was much smarter then, and I think painted dark red. The shop is still there, but the magic has gone. I can't remember the proprietor's name, or what he looked like. Perhaps someone can help.

[Richard]

Try this link Derek,

Some interesting info on that site generally:

http://www.bohemiavillage.com/?p=7317

[Derek Jempson]

Oooh, thanks for pulling that one out of the hat, Richard! So, it was Roland Spray who owned the shop.

[Richard]

I was happy to find the information, Derek.
And I too remember, as a youngster, being beguiled by David Nixon, a smooth-talking man with a humorous charm and 'patter', who enjoyed constructing illusions on another level altogether.
He even created (on TV) an image of himself which could respond in real-time to objects he presented it with.
Clever stuff!

[northants1066]

I certainly remember the Magic Shop, but more for the tricks like stink bombs and itching powder. It was haven for fans of Dennis the Menace. Mr Spray was always very friendly.

Sadly like so many streets in Hastings and St Leonards the magic has gone from Bohemia Road forever.

In the link submitted by Richard there is reference to the Cabin sweet shop. A place I frequented every single day, especially when at the old St Pauls School. They too were a very nice couple and sold no end of favourites like black jacks, sherbet dabs, sweet cigarettes various liquorice novelties and all for less than an old penny.

Just along from the cabin was Grooms grocers where my mum would send be to buy half a pound of broken biscuits and in the other direction was Mr Cards fish shop where we often bought four pennorth of chips.

[Richard]

from 'northants1066':
"Sadly like so many streets in Hastings and St Leonards the magic has gone".
This is true, and there has also been a countrywide shift away from the small family-run businesses to Shopping-Malls in every town and with Retail-Parks on the outskirts.
At one time there was a sweet-shop near every school and corner-shops everywhere but those days are gone.
Property rates and rents are too high for a piecemeal approach to be successful any longer, as the economy changes.
There is still a family-run sweet shop in 'Queens Arcade' in Hastings Town, but how long before that is forced out of business by huge rents and rate demands remains to be seen.
Bohemia seems to be a ghost-town now and Ore may equally be under pressure to meet a new economic climate, where only the bigger businesses can manage to survive.
Malls and Retail Parks are often seen to be sucking the life out of the towns and villages they serve, ever more, so times are indeed changing.

[desmond14]

hi Derek Mr spray was my grandfather and I am trying to find out more about them both as Mrs spray was a Towner before she re married does any one have any information.

[Derek Jempson]

Here's a start. The 1939 Register has the following information.

Address: 205 Battle Road , Hastings C.B., Sussex, England

Name: Roland Spray
D.O.B: 01 Nov 1898
Sex: Male
Occupation: Master Sign Writer
Marital Status: Married

Ellen C Spray
D.O.B: 23 Sep 1902
Sex: Female
Occupation: Unpaid Domestic Duties
Marital Status: Married

John Spray
D.O.B 02 May 1929
Sex: Male
Occupation: At School
Marital Status: Single

The 1939 Register doesn't give relationships, but I think it'd safe to assume that here is man, wife and son.

[Richard]

It is interesting to note that Roland Spray had an occupation noted down, as a 'master signwriter' and in that case he may have been aware of Robert Tressell ( Signwriter) who wrote 'ragged Trousered Philanthropist' (c.1910), based on experiences in Hastings from 1901 onwards.

[desmond14]

hi Richard and Derek thanks for that trying to find out about the towers in Hastings as I was told when I was a boy that there was a shop called the towers as my great granddad died in the first world war he was part of the towers the under takers .