New shops open at the Black  Country living museum. - video Dailymotion

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New shops at the Black Country living museum.

Transcript

00:00I'm Carole King, I'm the Director of Content here at the Black Country Living Museum

00:05and we're introducing three brand new shops to our museum.

00:09We've got Spring Hill Post Office set in 1965,

00:13Langer's Army and Navy Store in 1967,

00:16and Hales Oldman & Hasbury Co-op set a little bit earlier in 1949.

00:21And these are really exciting new developments for us because they're

00:26new shops that tell a really interesting story about what was happening

00:30in the black country during the 40s, 50s and 60s.

00:33So our Co-op which we set in 1949 tells this really interesting story of a move

00:38from counter service to self-service but also it's telling that story of rationing

00:44because lots of people think that after the Second World War rationing went away

00:48but it lasted for quite a long time and it was quite an interesting experience

00:52for shoppers trying to go in see what they could get and work out their rations.

00:57So our visitors can come in and they can have a go at that,

00:59we'll give them an original recipe and they can see whether or not

01:02they can find all the ingredients that they need.

01:05And then in our post office we're telling that story of really the heyday of post offices,

01:09it was in the 60s we had the most post offices across the country

01:13and we're talking about when they were really a hub of the community.

01:17But this particular post office also tells a story of family business in the black country.

01:22It was started in the 1930s by Leonard Nettleton

01:25and when we set it it's been taken over by Stan his son.

01:29And it's really an expanding business, he's diversified the product line

01:33and really exciting for us and for our visitors he's introduced toys.

01:37So our visitor can go in, you can post a postcard but you also have the opportunity

01:41to buy some of the toys that would have been available in the 1960s.

01:46And then finally Langer's Army and Navy store.

01:50Army and Navy stores were a really new and interesting shop

01:53that was happening after the world war.

01:59One of our vehicles telling the story of the 1960s,

02:02definitely have quite a different sound to what you might expect now,

02:05very different to the electric vehicles on our roads today.

02:08But Langer's Army and Navy, this was a new type of shop that was happening,

02:12army surplus, it was really important for people looking for good quality workwear

02:16but it also started to influence fashion,

02:19so what you see kind of in the 60s is people wearing ex-army surplus

02:23as part of a fashion statement.

02:25But what was really interesting about this shop is Herbert Langer himself who set it up

02:29was actually a German prisoner of war who was captured and held here in the black country

02:34and he liked the black country so much he decided to stay

02:37and have his family and expand his business here.

02:41And for all of these buildings we have worked with the people

02:45who lived and worked with them to recreate them exactly as they were

02:49and with Langer's we worked with Herbert's son Steve

02:52to make sure that it was exactly as he remembered it and as his father's.

02:55We even have his father's coffee cup in there that he had

02:58that no one else was apparently allowed to touch

03:01because the visitors can go in and speak to our characters

03:03and learn the story of Herbert and his family.

03:15So

04:16welcome to the co-op and a brand new experience of shopping.

04:20We're inviting you today to take a basket and actually engage in our new self-service

04:27which I know sounds a little bit frightening and a little bit odd at first

04:30but we're here to help you with it.

04:32So this number 11 horn branch of the co-op is a pioneering

04:36branch in terms of starting this self-service region.

New shops open at the Black Country living museum.

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