Opened just after the turn of the century, the Lundin Links Pharmacy is still going strong in the same location today.  The proprietor at the time of the above image (looking down Links Road from the main road with Pharmacy on left) was Andrew Hogg.  The early 20th century advert shows the wide range of goods available within the shop, aside from pharmaceuticals.  They had everything from supplies you might need for a trip to the seaside, to postcards to tell friends about your trip to the beach, to tobacco products.  Photography-related items were also highlighted and interestingly there was a dark room on site which could be used by 'amateurs'.  I imagine this would have been really popular with affluent tourists during the summer season.

For much of the second half of the 20th century, the pharmacy was run by the Stebbing family (father William followed by son Alex).  When the East Mail Mail reported on Alex Stebbing's retirement in the mid-1990s, it told of how he was only 15 when his father William died suddenly in 1952 (4 years after taking on the pharmacy).  Alex completed his education at Buckhaven High School before going on to qualify in pharmacy at Dundee in 1959 and serving his apprenticeship with T.W. Buchanan of Leven.  A series of locums filled in between 1952 and 1959.

As we're at that time of the year when everyone seems to be stocking up for the festive season and booking slots for Christmas food shopping deliveries, this old advert caught my eye.  Nisbet's licensed grocer in Upper Largo marketed itself as the place to go all year round "from Christmas to Christmas".  The advert emphasises the wines and spirits and the fact that the business is an "agent for W & A Gilbey & Company" which was the retail wine and spirits company run by Walter and Albert Gilbey based in London.  Small grocers that were appointed 'Gilbey agents' were not allowed to sell the wines or spirits of any other firrm.  Best known for their gin, Gilbey's also owned Scottish whisky-producing distilleries.  A long-standing grocery business, the shop was sold in 1922 after the death of George Simpson Nisbet in the January of that year at the age of 58.

This post-war view of the pier at Lower Largo is particularly interesting because of the range of people included in the shot. The youngsters are dressed for summer in shorts, while some of the adults are wrapped up in hats and long coats!  Ice creams are being enjoyed, fishing rods are in use and several boats look ready for action.  There are plenty of people milling about in the background too.  It's all indicative of this being a popular destination for holidaymakers and day trippers at the time.  Adverts in the Courier for the Crusoe Hotel from this era talk of its "ideal situation on the sands and quay", the pleasant county walks and the proximity to tennis, boating, golf and riding stables.  A warm day in July this year wasn't so very different with holidaymakers and fishing rods once again in evidence!

Following yesterday's early 20th century image of Largo Harbour Bridge, some up-to-date views of the bridge in this post - from above and below. When it was built in 1914 the Courier described it as a "steel bridge, composed of girders and troughing and parapet railing with concrete wing walls...". As this road bridge replaced a foot bridge, it was praised for reducing the distance for vehicular traffic between Upper Largo and Lundin Links by one and a quarter miles.  Calls for such a bridge had been made by locals over many years before this came to fruition and its opening was greeted with enthusiasm.  I wonder what those involved in its creation would make of its heavy usage today!