Above is a 'then and now' comparison of the corner of Hillhead Street and Emsdorf Crescent in Lundin Links. The top image features the former shop, as it was in the 1940s, during the tenure of James Terris Turbayne. He was proprietor from 1920 into the 1950s. The ground floor was in fact two shops - the grocer to the right, and the fruit and confectionery shop to the left, each with its own entrance. Previously, the corner shop had been David Lindsay's grocery and the smaller shop had been the chemist belonging to Peter Cowie.
The black and white postcard image is entitled "St Helen, Lundin Links", as this is the name of the home above the shops. The upstairs dwelling was built above a pre-existing single-storey shop during David Lindsay's time. Helen was the name of the mother of David's wife, Isabella Horne. The Lindsays also had a daughter named Helen (known as Nelly) who died in 1901 aged 12. A further dwelling behind the shop was named Nellfield.
The building set back to the right of the shop was likely the original stable and cart shed connected with the business, at a time when grocery deliveries were fulfilled by horse and cart. By the Turbaynes time, the shift to motor vans had taken place and one can be seen in the 1940s image. The advert for Turbayne's below states "orders called for and delivered daily by motor van".
The shops feature a fascinating range of signage and advertising, with a number of products being clearly identifiable. In the left-hand window, at the top, there is the slogan "Eat more fruit and keep fit", which is in contrast to the wide range of chocolate advertising, including Rowntree's, Mackintosh's, Cadbury's, Fry's and Bournville. On the right-hand window a display for Chiver's Jellies is clearly seen, alongside a number of tinned foods and sauce bottles. There appear to be three different external vending machines, providing self-service buying opportunities, even when the shop is closed. One appears to be branded 'Tucker's' (a brand of toffee) while another is 'Chewlets' (gum by Mackintosh's). The other may be a beech-nut gum machine. There is also signage for ice-cream, postage stamps and Will's gold flake cigarettes. Adverts for some of those products are shown below.
Round to the right of the front door to the grocer shop is an external sign for the Woodburn Laundry (for which Turbayne was an agent). Above is an advert for the same from 30 March 1935 St Andrews Courier. This facility was in St Andrews and boasted "open-air drying - right on sea front". Below is a photo of the actual laundry, adjacent to the Lifeboat Station at St Andrews (image courtesy of University of St Andrews, Special Collections).
Close inspection of the Turbayne postcard photograph shows that there is a person tucked in at the left side of the motor van and that a selection of wines and spirits are on display in the shop window facing the van. The crates and boxes stacked up outside the shop may have just been taken out of the van, ready to restock the shop shelves. The person doing the unloading appears to be hiding from the photographer.
James Terris Turbayne was born on 18 August 1876 in Kelty where his parents ran a licensed grocer shop on Main Street. In 1882 James's father Thomas died, aged just 36 years, and his mother Ann Bell Turbayne (nee Terris) continued the business until her own death in 1911. Her brother John Terris took over her shop but he still kept Ann's name over the door (see photograph below).
Meanwhile James had his own grocer on Foulford Road in Cowdenbeath by 1899, presumably having learned the trade in his mother's shop. He continued his grocer business in Cowdenbeath until 1920. James had experienced a succession of license application refusals in Cowdenbeath. The headline above from 13 April 1920 Dundee Evening Telegraph relates to one of his attempts to secure a license. This situation may well have prompted his move to the Lundin Links shop.
The two adverts below illustrate the range of wines and spirits that were stocked by James Turbayne once he had secured his license in Lundin Links. He also stocked soft drinks such as the aerated waters produced by Leven based Christopher Adamson.
James Turbayne was widowed in 1946 but seems to have continued the main grocer's shop until his death in 1954 at the age of 77. In October 1954, Robert Leishman was granted a license for the grocers, as tenant under the ownership of Mrs Agnes Croll. The shop seems to have been known as 'Leishman's' into the 1970s but at some point a member of the Croll family began to run the business and in the 1980s it was referred to as 'Croll's'.
James Turbayne's eldest daughter Jeannie ran the fruit and confectionery shop for many years. She is fondly remembered for rewarding children who sang her a song with a sweetie and for her magical Christmas window display (an illuminated Santa's sleigh, filled with sweets, pulled by reindeer with nodding heads). Jeannie died in 1974 at the age of 72. Of course, this shop was converted into the Doctor's Surgery (see photograph below), however, if you look closely, you will see that it still features many holes in the stonework where all the signs, awnings and vending machines were once secured in place.
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