Number 50 is the property with the ‘Dallas Chicken & Ribs’ sign above it on the modern photo above. This premises was at first number 48 until it was re-numbered around 1898.
In the image below from 1908 you can see 50 Brixton Road to the right of the image. It is the property that says “Tea Dealers” on the sign, if you look carefully you can see the name “Wright” in the middle.
The table below shows the occupants of this shop from 1881 to 1928:
Year Name Business
1881 Residential
1888 Carey & Co Bicycle Makers
1889 Carey & Co Bicycle Makers
1890 Not Featured
1891 Not Featured
1892 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
1894 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
1895 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
1897 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
1898 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
1903 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
1904 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
Post & Telegraph Office
1909 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
Post & M.O. & T.O & S.H. & Annuity & Insurance Office
1915 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
Post & M.O. & T.O & S.H. & Annuity & Insurance Office
1920 Alfred & Harrington Wright Grocers
Post & M.O. & T.O & S.H. & Annuity & Insurance Office
1923 / Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society
1925 / Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society
1926 / Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society
1928 / Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society
In the image below from 1980 you can see number 50 on the left of the block with the ‘RACS’ sign.
According to Wikipedia:
‘The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) was a consumer cooperative taking its name from the royal munitions works (Royal Arsenal) at Woolwich. The RACS ran not just food shops (a founding aim of the UK consumer co-operative movement being the provision of cheap unadulterated food) but also milk, bread & fuel deliveries, department stores, a bookshop, jewellery department, shoe shops and chemists‘
It is unclear which line of trade the RACS premises above was in however it does look as though it may have been closed for good. This could well be the case as the Wikipedia entry goes on to say:
‘By the late 1970s the RACS was in trouble. Greater customer affluence and competition from supermarket chains such as Sainsbury’s were changing the society’s market – its size & democratic ownership structure made it slow to adapt. Membership numbers declined, weakening the society’s democratic basis. Reserves dwindled and dividend payments – for many, the Co-op’s unique selling point – all but ceased‘
It also appears that this property once had a side entrance and was occupied at some point by London & Provincial which sound like a savings/investment firm, their old sign complete with original four digit telephone number is still visible, see below…
