Victorian tobacconist shop "re-opens"
Foster's Tobacconist Shop, the reconstructed Victorian shop in the Winton Gallery of Winchester City Museum, is now open to the public each weekday morning between 10.30 -11.30am.In the Museum's archives is a photograph of Christopher Bradbury, the current Winchester City Council curator of Art and Exhibitions, inside the shop in the High Street in 1975. To celebrate the re-opening of the shop, the Museum Service recreated the scene and serving Christopher in the reconstructed Victorian shop is Sher Kent, the City Council's Museum Visitor Services Manager.
Christopher recalls Foster's Shop with great fondness, and said "I remember Mr. Cobb who took over the shop from Mr. Foster in 1933 until 1978. I enjoyed 'Parson's Pleasure' and 'Baby's Bottom', which you will be relieved to know are different brands of tobacco!"
The shop is situated in the Winton Gallery in the Museum in The Square and is reconstructed exactly as the shop stood in the High Street.
The City Museum is open 10.00am. - 5.00pm Monday to Saturday, and Sunday 12noon-5.00pm. Admission to the museum and shop is free.
Contact: Winchester Museums Service on 01962 848269, email museums@winchester.gov.uk