Based on information from Betty Wright, Sylvia Carman and Ian Gomm
Coles Stores owned by Mr & Mrs Cole for many years, then sold to a young couple from the north. Sadly, that business only lasted about six months. In the late 1960s the shop was bought by an Italian, Sergio Pollistrini, and his partner, Mr Jackson. They extended the shop to the right by using the garage.
In the late 1970s the shop was bought by Kate and Jim Nicholson-Evans and they specialised in cheeses and wines which were very popular in the village. They renamed the shop Nicholson-Evans. When they retired, Dolly Temple and her daughter Jessica took over the shop to which the Post Office was then transferred from Anne’s Corner (see below). Dolly ran the Post Office and her daughter managed the grocery shop, renamed JJ’s. (See photos of the staff in the gallery below.) After Dolly retired, the shop and Post Office were taken over by James Joyce. With the closure of so many sub post offices throughout the country, Chesham Bois suffered the same fate, despite local protests. James Joyce then moved away and very briefly an Italian and a friend opened up as a Pasta shop. This was a failure and for a few weeks the premises remained empty, until it was opened as a gift and coffee shop under the name of The Collection and then blossom&grey.
Gilbert’s electrical engineers/shop, which was replaced by Buckinghamshire Wool shop, was to the right of Coles Stores but was later pulled down and replaced by flats.
Next to Coles Stores on the left was Anderson’s the Bakers, who made bread and cakes on the premises. When the Andersons retired, Tom Mayo a butcher who previously had a shop in Woodside Road bought the shop and the flat above, where he lived. Tom had a huge job to remove the brick ovens from the Bakery before he could move in. When Tom Mayo retired he sold Mayo’s to Roger Pusey who was a very popular butcher for many years and when he retired he sold it to Steve Hyron. After two years Steve sold it to the present owner, Rob Sawyer (who incidentally started work for Roger Pusey as a young school boy working on Saturdays).
Next to Mayo’s, there was Hance the Greengrocers, owned by Mr Frank Hance. After running the shop, with the help of his wife, for over 40 years, he retired in 1992. The premises were then taken over by a ladies’ shop selling and hiring hats and accessories, called Dusk to Dawn. Eventually it became Ten-Point, a sportswear/sport bike shop, which it still is today.
Opposite Coles Stores is Anne’s Corner, where there used a dairy. Since 1911 there was a Post Office there and a small gift shop. The first postmistress was Miss Lavinia Cutler and later Mrs Corlett in the 1940s. In the 1980s, Mrs Vera Clark and her son took over, followed in November 1991 by Dolly Temple. A day or two after she started, there was an armed robbery of a Securicor van in Bois Lane, although it was unsuccesful. Dolly Temple then moved over the road and ran the Post Office from the grocery shop (see above).
On the same side as Anne’s Corner, there was another grocer’s shop called Bois Lane Stores run by Mr and Mrs Able. Later it became Groskop, owned by Mr & Mrs Iver Groskop. They retired in the late 1970s the shop later became a ladies’ hairdressers which it is still. Over the last forty years it has seen several owners; however, the present owner, Jenny Veary, has been there for over 25 years.
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