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Old sign rekindles fresh memories in town centre
(February 17, 2009)AN EMPTY shop that is being refurbished in the Market Place has this week revealed some of its history - bringing memories flooding back for passers-by, writes Paul Macdonald.
"I remember Beeline Taxis in the days when there probably only seven or eight taxis in the whole town," said one senior citizen. "The street was a lot busier then.""It was also the place to get your tickets for their coach trips to the seaside and their mystery tours. They still do a week away at Christmas in Newquay.
"We always joked that it was mystery because even the driver did not know where we were going until he turned up on the day."
He added that if the office was closed there was a special telephone in Station Road at the entrance to Dents and ring for a taxi from there.
R & R Coaches was named after Roy and Rita Hayball and they ran a fleet of coaches and about ten taxis in the seventies and eighties when this office was open.
The hackney cab business then changed its name to Starline Taxis when it was bought by the Berridges whose family had been cabbies since the end of the Second World War.
Their connection with the Market Place is still there a few doors the other side of the Old Bell.
Beeline Coaches is today owned by the sons of Roy and Rita running their services from a yard and offices in Bishopstrow.
Other signs revealed in recent years have been saved for posteriety including the Gold Flake advert just up the road where the late Maurice Main used to run his tobacconists.
The Rose and Crown in East Street and Chinns Court have also left uncovered other pieces of the town's history although another which used to advertise Wheeler's the famous seeds merchant in East Street has gone.