Our
first Pharmacy in Thornley opened in 1936 and was originally
located at 1/2 Hartlepool Street. M. Whitfield Ltd. had only
two branches at this stage, Thornley and Horden. The first
manager was Mr. Jack Davis, who left in 1939 to start his
own business in Staindrop. Mr. Johnson, Mr. Whitfield's son-in-law,
had been managing the Horden branch, but transferred to Thornley
when Jack Davis left, and he remained manager until 1942
when Mr. John Henderson joined the firm. Mr. Henderson was
a keen photographer and operated a Photographic Studio in
this branch for many years.
A
second branch was opened in Thornley in 1955. The latter
purchase came about by virtue of a rival pharmacist, who
had decided to open a pharmacy in Stanley Terrace which was
considerably nearer to the Doctors' Surgery than was our
Hartlepool Street branch. On hearing the announcement of
the impending opening of the rival pharmacy, Mr. Whitfield
and his other son-in-law John Grundy, working with astonishing
speed, took only a matter of days to meet the residents of
2, Stanley Terrace, persuade them to move to a new housing
estate, rehouse them and hurriedly establish a dispensary
in their former home. M.Whitfield Ltd.'s second Thornley
branch opened on the very same day as the rival, but crucially,
located between the rival and the Surgery. The rival closed
after only a few years.
The
Hartlepool Street branch also suffered a loss of prescriptions
because of the new Pharmacy in Stanley Terrace, and closed
in 1962. The Manager, John Henderson, transferred 'up the
hill' to the newer branch, replacing Mr. Joe Grist, and the
old pharmacy traded briefly and largely unsuccessfully as
a Drug Store.
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