Walter Batters Ironmongers, Glasgow Road

1968 Walter Batters shop

Pictured here in 1968 is Walter Batters Ironmongers Store on Glasgow Road. This photo is slightly better quality than the one doing the rounds. Located across from the bottom of Church Street, the store was owned by Mr. Walter Batters and was one of Blantyre’s most prominent and well known stores throughout the 1940’s, 50’s and 1960’s.

The family however had a long association with property in this area, and are known to have spent some of their success on buying several homes in Low Blantyre which they rented out. The Batters themselves lived nearby in Church Street and indeed to this day people of that name, most likely connected to the family are resident in Church Street. Blantyre ladies of a certain age may remember buying their scraps and scrapbooks in there, and boys may remember kwenchy cups and the model cars. To adults, it only smelled of leather, paraffin and carbolic! Indeed, you could just about get anything in this hardware store. He would sell you a single nail if you needed it! It was very much a traditional shop, the sales assistants with brown overalls and coats on. At Christmas time, the shop window would be beautifully dressed with lights and toys which fascinated passing children.

When Walter died, he was ceremoniously taken by decorated horse and cart to the funeral. The detailed history of the Batters family is coming soon to Blantyre Project. Stay tuned! What are your memories of Batters?

On social media:

• Elizabeth Dobson Grieve Oh I remember Batters well
• Liz Boxall Loved the smell in the shop .!!
• Catherine Davidson getting a hula hoop from there.
• Jean Boyd I am not too sure but I think later on this shop started to sell records, if this is the shop I am thinking of I bought my first record from here, I know it was a shop on Glasgow Road around this area
• Carol Crombie My great-uncle’s shop, but sadly I don’t remember him, just recall being terrified in the shop because of the smells!
• Grace McCaffery Mum buying her paper blinds, remember the bell above the door ringing when you went into the shop.
• Rose Sporndli I am a lady of a certain age. Used to buy my scraps there and paper doll books. One particular memory was buying a paint book and a small tin of paints with a brush with my pocket money.. On my way home I stopped at Elm Street play park and lost the brush through one of the slats on the roundabout. Spent hours trying to retrieve it. Loved that shop.
• Robert McLeod-Wolohan This was 1 of the best shops in blantyre, u could get almost anything from it, i remember going to get parafin for my gran to put in the parafin heaters she had lol
• Helen Lawson Taylor You could buy anything there ,and I also remember buying s raps there and loved to swap with my friends if we had doubters
• Elizabeth Anderson Cardoo Buying scraps 
• James Graham Great photo and great shop. I was sent there frequently to buy nails and screws in the early 1950s.
• Caroline Rundell not sure if same family, but I remember a solicitors firm in glasgow road called batters, malone and mckay x
• Sylvia Mclaughlin Best scraps evr n plenty of them
• Jeanette Allardyce Ward Loved the smell in this wee shop. If had everything lol, stuff hung from ropes going across the ceiling coz the shop was so full lol. My mum used to get paraffin for the lamp and candles in there when we had the power cut sometime in the 70s x
• Pamela Campbell We bought our scraps in Wullie Pates not Battersies
• Mary Crowe Loved that shop and like others I bought my scraps there
• Thomas Barrett we lived above here 1958-1961.
• Margaret Brown Burns Everything from a needle to an anchor…..great shop
• Brian Duffy Always got my air gun pellets there in the 70s
• Pamela Campbell Sandy Thompson for scraps also
• Catherine Sneddon Got my scraps here with my pocket money and I still have them x
• Jimmy Hislop As a boy, I loved going to this shop. We lived just along the road at number 72.
• Joe Sneddon A truly great store .
• Carolyn Patterson I remember the smell !!!! I got my first bottle of nail polish from there I would have been about 5 years old then lol loved going in with my mum .
• Margaret Quinn Spent ages selecting my scraps in there I think they also sold silver bangles for ten shillings got myself two of them I’m sure lol
• Frances Lyons Best shop in Blantyre, u could buy anything in there
• Rita Johnston I paid up my first blg soup pot in there
• Mary Sambou Loved the smell, scraps and coloured rubber balls lasted forever, the old post office further along was great for scraps too
• Phyllis Rooney Remember this well! Great photo!!
• Davie Robson Puncture outfits, joining links for my bike chain etc, great memories !
• Jeanette Izzett Loved the smell in the shop x
• Maureen Mccallum I am also a lady of a certain age who loved to buy my scraps here and I’m happy to say I still have them
• Maureen Skeffington Chalmers Sadly none of the Batters family left in Church Street since Mrs Batters – Louise died in January 2014 and her house next door to me has been sold in last couple of months. She lived to grand old age of 97 and worked in the shop at one time. Her son is lawyer John Batters but I think he has retired now. The

  Houses on this side of Church Street were built by Batters family in 1906 and rented out to pit manages according to local story. 
  They were gradually sold off in 1960s.
• Gillian McKendrick Loved going to batters and the smell of paraffin as soon as u walked in . also getting my peever for beds in there too gx
• Campbell Wylie Loved the smell of beeswax could get anything including Fork candles
• Barbara Kerr My mother used to buy a quarter a pound of nails for my brother to hammer into planks of wood. 

  That was his pocket money every week and he loved hammering away. 
  Loved the smell of the shop. 
  Clothes pegs, mops, buckets, shoe polish, curtain wire. 
  Great shop
• Anne Callaghan Loved this shop !! A real Alladdins cave filled with useful things !!
• John Krawczyk Remember this shop.🔩🔧
• Stephen Allan No memories unfortunately. I wonder when Walter died?
• James Nicoll My wife remembers the shop well, and her granny Sally buying her scraps, she loved the Christmas window with the lights n everything.
• Lillias Addison We could do with a shop like this now
• Gordon Frew Lived across the street from Jean Batters she lived at opposite end of the row from John & Louise Batters. Genuinely lovely people. Louise’s funeral was one of the nicest things of that type you could ever attend. So much love for the family. Sadly missed
• Anne Simpson Sure they were still around in the mid 70’s I used to walk on my own from Priory Bridge to get my scraps. I was about 8. Can you imagine being allowed to do that now 
• Margaret Faulds Bought teapots there . They sold everything.