A fantasy began to form

I’ve mentioned my friend, Andrew Simpson, blogger, chronicler, historian, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, many times, and I’m mentioning him again now because one of his headlines really caught my eye. “The Shop that Sold Stories”. I have shared the link to it below. I won’t even hint at the story Andrew himself tells, because I have my own story brewing which was triggered by something I misread (as so often happens with me!)

I read Andrew’s headline as “The Shop That Tells Stories”, and a fantasy began to form in my mind. Maybe you went into the shop and there were little rooms with curtains pulled across like you have in dress shops where you can try on clothes to see if they fit. Inside each were two chairs, one inhabited by a story-teller and the other for the customer. Maybe each of the story-tellers had a speciality, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, adventure etc, and maybe they had different lengths of story, I suppose the briefest would be like one of those writing challenges to tell a tale in less than so many words. Maybe some stories would take a whole afternoon to tell, so maybe the manager of the shop would bring in refreshments – tales from the eastern Mediterranean would have baklava, English stories sausage rolls or jam tarts. Maybe for regular customers it would be a serial! However, with all the talking going on, curtains would not be sufficient to block the other narrations behind other curtains – so small rooms? – but no, there would have to be surveillance to ensure the safety of the teller and the listener in case one was dangerous – which would be a story in itself!

Another scenario would be more fantastical – especially if it was a very old building. The oldest shop in England is in Chiddingstone in Kent, (1453!). One of our family holidays was in Chiddingstone in a very old house so I can imagine very well what the story-telling shop would be like. If the shop itself was telling the stories, would there be an actual voice, a ghostly, ethereal presence, or might there be an actual ghost – or several ghosts, each with a different tale? Maybe the stones that the shop was built from would be the keeper of the tales, and a client/customer, on laying their hand upon the stone would hear the story telepathically.

All these ideas are beginning to coalesce – maybe I should write “The Shop That Tells Stories”!!

https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-shop-that-sold-stories.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwY2xjawRKUdRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEepTvIIpGCnGeWaKDIzQzYvTNnc5yPIhhPQcqIJ23fgoUL8KAkv9c15dfK0sY_aem_B7mp7e5eGX3Ftaj2b2ROiw