Charles Gale's Gift Shop on Matlock Bath's North Parade, with a window display packed with all kinds of desirable items - "fancy goods" - for the tourist trade. Over the doorway is an advertisement for musical greetings cards, suitable for 45 rpm record players. The sign advertising the shop's wares was hand painted onto the glass; this was a commission undertaken by Frank Clay when sign writing was one of his specialities. Mr. and Mrs. Gale lived at Rockvale House over their shop for nine years. When Mr. Gale first took over the shop, which he bought from Mr. Anstey of Chesterfield, there was a ladies' hairdressers behind the premises run by Mrs. Kay Smith. Mr. Gale bought the residential property above from Josh Whittaker a little while later.

The shop was the Post Office until recently (there is currently no post office in Matlock Bath) although the Post Office in the Gales' time was a few doors down the Parade. Photographs from the early part of the twentieth century show that the building used to have a wrought iron balcony at first floor level, similar to the one shown on the property to the right. It is unclear when the balcony was removed but perhaps when the first floor window was replaced or repaired. The green painted window to the left belongs to what was the George Hotel.

This more recent view of North Parade shows what remained of the Promenade following the widening of the A6 trunk road in 1967. You can just see the red letter box outside what was once Gale's shop. The card also shows one side of the War Memorial.
The War Memorials