Podcast ident 0:10
You're listening to the Highbridge Podcast celebrating the people, places and history of the Highbridge area in the Sedgemoor area

Mell 0:27
Celebrating the history people and places in the HIghbridge Sedgemoor area of Somerset this season is funded by Seed which is a consortium of community organisations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater Senior Citizens Forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in Sedgemoor, Somerset Film and Young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, Creative People in places Lottery Funding and the Arts Council. The main aim of the project is to focus on the people, places and activities in and around Highbridge. It's important to remember that history is not just about recording the past, but also recording what is happening now as we create history for future generations. If you enjoy what you hear, do tell your friends and ask them to subscribe to hear future editions for free. So let's continue. According to Wikipedia HIghbridge was originally a market town on the edge of the Somerset levels in the UK, near the mouth of the river Brue and although it's no longer a market town, the market site is now a housing estate. Highbridge is in the district of Sedgemoor and the town of Highbridge closely neighbors, Burnham on sea, forming part of the combined parish of Burnham on sea and Highbridge and shares a town council with a resort town. In the 2011 census. The population of the town was included in the ward of Highbridge and Burnham Marine, which totaled 7,555. For this edition, I went to get my haircut and I went along to Cookies to find out more about the generations of barbers in his family. So today I'm speaking to Mark Cook or sometimes known as cookie, who's basically the barber that goes back in time and the family go back in time. So tell me a little bit about how the shop all started

Mark 2:26
Well its my great grandfather, George Cook who sets it off originally so he used to live in Bridgewater funnily enough. So he was I think he was 1883 if my maths is correct they started it all off. And he used to actually walk from Bridgewater to Highbridge to cut people's hair then walk home again, which was a hell of a journey. So I've gotten so long it took him and it wasn't the straight road it is now either do I mean it was sort of cut through he used to go through the back of West Huntspill so it was a right old journey when you first started

Mell 2:55
So was that was that this this shop?

Mark 2:57
Wasn't this shop unfortunately no, it was it was known as Corn Hill House, which is where the roundabout, the small roundabout by where FF & F used to be and the town clock is now it used to be a row of cottages that used to go right the way back through up to the market there. And we have a three shops on the front which which would have been a Brabers a fruit shop and a flower shop, which my Gran run. And then later on my my granddad's and his brother took over the barbers business went into there, then my dad went in then the I think the council compulsory purchased it because the lorries became 40 tons and couldn't get around the roundabout. So we were there for 99 years at the time, but they wouldn't let allow us to have 100 year, then they kicked us out. And then they left it there for four years before they knocked it down. And then unfortunately, the guy who owned this died and dad bought this. And we moved over to here, which is where I've been for the lastthirty three years.

Mell 3:51
So there's four generations. that's a lot of time that so you must have been handed down lots of stories of how things used to

Mark 4:01
Absolutely, yeah, definitely. Yeah, there's hundreds of stories. I think getting back off how things used to be to compare to now, obviously, we've gone to appointments now, which is a real shocker, where there was just a sort of a walking culture, you know, back in the day when it started off. I don't think my granddad started or my great granddad I don't think he even started cutting hair. I think he was doing beards. I think nobody had a beard. So they started off just having bedrooms originally with the cutthroats because nobody could do it at home or as well. And then there was a sort of it sort of sort of evolved into sort of, could you just take a bit of rain in the air and then I think that's how he actually was I don't think he ever trained do you know what I mean it was just one of those things that he sort of graduated in, then it was taken a bit more often then he got a little bit a little bit better and just progressed through there to become a barber.

So he was never above to start with

That's right. he was shaving you. I mean, and then I think it just graduated from shaving into sort of barbarism as it were, so it sort of went through into, you know, haircuts and then got better at it but don't know how he became so popular here. But obviously, obviously his son then moved here and lived in the shop opposite which was my great my granddad. So Ray and Fred didn't quite have the reputation and all fairness, they were sort of they were pigeon fanciers. So it would be nothing for somebody to sit there for half an hour, where they were at the back, they had the two chairs as they would have been left and right of a wall. And then there was a window. And if they ever seen one of their pigeons come home, that's it. They were gone. The bloke was left in the chair on his own, they were out the back door on a call with this pigeon down off the roof to get his ring in and clock it in because there was a racing pigeon and that's what that was their thing. So it'd be nothing for a bloke to walk out with half a haircut and get fed up with waiting, just throw the gown on the floor and walk out

Mell 5:36
I notice noticed. Occasionally we've seen pigeon lorries. Yeah. And they released them. But it's something that's died out.

Mark 5:44
Yeah, that doesn't seem to work. Another things thats changed unfortunately, that used to happen loads, you know, these to sort of take pigeons from all over the country. And then they released them, they still have one up sort of what used to be Willits, which is the back across the road here where the market used to be in the nice to have thousands and then they would just let him go, and then they would fly back in the time them to wherever home is. And the first one back wins, you know, so was it

Mell 6:03
Was it just a natural progression that each generation went into becoming a barber and took over the business? So it's

Mark 6:08
Yeah, it seems to have been that way. You know, everybody on my dad's side has been a boy. So I mean, so it's just an everybody has been a boy has gone into the barbering. So it just seemed to be a natural progression. Yeah, I don't think I even ever thought about it really, until I got to about 15 or 16. And dad said, "What do you want to do?" And I was like, Oh, be a barber, I suppose isn't it is the family trade it was? And we just went into it. And then I just fell into it.

Mell 6:32
So did you get a chance to work with your father

Mark 6:33
Yes, yeah, I work with dad. I went off and trained as a lady's hairdresser first. For four years, and then I came back to work here was a story that went with that, unfortunately, my dad, the guy that used to work with my dad ended up robbing him. As you do, so, he worked with dad for 36 years, I think, unfortunately, sticky for it used to be of a gambler. So unfortunately, the sticky fingers got the better of him. And he ended up robbing dads. So in the end, he sort of said, right, we'll have to go our separate ways, which we did. And then that left room for me. So that was quite a quite a good move from his part. Because it got me in anything. I've always they could have been working together for years. So

Mell 7:12
So do you remember working on the other side of the road?

Mark 7:14
I wasn't no, I can remember being there. But I didn't work there. So that was sort of I can remember helping dad out is a side kick used to go on holiday. So I would go in everybody have their hair washed, then it wasn't that sort of thing. It was just, that was not a question. Everybody had their hair washed. So when he was away, I would wash the hair for Dad, I'd ask them where they would like their party because everybody had a party and it was left, right or center, end off. And so I began them up, wash them put the pattern in and then dad would move on to the next customer over go over to the other chair, then wash the next person's hair parting in and they just kept going through like that. So that worked out quite well.

Mell 7:49
What have you seen it as Highbridge a town what have you seen that you've that you've thought interesting,

Mark 7:56
Highbridge historically years and years ago was a fantastic place. It had sort of the railway works, but you're going back to 1940s 50s 60s. It had the clay works at the time, then, you know, we built everything around here, then we had the docks, up the road here, so that the railway line went straight across the road next to my shop across the sort of some crossing gates here. So that was a massive positive. But unfortunately, a lot of the businesses have gone downhill since then. So we're struggling to sort of find too many positives nowadays. But that was definitely most of the positives, building railway stations and but of course, we've lost the railway station. Now that's just a platform that used to be quite a busy thing. That used to run down to the docks as well, where the ships would come in and load off the the railway there. So yeah, which is where the Gardens of Remembrance is now there used to be some sort of big gates there, there's a coal yard and all that sort of stuff needs to swing the gates out over onto the boats as they used to come in, from sort of the close area.

Mell 8:53
It's only talking to people who have been here for some time, that you realise that that the area isn't how we see now. So I mean, it's people.

Mark 9:01
I mean, to be honest, most of it, there's every business that was here when I was younger, there was everything from sort of, you know, there was three butchers. There was an electrical shop, there was a gentleman's outfitters, there was chemists, three banks. Mostly we have obviously the butchers, bakers do you know what i mean. And they were all family run businesses, which is what they were about them when they which is the same as Burnham, but obviously unfortunately, everybody's come in and wiped out all the small, small businesses, which is how it goes unfortunately nowadays,

Mell 9:37
Those those collections shops, what sort of decade are we talking?

Unknown Speaker 9:42
70s they were most of them were there that that was when they started dying out? 70s I'd say when I was young. I was born 70's So it was probably 70 -80 I can remember them all they're still them but then they started sort of I don't think they had anybody to take them over. So they would like Mr. Rogers, the tobacconist fantastic guy, you Single cigarettes do you know what I mean all these chocolates sort of in our in a in a, you just walked into a sort of a halfmoon sort of shop and all it was just an array of everything but all the sweets and all the jars or around the top and things like that, which was just fantastic. But it's just that you don't get anything like that. Now do you? Just then you had all the three butchers that were here then they were fantastic with the chemists and everything was just local. Whereas nowadays, unfortunately, you walk around and you don't really know anybody there is late 70s Most of it was gone. And it was sort of 40s 50s and 60s when it was really thriving even at Steamers that used to go over to Wales, and bring people into Burnham and then they would come out on day trips around to sort of Highbridge and surrounding areas. But you know, I've got postcards from my, my father when he was customers used to write to him and say must come and see you soon they lived in Bridgewater, but it was such a long way to go. They never came, it was a holiday if they came down from Bridgewater, whereas it's 20 minutes up the road now, bosh, you won't even think about going there, which is those shows how things have changed, unfortunately.

Mell 10:58
What do you think that are the positives now even now?

Mark 11:00
I suppose that there's a few sort of local businesses opening up again now and this is sofa sofa this tender is quite a nice sort of edge and you've got a few of these shops down in the High Street. They're trying to make a go of it. Now they've got the new off. Obviously, they've built a lot of houses. So it's got to be good for the sort of work side of things. And I suppose the factories are thriving down on the industrial estate. And I think they're building another two industrial estates quite, quite close. So I suppose that the town is sort of even in an on a sort of a little bit of an even keel now, but it's just creating jobs. And it is so hard nowadays.

Mell 11:28
What sort of nightlife did you used to go on?

Mark 11:31
It wasn't quite as prolific as it is nowadays. But they sort of had, I think there was 17 pubs here, in its heyday. I mean, from where my shop is now, there was four, just up that road or five, just up the road opposite. This was my very young days as well, to be honest, it was nearly out of my era, but it was all the dock workers and all the carriage workers and all the railway workers, they were all sort of based locally, so they all drank locally. There used to be a social club dead opposite my shop here, which was stroke cinema stroke club, stroke pub, and they had big sort of marble steps going up to it. I remember that was I was never allowed in there because it was obviously too young. And I was remember just trying to peer through the door to sort of get in and get a glimpse, but he always got smacked around ears and Oi hoppitt. And so I mean, the George was a fantastic place back in the day as well. That was a really good pub, the Highbridge Hotel. That was a really good pub. Back in its day. Obviously, the Cooper's has always been there. And of course, there's the sort of there used to be a huge town hall where they used to do a lot of sort of, discos dances, tea dances, and all that sort of stuff used to go on there. I think we used to have a jail even below that on the town hall back in the day, historically underneath there, so it's Yeah, I think pub wise, you weren't short for a drink.

What were the markets like in when we had markets in Highbridge? How How big were they?

Highbridge market here was the cattle market was huge. That was it was probably one of the biggest I think I don't think anywhere else Weston didn't have one. And I don't think Bridgewater have one until later years. So the guy Morris Wall who set that up. It was absolutely massive, you know, you'd get Highbridge was gridlocked. Because all the the wagons would be queuing to get into the market and they used to have to go in off the entrance of Close road. So you could only fit two lorries down Close road before they got to the market. So then they'd have to queue on the road. So that just created a gridlock back either way. But that was just the done thing then nobody really got upset. It was just you sat in the queue and you had to wait your time and that was the end of it not the farmer would have taken any notice to you if you did shout at him he's a big burly Chap The guy was twice the size of anybody else. So nobody would have even said anybody else to be honest. There was yeah, that was there was a good times.

Mell 13:38
What's your what's your sort of take on living in a what I would class industrial, rural seaside area?

Mark 13:46
Yeah, I've always found it a fantastic place to do you know, nothing's going to jump in your lap nowadays. And I think when we were younger, local nightlife, we sort of were always in Weston or we went to Bridgewater, we did go away to sort of Torquay, Newquay, Plymouth, Weymouth but it was it was the sort of the local life was was fantastic back then. You know what I mean, there was a real sort of good social atmosphere, all the pubs in Burnham. And we used to go around never used to get any grief, never used to cause much trouble ever thinking about that. So it was a we were quite a quite a good good crowd off all personally.

Mell 14:16
So the plans for the future

Mark 14:18
Yeah, definitely staying here, theres a well I'm trying to entice my son into the equation he's my youngest is a bit he's not sure what he wants to do completely. So I'm hoping to bring him into the fold because I would like a fifth generation to go in. They want it to stop now. So it'd be nice to sort of get someone in and help me through there but he's crossed between mechanics and Barbering and at the moment so I think he's just he really does like cars but I think he's got a little bit confused thinking he would like to do mechanics course to get into sort of so you can play with his own car and then come into barbering later on where he should be doing it the other way around. So I'm, I'm working on that one. Slowly but surely

I have to ask about the traffic because obviously we've now got The main A road just literally goes through the town as it always has. Yes, but No, it's very busy. Yeah. How much has that changed the town?

Tenfold, I mean, I think even when I was younger, there was barely any traffic you could ever hear going past here. You know, even before my time when the lion gates were here, obviously as a train come through, it was the S&dD here. So the gates would have gone past and I remember talking to my dad, and he said, you'd be lucky if you got three or four cars. In total, either side. And they might be there for 20 minutes with the gate shut if it shut now for 20 minutes now there would be a cue about 10 miles long. So yeah, the traffic is really increased, obviously, as it does nowadays. But back in the day there Yeah, there was there was hardly any cars about at all.

Mell 15:43
I remember as a child, again, 70s period, you would drive up and down there and there'd be some cars, even in the middle of summer. Yeah, and now it's like it's just packed

Mark 15:55
Yeah it has gone sort of tenfold now. And which I suppose you know, when you think of every every household now they've got two or three kids, they all drive they've all got their own car. Nobody's going to share a car now are they unfortunately, which which they should do but they don't

Mell 16:07
As a final thing what would you want to add to Highbridge.

Mark 16:12
If I was going to add something personally, I want to do something that I was remembered for. I always thought of the area down by behind bunkrooms garage, they're going to build houses now. So that's ruin that but you know sort of like a small stadium for the kids. Somewhere that the the Boxing Clubs could go the you know, the complete cricket and football there. You know, leave them some money if I've had had enough ever. So it would be self contained never to be sold. And it could leave them somewhere where they would always because I think they not enough here now for the kids to do. So. Unfortunately, where there's not enough air to entertain them. They do go off the rails and then cause trouble.

Mell 16:44
There seems to be a big push towards trying to get people to realise that Highbridge and Burnham although they're next to each other are completely different places. And both are worth visiting.

Mark 16:54
That's right. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like say it's hard to it's bit hard to find the the history of Highbridge it's there in books and online if you want to look at it, but Burnham's got a bit more to view, hasn't it whereas Highbridge now you sort of drive through it and it can be a bit nondescript, unfortunately, can't it so unless you know where you're going and what you're looking for. It's very hard to come across it whereas Burnham it's the seafront, the Esplanade, which is quite nice. But it's it's there to see where Highbridge you have to dig a little bit deeper. You need to find some locals.

Mell 17:22
And they've always they've always got the stories.

Mark 17:24
That's right, they've always got the stories.

Mell 17:25
So all I can do is wish you every success in continuing into the fifth generation

Mark 17:31
Yes, hopefully Touchwood that's that's the next plan.

Mell 17:34
I shall continue to come here and get my Haircut.

Mark 17:36
Yes, thank you very much cheers.

Outro 17:37
The Highbridge podcast available on many popular podcast directories distributed as the Highbridge podcast on Apple iTunes, Spotify, Podcast Google, Amazon music, and Tune in.com It can also be found at Sedgemore media.com And he's hosted and found at Highbridgepodcast.transistor.fm. Also available on your smart speakers. Just say the wake word to the speaker and say clearly, play the Highbridge podcast