Several years ago BTP Joe was on Shell Beach, Canvey, when he came across this old piece of pottery. It clearly belonged to the company ‘Cox’s’ who set up a major establishment on Canvey. Aside from the main building, there was a small cafe hut on the beach at one time, from which we speculate the pottery came. note the glaze-ware pottery (designed to store liquids) denotes possibly ‘soup’ along the top rim.
Cox’s was a large right-angle shaped building, existent between Seaview Road, Dovercliff Road and South Parade, extant roughly during the first half of the 20th Century.
A memoir from the Canvey Community Archive (www.canveyisland.org) explains how:
“Coxes’ store one of the last commercial buildings at the point end of the island was situated on the seafront side of the junction with South Parade and Dovervelt Rd is behind Chapman Flats at the bottom of Seaview Rd. I remember pre 1960’s a rather dark foreboding building in an isolated position, (the sort of building that to a child’s eyes Witches & Warlocks lived ) I remember it had various incarnations initially as hotel then Off-licence finally general store/Post Office .Whilst In the off-licence incarnation friends and myself used it as our personal bank, ‘finding bottles’ and returning them each time they were placed out the back in the store demonstrating ‘early entrepreneurial tendencies’, pre Elf & Safety (those were the days).”
By Thomas Johnson On 01/04/2013
The building was also a dance hall and cafe throughout its lifespan.
