FAMILIES in the Friars in Oxford could always rely on shopkeeper Edith Harris.

Fruit, veg, groceries, even children’s clothes – all their daily needs were available at the tiny store in Commercial Road, St Ebbe’s.

Her grandson Michael O’Keefe recalls: “The shop sold everything.”

He has found in his family belongings this picture of two women at the shop door.

He believes the slimmer woman is his grandmother, but he has no idea of the name of the other.

Edith, a member of the Harris family, the well-known Oxford boat-builders, was born at the Grandpont Arms, in Edith Road, off Abingdon Road – hence the name Edith.

It is not known when Edith, who married James Green, started in business, but the picture shows that she traded under her maiden name.

She ran the shop until her death in the 1920s. It was then taken over by her daughter, Ruby Keefe, Mr O’Keefe’s mother – she and her husband George never used the ‘O’.

The shop closed in 1939 when Ruby and George took charge of the Wharf House pub, in Friars Wharf. They stayed behind the bar there until the mid-1970s.

What remained of the shop disappeared in the St Ebbe’s redevelopment scheme.

But the discovery of the picture has spurred Mr O’Keefe, of Elms Drive, Old Marston, to find out more about the family business.

He recalls that the premises were quite extensive – big enough to house him, his parents, grandfather and brother, plus two lodgers.

One of his memories is the shop’s drinks machine.

Customers put a coloured tablet in a bottle which the machine whizzed round to create an appetising drink – all for a penny.

When the shop closed, the machine was sold to a nearby shop run by Guv’nor Willis.

One intriguing feature of the picture are that two of the upstairs windows are boarded up.

Mr O’Keefe wonders if this was a legacy of the ‘window tax’, under which, from 1696 to 1851, owners and occupiers were charged tax on the number of windows in their property.

Another point of interest is the advertisement outside the shop for the East Oxford Theatre – the forthcoming programme included Through the World and My Irish Molly.

Can anyone date the photograph, identify the mystery woman, or provide any more information about the shop?