Maddox Pet Stores established 1908, Silver Street, Stockton. Is this the same Maddox’s that used to own Maddox Farm Feed on Prince Regent Street and is now located in the Whinney Hill area of Stockton? Date unknown.
Photograph by John W Chesney, supplied courtesy of Joyce Chesney
Picture Stockton Archive 
I’ve dealt with all 3 premises, West Row, Silver Street and then over to Whinney Hill, and still buy livestock feed from there
LikeLike
Has anyone got information on George Maddox antiques connoisseur ?
LikeLike
All children especially boys go through the stage were they kept pets, either a horse, dog, hens, rabbits or in my cases racing pigeons, so for this reason Maddoxs Corn Supplies was quite an important shop and business for them, or their parents for livestock supplies, Maddoxs was started by a Mr Maddox over 100 years ago in the Stockton area. At one time they rented a former butchers warehouse in West Row, Stockton, and installed in it corn bagging machinary which cleaned and polished the grains before packaging them, it was this warehouse most of us will know and be familiar with. The Manager there was Jeff Watson whose been with the company 41 years, and at the shop in Silver Street shop opened in the 1970s the shop managers were Ronnie Hannigan followed by Paul Black.
An interesting experience for Jeff Watson whilst he was working in the West Row warehouse on the 3rd floor was: One day a passerby came into the warehouse and walked around it looking for the staff (who were working upstairs) to tell them that “the downstairs area was on fire”. They all managed to rush downstairs and put the fire out before it took hold. The West Row warehouse was quite small and could not handle the tonnages of corn that needed the processing, mixing and bagging daily so the firm moved to the Whinny Hill area of Stockton, adjoining Darlington Back Lane…
LikeLike
It is true part of the Maddox complex was on West Row although it went right through to Prince Regent Street. The loading docks were on Prince Regent Street right next to the workshop door for Browns Sheet Iron Works.
As a lad I and another boy were sent up through a sky light onto the roof as water was pouring into our building, we found a connecting roof with part of Maddox’s building and the gutter was blocked. Telling Dick Brown who had no intention of going up on to that roof it would be a long job we did a bit of skiving. Made our way across to West Row then along to Dovecote Street across the roof’s, finally stopping the deluge after removing dead pidgeons and a mass of ancient debris. We had many a tea break up on that roof in sunny weather and it was three stories high. Health and safety would have had a stroke if they had been around, we thought nothing of it.
The Russels warehouse across the road from Browns and Maddox was also three stories high, there were quite a few tall buildings in that street including the Secondary School further down. The other way which came to a blank end in those days were workshops and a small foundry in my time working in the area, a very busy street during the war.
The fire Station also went through from West Row to Prince Regent Street and the Fire Chief lived in a house next to the fire station in Prince Regent Street I went to school with his son and visited the house.
LikeLike
Hi Frank, there’s a picture in the Archives called ‘Finkle Street, looking towards the High Street’, which M. Spires on January 23, 2005 said: If you look closely at this photo you will see the roof of Maddox’s Corn Mill on the top left…
https://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2006/02/11/finkle-street-looking-towards-the-high-street/
LikeLike
I think one of the names is Ronnie Harrison
LikeLike
This is a modern picture, the road has just been altered, probably not long before they closed down.
It is the same shop where once a fortnight during the war, I got off the school bus from Richard Hind to Norton walked across to the shop and collected our ration of hen meal, we got half a stone (seven pounds) in old weight and I then got the “0” bus the rest of the way home.
One night the bag seemed small to me and I asked if it was correct yes you are called Mee, so home I went. Dad went ballistic not with me, but he called Maddox some names I had never heard him use before. Next day he called in the shop and that was when we discovered there was another Mee in Stockton, no relation and never met them, we were back on the correct ration Dad and the chickens were happy.
Later years I bought dog food there and it was obvious they did not have a lot of trade by then and like a lot of the Mills they closed down.
Francis Browns where I worked after leaving school was next door to Maddox’s Mill and the smell of the grinding machines was a pleasant aroma, it did look a bit dark and satanic inside though, the lads working there covered in powder, we would call as we passed “putting white on are you” and the usual reply came which I cannot print here!
LikeLike
This shop brings loads of memorys back from my childhood. We always got everything from there for our animals.
LikeLike