Stepping back through time at Walton's

In 1832, Walton & Sons began life as a paper and twine merchant. Nearly 200 years on, the shop on Stamford Street Central in Ashton is set to sadly close its doors for good...

Push open the doors, and you’ll see the last of its stock. Foil cake drums and fluorescent royal icing, WM Walton’s has been specialising in cake decoration and catering for years.

Behind the old-fashioned counter I met Marilyn and Dave, ready for their retirement. With 58 years in the store, Walton’s belonged to Marilyn’s family, and many are sad to see it go, as a customer exclaims that ‘they’ve nowhere else to go’ for the items Walton’s specialise in.

Leaving the store behind, rock and roller Dave, offers a tour. 

With a salute to the King, Elvis Presley, on a glossy calendar, he leads me outside to a cobbled courtyard. The BBC have been at the period features here, filming for ‘Ridley Road’, and though this TV show is centered around life in the 18th century, they’ve built their own set pieces to, presumably, make them more palatable to their audience. Unchanged, the stables lie beyond, a drafty room too poky for more than the one horse and all its tack.

Then it’s a steep climb up to the fourth floor - and a surprise. Here is a printing press and a guillotine, both so heavy that there’s a real fear the planks might cave beneath our feet. In some places, they already have.

Once, Marilyn told us, the family used to live on the top floor, perhaps curling up beside the untouched fireplace. 

The room that neighbours this one contains an alphabet soup of letterpresses, and even to Dave, their purpose remains a mystery.

Down again, to the rooms used for the last of Walton’s stock. In among the cardboard boxes is heavy furniture, and a stack of leather-bound books that Dave believes might have belonged to an ancestral French schoolteacher. The print so small that you have to strain to read it. 

This concludes a tour of the building, returning to the present century. However, the past still lingers in the rooms and floors above.

Walking through Walton’s was  exciting and bittersweet, knowing the store was closes. Thank you to both Dave and Marilyn for taking the time to show me around - and enjoy your retirement!

Stepping back in time...

We were able to visit the Walton’s store before the latest lockdown and these pictures below reveal a treasure trove of history behind the scenes, far removed from the shop’s present day cake boutique decorations.

The shop had to close for ‘Lockdown 2’ but hopes to be open again when restrictions permit, before Marilyn and Dave retire.