I AM 95 years old and a friend is kindly writing this for me.

I can remember them very well. The shop was a narrow one but quite a lot of people used to go there, mostly lorry drivers. In fact, only men seemed to go.

It was in Lower High Street, Watford (number 237a) and next door but one to a large flour mill where there was a big fire which left the mill derelict.

Mrs Crane would have done the cooking and her daughter, Edith, waited on the customers.

Edith was a tiny lady and had a lot of golden hair which she plaited round and round on the top of her head. She wore high heels and very short skirts showing her knees.

I used to go by her shop four times a day and there was always a lovely smell of cooking coming out of the door.

We couldn't see any of the customers sitting inside as there was a partition at the back of the small window.

It was a very well kept business and a very respectable establishment.

I imagine it was a family business for many years as I can remember it as a child before the First World War.

In 1938 I changed my job so I no longer walked along Lower High Street on my way to and from work, so do not know exactly when the business closed.

However, Mrs Crane's Refreshment Rooms do appear in the 1939 edition of Kelly's Directory of Watford.

MRS EDITH RUTHERFORD, of Haydon Road, Oxhey

January 27, 2003 16:00