Truffles, 97 High St, Lymington

Truffles

97 High St, Lymington

Tel: 01590 673428

Truffle’s specialises in chocolates, sweets in jars, coffee and teas, specialty foods and greetings cards. It has been a confectionary shop for 60 years.

Elizabeth Radcliffe took over the business 23 years ago, but it wasn’t to be a good start for Elizabeth. One week after she moved in the pipe from the geyser upstairs burst and water cascaded downstairs into the shop. There was then a frantic search for the mains valve to turn off the water supply. After some time a trap door to the cellar was found underneath a cupboard and fixed to the floor by 40 screws! The mains valve was eventually located at the end of the cellar in 4 foot of water.

The water unfortunately came through the ceiling just were Elizabeth had kept her new stock ready to place on the shelves. The council also condemned all the surrounding stock and poured bleach on the confectionary to make sure it couldn’t be sold.
That wasn’t the end of Elizabeth’s troubles, once down in the cellar it was found that all the supporting pillars holding up the shop floor had rotted away.

The shop has some interesting historic features; at the back of the shop, inside a cupboard is a well, said to be the best preserved well in Lymington. The rear half of the shop has a concrete floor, under which is thought to be a domed cellar, but no entrance has ever been found. Rumour has it that all the cellars on this side of the High Street were linked forming a smuggler’s tunnel from the quay to the church.

Most of the history of the shop was passed on by members of the Furness family who in the 1920s owned this shop and 2 others (numbers 96, 97 & 98 High St). The family, including 10 brothers emigrated to Australia.

Opening times: Mon to Sat, 9am - 5.30pm

Truffles was a grocery store (Covent Garden Stores) in c1912. The circus is seen here parading up the High Street and above the alleyway to the left of the shop, a sign advertises, stabling.