Then & Now: Hazleton Way Shops

Hazleton Way is situated between Cowplain and Horndean and is predominately a large housing estate of mainly bungalows built in the early 1960s on the site of ‘Hazleton Wood”. Did you know that halfway through Hazleton Way there is a parade of five shops and a day care nursery?

To find Hazleton way, from Cowplain, drive down Padnell Road (Padnell Road is one of the roads serviced by the Cowplain traffic lights), and about halfway down turn left into Hazleton Way. If you are coming from Horndean, Hazleton Way is serviced by the set of traffic lights next to the Catherington Lights on the A3.

In 1998 the parade of shops at Hazleton Way comprised of:

• “New Lucky” Chinese Takeaway
• “Clements”, a Mace convenience store
• Post Office and letterbox
• Glacier Windows
• Hazleton Hardware & General Store – which had just closed to become a computer shop
• The Crows Nest public house

The photographs below are from 1998:

In modern times small parades of shops like Hazleton Way can struggle to catch passing trade and have a heavy reliance on regular customers. When these shops were first built in the 1960’s, they were probably well used and would have been part of a thriving sub-community serving the vast Hazleton Estate.

Today, 2014, Hazleton Way looks somewhat different:

• Singapore Island takeaway (we order from here a lot … though we really ought to try new dishes rather than ring up and order the ‘usual’) is located in the same shop as the former, “New Lucky”.
• Clements closed in early 2014 to reopen some months later as a new Premier Convenience Store
• All that remains of the former Post Office is the letterbox, and this retail unit is now Diverse Hair Design
• Glacier Double Glazing became Carpet Craft, which in turn became DTS Garden Services
• Hazleton Hardware became a computer shop, which then in turn became Three Jun Chinese Takeaway, which then became Cowplain Chip Shop which stayed open for just over 4 months before closing.
• The Crows Nest is no longer a pub, it is now a child care facility. A large proportion of the car park was sold and houses have been built on the land.

Hazleton Way in September 2014:

With the pub gone, and post office closed, passing trade is reduced to this parade of shops, so much so that Cowplain Ship Shop during it’s brief outing, was unknown in the area.

One of the owners of these shop commented on our blog post about Cowplain Chip Shop, so Steve made a point to pop into DTS Garden Services the next time he was passing. DTS Garden Services service and repair lawnmowers, garden machinery and also sell pre-owned garden machinery. In the shop itself, they have everything from birdseed, to light-bulbs, plants, nuts and bolts, Christmas lights (and crackers) as well as greetings cards. Open 7 days a week, and if you are driving by there is usually ample parking right out the front. They also have a website and you can telephone them on 023 9307 3665 – please mention “About Waterlooville”.

… and just one last thing … rumour is Cowplain Chip Shop will re-open with new management in October.