From the Mirror archives

October 20, 1935

A shopkeeper with fish to fry as rays of hope break through the clouds of the Great Depression. Fishmonger Mr Spratt, of Hounslow, had opened his shop 10 months previously despite the years of financial crisis following the 1929 Wall Street crash. The good news for him was that the second half of the 1930s saw a slight recovery, with London and the South East even experiencing a mini economic boom.