Our History at the General Store
1885 is where the General Store story begins. Since then, the store has moved, burnt down, rebuilt, changed hands and evolved with Upper Beaconsfield — but its role as a practical local hub has remained remarkably consistent.
John Nathan and the historic Upper Beaconsfield General Store.
The General Store began in 1885
The first General Store stood on the corner of McBride and Salisbury Road, diagonally opposite the present store site. After that building burnt down, the business moved along Salisbury Road to the site of today’s community garden beside the Community Centre. In 1929, John Nathan moved the General Store again — this time across to Beaconsfield–Emerald Road to capture the growing motor traffic passing through town. That is the site the General Store still occupies today.
The first General Store
The Upper Beaconsfield General Store began in 1885. Its first home was on the corner of McBride and Salisbury Road, diagonally opposite the General Store’s present site.
The early store combined retail with the post and telegraph service, making it far more than a place to buy groceries. It was part shop, part communications centre and part essential service for a young Hills community.
That first store later burnt down. The General Store then moved a short distance along Salisbury Road to the area that is now the community garden beside the Community Centre.
A store shaped by rural Upper Beaconsfield
Upper Beaconsfield developed as an orchard and rural community, with fruit growing, farms, livestock and smaller country holdings all part of everyday life. That practical Hills lifestyle shaped what people needed from their General Store.
It is a story that still feels familiar today. Gardens, animals, sheds, tanks, firewood and acreage remain part of local life, even as the community has grown and changed.
Our vintage tractor, Chug, is a deliberate nod to the orchards, farms and rural properties that helped define Upper Beaconsfield. The heritage pieces in the store are there to tell the story of the Hills, not simply to decorate the building.
The post office began inside the General Store
The early General Store included the local post and telegraph office. For residents, the store was therefore both a place to collect supplies and a connection to people and places beyond Upper Beaconsfield.
In 1914, the post office became a separate service and moved into its own building on Salisbury Road. That building is still there today.
We are progressively bringing that chapter into the physical General Store with a heritage-style phone booth and post box, helping explain why post and communications are such an important part of the store’s story.
The General Store moved again as transport changed
John Nathan operated the General Store from Salisbury Road after the earlier McBride Road building had been lost to fire.
By the late 1920s, the motor car was changing how people travelled through Upper Beaconsfield. The main Beaconsfield–Emerald Road carried increasing traffic, and Nathan saw the value in moving the store onto that route.
In 1928 he purchased the former Shorthouse transport property, and in 1929 the General Store moved across to the site it occupies today. Historical records describe one of the old coach-house buildings being adapted for the new store.
The Loveridge years
In 1938, James Shillingford “Ford” Loveridge purchased Nathan’s Upper Beaconsfield store. The Loveridge family became one of the best-known names in the General Store’s history and remained associated with the business for around four decades.
The store had the feel of a traditional country General Store: timber floors, counter service, weighed goods, deliveries and long trading hours serving both locals and weekend visitors.
The historical photograph shown here belongs to the Loveridge era, and the planned old-style shop counter, register and scales in the modern store will represent this chapter of traditional country shopkeeping.
The current site was already a transport hub
Before Nathan moved the General Store onto Beaconsfield–Emerald Road, the property was associated with the Shorthouse family’s horse-and-carriage business. Horses, stables and coach houses supported services between Upper Beaconsfield and Beaconsfield railway station.
The rise of the motor car brought that era to an end, but the site’s role remained surprisingly similar: it continued to be a place that connected Upper Beaconsfield with the wider district.
We have found old horseshoes in the General Store yard, physical evidence of the stables and horses that once occupied the site. A horse cart is planned for the rear of the store to help bring that story to life for customers.
Destroyed in February. Trading again in September.
The Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983 devastated Upper Beaconsfield, and the General Store was among the buildings destroyed.
The photograph beside this section captures what happened next. With the building gone, the General Store kept serving the town from the grass beside a fold-out chair and wagon, under a sign reading “B.U.G.S. — Business Almost as Usual.” The store was affectionately known locally as “Bugs”. It was a bit of humour in an extraordinary moment, but it also said something important: Upper Beaconsfield still needed its General Store, so they found a way to keep going.
Owners George Decelis and Ron Ellis were builders by trade and moved quickly. The shopping complex was rebuilt and the General Store reopened for trade on 12 September 1983 — only seven months after the fires.
That same spirit has carried through different owners and different challenges. We later named our Barn cat Bugs as a small nod to that history — and to the humour, resilience and ability to adapt that has carried the General Store through fire, changing times and, more recently, COVID.
Key moments in the General Store timeline
The General Store begins at the corner of McBride and Salisbury Road, with the post and telegraph office operating as part of the store.
The original building is lost and the store relocates along Salisbury Road to the site now occupied by the community garden beside the Community Centre.
The post office separates from the General Store and moves into its own Salisbury Road building.
John Nathan moves the General Store to the former Shorthouse horse-transport site on Beaconsfield–Emerald Road.
Ford Loveridge purchases the store, beginning around four decades of Loveridge family ownership.
Ash Wednesday destroys the General Store. The rebuilt shopping complex reopens on 12 September.
Laurie & Sandra Fenton, Doug & Brenda Field, John Adamson & Scott Hathaway, and Mark & Gail Kelly become successive custodians.
JD and Steph take over the General Store with their family.
The General Store continues serving the Hills through retail, hospitality, garden and rural supplies, firewood, LPG, water and local services.
The store itself is becoming part of the storytelling
Some pieces are already in place and others are being added progressively, creating a simple physical journey through the history of Upper Beaconsfield.
Chug the tractor
Represents the orchards, farms and rural properties that shaped Upper Beaconsfield.
Bugs the cat
A living nod to the store’s original nickname — Bugs.
Phone booth & post box
Tell the story of the post and telegraph office beginning as part of the General Store before moving to its own Salisbury Road building.
Counter, register & scales
Represent the timber-floored, counter-service General Store remembered from the Loveridge era.
Horse cart
Connects the current site back to its days as a horse-and-carriage transport hub serving Beaconsfield railway station.
Upper Beaconsfield History
This page is informed by the detailed local research compiled by Upper Beaconsfield History, together with photographs, local records and knowledge held by generations of people connected with the store.
Custodians of a story that began in 1885
JD and Steph took over the General Store on 1 April 2020. The business has evolved significantly since then, but the role is still familiar: keep a useful local place useful and make it easier for people to live, work and meet in the Hills.
The heritage pieces being added through the store are designed to connect the modern business with the community, industries and services that came before it — without turning the General Store into a museum.
The General Store opens again
Seven months after Ash Wednesday, the rebuilt General Store opened its doors again. It is a fitting final historical image: destruction did not end the story — the community rebuilt and kept going.
The rebuilt General Store after Ash Wednesday, reopening in September 1983.
From the first store on Salisbury Road to the General Store of today
Different buildings, different owners and different ways of getting around — but the General Store has remained part of Upper Beaconsfield life since 1885.