The village bakery was, for many years, situated to the rear of the two cottage next to Home Farm. The first baker listed in the parish tax records was Jacob Chandler, also the corn mille, who gave up the mill after 1819 but continued as the baker to be followed by his son, John, the baker in the 1841 census. The bakery appears to have closed in the late 1870’s as no baker appears in the 1881 census.

Various inhabitants are listed in 19th century censuses as dress makers or tailors, the Poor House accounts record payments to them for clothing for the poor. Most appear to have been small concerns working from home with one exception, the Holtums. John Holtum was listed in the Poor House accounts in the 1820’s and 30’s, other Holtums were listed in the parish rates prior to this but no mention made of their profession. John Holtum aged 50, tailor, was recorded In 1841 as having a tailors shop in Easole Street, next door to the bakery. His widow, Maria, was proprietress in 1851, employing four men, including her son ,John. In 1871 , aged 86, she was still listed as a tailor with her son as foreman. The next census records John as a master tailor but by the end of the 1880’s he has disappeared from trade directories and census returns.. No large village tailoring businesses are listed after this, the railways and mail order meant that people had much easier access to cheap, mass produced clothing through mail order or by visiting towns such as Canterbury although individuals still carried on tailoring on a small scale.

In 1845 John Nash, the licensee of the ‘Royal Oak’, was the receiver of mail for the parish, it is almost certain that the ‘Oak’ and previously, prior to its closure, the much older ’White Horse’ in Church Street had fulfilled this duty for many years. After his death John was succeeded as licensee and receiver of mail by his widow, Harriet.

By the mid-1860’s William Cannaby, sub-post master and market gardener, ran the Post Office from premises in Easole Street across from The Oak which later developed into a grocery and remaining here until the early 1900’s.

The Post Office then moved to a house in Holt Street just past The Oak that is still called the ‘Old Post Office’. These premises had previously been occupied by William Wanstall, a cordwainer and boot and shoe maker, who lived and worked there until his retirement when his grand nieces, Clara and Louisa Holtum opened a grocers which later combined with the Post Office. Just prior to the Second World War the Post Office and shop moved into premises purpose built by Mr. T. Clayson, where it continued to serve the community under various proprietors until recently when the premises were sold and converted into a dwelling.

Some older residents of the parish will remember Mr. Hogwood's grocers shop in the 1950’s opposite Church Farm, now Farthingales. The shop originally opened as a linen drapers in the 1850’s by Mrs. Sarah Holloway, recorded in the 1851 census as farming 24 acres and employing two labourers. The business appears to have been successful as in the 1861 census, aged 61, she is a draper and grocer as well as farming 27 acres employing one man and a boy on the farm as well as two shop servants, a house servant and a carter who lived on the premises. Her son George and his wife Eliza had taken over the business by the time of the 1871 census with Sarah shown as retired. George farmed 28 acres and employed one labourer and two general servants, he is still there in much the same circumstances in 1881. The shop changed hands during the late 1880’s and subsequent owners include: Robert Sisley; Sydney Palmer Clay; Kane and Lloyd, grocers and drapers; Fred. Best; Vyes of Canterbury and finally Mr. Hogwood. The shop premises were converted into living accommodation in the 1980’s.

In Easole Street stands a small, black wooden building which for many years was the village run by Mrs. Fermor and later her daughter, Mrs. Dyson. Villages could have prescriptions filled by Mrs. Fermor’s husband at his pharmacy at Eythorne, buy remedies and toiletries as well as wool and also use the lending library for 3.d. or 6.d. per book. The chemists closed at the end of the 1960’s and became an antiques and bric-a-brac shop, continuing as such for several years. The building is at present empty, having suffered some fire damage a few years ago which necessitated some renovation.

In Holt Street other small businesses of various kinds were located. Until recently the old gatekeepers lodge at the Holt Street entrance to Fredville Park had shop premises attached to the front of the building. The lodge was first used as a shop in the 1920’s when the Woodruffe family began to sell garden produce grown by one of the sons in the walled garden at the old Fredville mansion, the garden still stands, the mansion does not, having been burnt down during the early part of the Second World War whilst occupied by the Canadian army. Over the years the shop evolved into a general provisions shop under various shopkeepers until finally closing in the early 1990’s.

Holt Street garage was once a cordwainers and boot makers, his wife, a laundress, used the old brick building by the road as a laundry. The family lived in a thatched cottage at the bottom of the garage yard which fell down during renovation in the early 1960’s. The premises became a garage in the 1930’s when William Sayers moved his business here from buildings at the rear of The Oak.

Before the 1890’s the parish had several cordwainers and boot and shoe makers, who usually working at home but by 1910 only two were left as cheap, mass produced shoes had become widely available. They finally disappeared when machinery replaced horses and the demand for leather harness declined and other products replaced leather in everyday use.

Frogham also had a grocers shop until the from at least the 1840’s until 1880’s run by the Allen sisters from premises situated in Frogham Street two houses down the road from Park Farm.