Retail
Sir Thomas Lipton
Sir Thomas Lipton, the very embodiment of the cliche, ‘Poor boy makes good’, was born in 1850 of working class Northern Irish parents in Glasgow. Lipton started work as n errand boy and became a millionaire through the vast chain of grocers shops that he had created and by 1908 he was one of the…
Read MoreLeadenhall Market
A trip to the City of London is not complete without a visit to Leadenhall Market. Walking amongst the high rise office buildings in the City of London it is easy to miss the ancient market of Leadenhall. It can be found in the triangle made up of Gracechurch Street, Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street…
Read MoreMedieval Markets and Fairs Gazetteer.
Medieval markets and fairs. Medieval markets and fairs made up the economy of Britain both before and after the Black Death. The world of the market then and now would be strikingly similar to today. The archives have revealed tax records that give some insight into how the market economy of Medieval Britain was directed…
Read MoreFirst Kodak Box Brownie
The first Kodak Box Brownie was manufactured in 1900, how many of us started to take photographs with a Kodak camera?
Read MoreTailors and Family History
A plethora of tailors and dressmakers in our own family trees made us stop and think about the role of the tailor in the community and how they went about their everyday work and we will get to that but first Many in our families were tailors in Hampshire between Portsmouth and Hambledon. It just…
Read MoreLighting London Streets 1750
Lighting London’s Streets, what a difference it must have made to people. Life changing probably for some
Read MoreFirst Lyons tea shop opens 1894
Lyons Tea Shops
Read MoreMarks and Spencers opens 1894
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer open the first of their ‘Penny Bazaars’, at Cheetham Hill, Manchester. Marks arrived in Britain from Poland, penniless, illiterate and did not speak English. Spencer befriended him and lent him £5, which he used to start selling from market stalls. Their stores sold a range of household goods ‘don’t ask…
Read MoreHenry Charles Harrod 1849
In 1849, Henry Charles Harrod, a tea dealer of Eastcheap, takes over a grocery shop at 8 Brompton Road, London, that later becomes Harrods department store.
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