Shopkeepers Nation of From Bread Street to Burlington Arcade and from The Shambles to
Selfridges, the UK has had a long and colourful love affair with shopping WORDS SARAH HISCOCK
B
ritain is a nation of shopkeepers,” British high-street heroine Mary Portas once said. She’s right; but it would seem we’re a nation of
shoppers too. Each year 200 million visitors descend on London’s Oxford Street, spending around £6 billion in its 548 shops. From retail emporium Selfridges and iconic stores such as Harrods and Harvey Nichols, to the creation of undercover giants like Bluewater and Westfield London (the size of 30 football pitches), it would seem that a spot of retail therapy has never been so popular. So when did this love affair with shopping start? History
shows it can be traced as far back as 43AD when the Romans arrived on British shores. Visit Richborough Fort in Kent – the soldiers’ landing point, now under the care of English Heritage – and you can see the outlines of stone- built open-fronted shops within the triple-ditch defences. Following the departure of the Romans, shopping took a
slight nosedive and trade was done via temporary stalls set up by local farmers and craftsmen to sell their wares direct to the customer (today’s Farmers’ Markets are just as
58 BRITAIN
popular). As the population grew so too did the amount of produce and the size of regular markets. Trades were eventually assigned to specific areas – something you can still see in London street names such as Bread Street and Haymarket. The Shambles in York – where 14th-century timber-framed buildings overhang the winding cobbled streets – seems to have taken its name from the Saxon word Fleshammels, literally meaning ‘flesh-shelves’. Meat lined the shelves of the butchers’ shops here right up until 1872 (at which point there were 25). Today you’re more likely to find souvenir shops than slabs of meat. Permanent shops with living space above or behind soon
started making an appearance, and by the late 17th century, England and Wales had about 40,000 shopkeepers. Two fantastic examples are still trading in London’s St James’s Street: wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd (1698) and Lock & Co Hatters (1676). However, the golden age of the high street didn’t hit until the 1860s and 70s. Spurred on by the Great Exhibition of 1851, which brought desirable goods from overseas, people sought
www.britain-magazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100