Shopping
History of Shopping
In 1898, Harrods installed the world’s first escalator – nervous customers were offered a brandy at the top to recover from their ‘ordeal’
Luxury is still at the heart of the business and fashionistas flock to see the latest designer threads, bags and boots, as well as to sip champagne in the Fifth Floor Bar. Leeds – which, like a lot of northern cities, rose to
prominence and wealth during the Industrial Revolution – was the second UK city to get a Harvey Nichols. The store now sits alongside Mulberry, Louis Vuitton, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood in the Victoria Quarter. This area, once slum markets and slaughterhouses, was transformed in 1900 by theatre architect Frank Matcham using rich marbles, gilded mosaics, cast and wrought iron and carved and polished mahogany. Although Britain had seen arcaded streets before
(Chester’s Rows date back to medieval times), Victorian arcades formed the first shopping centres. They suited the British climate and proved a perfect escape from the busy city streets for those of a certain social standing. Thornton’s Arcade, also in Leeds, the restored Barton Arcade in Manchester and Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade are prime examples. However, Britain’s very first modern covered arcade is The Royal Opera Arcade, just behind Her Majesty’s Theatre, in London. Designed by John Nash, of Royal Pavilion Brighton fame, and completed in 1818, it still houses shops such as Ducketts Booksellers and Pall Mall Stationers. The Royal Opera Arcade is, however, slightly outshone
by the Burlington Arcade, located in Piccadilly. Lord George Cavendish who lived in Burlington House (now the Royal Academy) commissioned his architect, Samuel Ware, to build an arcade for the “gratification of the public and to give employment to industrious females”. It opened in 1819 and a code of conduct was soon implemented, enforced by its own private police force, the Burlington Beadles, recruited by Lord Cavendish from his family regiment the 10th Hussars, and dressed in top hat and tails. There was to be no whistling, singing, playing of musical instruments, running, carrying of large parcels or the opening of umbrellas. This is still enforced today. “The Beadles really are the life and soul of the Arcade”, said Head Beadle Mark Lord. “I like to look up when I walk through the Arcade at the rosettes in the arches – some, if you look closely, are original”. With just 40 shops, Burlington Arcade is a world away
from the sprawling shopping centres that started to move out of town in the 20th century. “After the Second World
60 BRITAIN
Above, left to right: The Wonder Room at Selfridges; A visit to a couturier, 1905; The Victoria Quarter, Leeds
War, small family-run grocers converted to self-service shops and then to large, out-of-town plate glass supermarkets and hypermarkets”, said social historian Juliet Gardiner. Shopping underwent a sea-change. The mills of North West England, which produced eight
billion yards of cloth at their peak in 1912, were closed at a rate of one per minute during the 1960s and 70s. Today, the sound of spinning and weaving machinery has stopped but Salts Mill in Saltaire now bustles with shops, restaurants and an art gallery, while nearby Redbrick Mill has reinvented itself as a destination for luxury homeware. Now it would seem it is just the high street that needs to
reinvent itself. “The Resale Price Maintenance Act in 1964 opened the way for buying in volume and slashing prices”, explained Juliet. “Mass production and disposable culture really took off, bringing prices down. Young people didn’t want clothes made to last, they wanted fashionable clothes”, Individual shops could not compete on price and were forced out by retail chains. As a result, one high street now looks much like another. But it’s not all doom and gloom: there has been a resurgence in independent and artisan shops in the last decade. “Customers increasingly want personal service, individual goods and more choice. They care where their food and other commodities are sourced. The fight back has begun...”
WHERE TO SAMPLE THE BEST OF BRITISH
Nottingham Lace: The Lace Market Centre, 3/5 High Pavement, The Lace Market, Nottingham. Tel: (0115) 988 1849. In the 1800s the production of Chantilly and other luxury weaves brought an economic boom to the region. At the Lace Market Centre you can see demonstrations of machine and hand-made lace and purchase your own. Harris Tweed: Country chic was all over the 2011 catwalk, and tweed has never been trendier. Harris Tweed, with its distinctive flecks of colour, was used in the fitting out of the QE2 in the
1960s, and is protected by an Act of Parliament limiting the use of the trademark to tweeds made in the Outer Hebrides. Most tweed today comes from the mills of Harris Tweed Hebrides (
www.harristweedhebrides.com) in Shawbost, Isle of Lewis. It exports to more than 40 countries and supplies designers including Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Pottery: Known as the World Capital of Ceramics, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire is home to best-loved brands Wedgwood, Royal Doulton
and Moorcroft. Visit the Wedgwood Visitor Centre (www.wedgwoodvisitorcentre. com) and Wedgwood Museum (www.
wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk), watch demonstrations, and choose your own piece from the factory shops. Jewellery: All that glitters is waiting to be discovered in Hatton Garden, near Holborn, the centre of London’s jewellery trade since medieval times. Today you'll find nearly 300 jewellers including Andrew R Ullmann (
www.arullmann. com), specialising in Georgian and Victorian jewellery.
www.britain-magazine.com
PHOTO: BERRY BROS/BURLINGTON ARCADE/HARVEY NICHOLS/SELFRIDGES/VISIT BRITAIN/ HARRODS/MARY EVANS/LEEDS VICTORIA QUARTER
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