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Goldings - Ironmongers
80 and then moved to 107 High Street
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Goldings
In
1867, William Day established the ironmongery business which later became
Goldings. At that time there were about a dozen ironmongers in Bedford.
Goldings continues to fascinate shoppers today with its amazing array of
household goods of every category and description for sale. According to the Goldings website, it has always been a family run business that has prided
itself on customer service and product knowledge in ironmongery. They
stock a wide range of products from hand, power and garden tools, electrical
goods and
lighting, pest control and fireworks to plumbing equipment. They also offer
locksmith and key-cutting services.
The business was originally situated at 80 High Street, a shop currently occupied since the early 1970s by Harrison and Simmonds after they moved there from 78 High Street. These are the only two Bedford High Street shops to remain open throughout the twentieth century and a full decade into the twenty-first century.
According to local historian, Richard Wildman, 107 High Street was occupied by Mrs Ellen Sims wool and fancy warehouse in 1887. By 1894, Day & Son, ironmongers, had taken over and this became Golding & Grant soon after 1897 and then William Golding, Ironmonger after 1900. I discovered from a plan for alteration submitted, that in 1923, 107 High Street although occupied by Goldings, belonged to Messrs Higgins & Sons Ltd.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, the business was bought by Mr Rigby-Smith of Russell Avenue, Bedford, who sold it to Samuel Flower in 1919. However, Mr Flower was not blessed with good health, could not rely solely on his staff to help with running the business and was looking for a manager.
Fortuitously, in 1925, a commercial traveller knew that a man who was employed at Newmans ironmongers in Kingston-on-Thames and originated from Bedford, wanted to move back there. Ernest Lain, the middle one of five children, had been born to Albert and Annie Lain, when they lived in Hurst Grove. He started an apprenticeship at Randalls in St Marys Street. When Randalls could not offer him permanent employment at the end of his apprenticeship in 1924, he moved to Kingston-on-Thames. He was earning 5 a week as a junior assistant at Newmans, which was an excellent wage in those days. When he wanted to return to Bedford the next year, the commercial traveller put him in contact with Mr Flower, who could only offer him 2.15s.Od (2.75) a week. Even so, Ernest accepted the job, as it would cost him less to live at home.
According to an article in the Rotary Club of Bedford 1975-76, in 1932, the business became a limited company, of which Mr Flower and Ernest Lain were the directors. Ernest Lain became the managing director on the death of Mr Flower in 1954. His son, Anthony (Tony), joined the firm as full-time director on 1st January, 1976. The business expanded so much that the first floor needed to become a stock room. When Ernest Lain first joined the business, two tinsmiths and a plumber were employed, who made coal scuttles and other items by hand. By the mid-1970s, the shop was selling radio-controlling equipment for model boats and aeroplanes, along with a host of other items reflecting modern life. By then, over 10,000 items were in stock, catering for the many demands of its many customers. Over the decades, gas mantles were replaced by electric light bulbs and steel cutlery by stainless steel. Ernest Lain knew that people appreciated the personal touch in a shop and friendliness with the customers has always been a part of the shops ethos. When the Rotary Club article was written, self-service and giant supermarkets already ruled the roost. Ernest Lain felt the Goldings approach was better for staff, as well as customers. Even then, it was unusual for the manager to have such close contact with all concerned. The shop celebrated its centenary in 1967 and its 125th anniversary in 1992. Even then, Ernest Lain was serving as Company Secretary at the age of 89, although he had been succeeded by his son, Tony, as manager.
I put out a brief questionnaire about Bedford High Street on paper and by email to people who were living in or near Bedford over forty years ago and received several memories about Goldings.
Linda Finning moved to Bedford from London in 1969 and remembers the wooden floor in Goldings and the things to buy that her mother would have used in her kitchen. The people who served her reminded her of her younger days when the workers would wear smocks. Also, Goldings would always close one day a week, which reminded her of earlier years of her life.
Sallie Saunders (ne Blundell) wrote: It was during the 1990s that I frequently shopped in Goldings, which seemed to stock every household item under the sun, including fly swatters. My youngest, born in 1984, and I went regularly to the back end of Goldings (a long, narrow shop) because there was found an area dedicated to model aircrafts, boats, early motor cars, etc. of all sizes, plus the paints and glues needed to construct them. The sales assistants throughout the shop were endlessly helpful and unfailingly knowledgeable of exactly where to find anything required. It was the archetype of old-fashioned dedication to service to the customer during an era which had already moved on to fast service or self-service.
Mirabel Alison, who has lived in Bedford since 1964, recalls Goldings as a comfortable, helpful ironmongers that had everything for DIY and the kitchen very good for toys, too. She particularly liked the expertise of the staff. Before 1970, the shop seemed more in the centre of town. Now it is off the beaten track.
Phil Bushell said of Goldings that, like hundreds of other children, he also was a regular visitor there to buy especially, balsa wood models and pieces of balsa wood and Airfix kits of planes and ships, along with the paints required. That would be in the early sixties for him.
Rona Rowlands is still using a set of Swan saucepans which she bought from Goldings, when she got married in 1950. Joyce Stanton (ne Keeble) was born in 1920. She used to do all the household repairs and decorating. She said that the staff in Goldings were very obliging and would tell you how to do something and sell you the utensils, tools and spare parts, etc. without overcharging. They could always find what you needed; if it was not stocked, they knew where it was. She is still using a tea-caddy she bought there just after the War.
Anthony and Valerie Balfour went to Goldings when they lived in Bedford for most of their hardware and cleaning items. Anthony remembers: They had a large range of nails and screws in cardboard boxes, and were happy to sell small quantities, possibly by weight. I always enjoyed the lovely smell from the oiled wood floors and the owner who was always around the shop, assisting staff as well as customers. It was wonderful to have personal service from staff who knew what to recommend. Another memory is from a Bedfordian who remembers that Mr Lain, the owner, used to greet every customer at the door and that most of the staff were fairly elderly ladies and they seemed to stock everything!
Audrey Morris thinks of Goldings as a treasure trove where you can buy just about everything. She hopes they continue to resist the temptation to upgrade. It is about the only place she knows where you can buy single items like hooks instead of having to purchase a whole packet.
I can remember shopping at Goldings as a child with my parents in the 1950s. Ernest Lain was a personal acquaintance of my father, probably as a result of being served by him in the Midland Bank. We often went into the shop on a Saturday afternoon. Even today, I often shop in Goldings to purchase a wide variety of items. Vic Warner, the present manager, has worked at Goldings for over forty years, having originally been recruited as an apprentice. Goldings is unusual in that it is still closed every Thursday afternoon.
Elizabeth Mortimer 2011
Sources
Replies to a questionnaire sent out about the High Street
Bedford Local Studies Library
- Bedfordshire Times 16.6.1967. Goldings 1867-1967
- Bedford Record 16.7.1973. Half a century of keeping the shoppers happy (Meet the Shopkeepers No. 6: Ernest Lane)
- Bedfordshire Times 25.9.1992. Goldings, 107 High Street, Bedford
- Memories of Bedford, True North Books, 1999 Oversize BED/MEM
The Higgins
- Article about the history of Goldings in the Rotary Club of Bedford 1975-76 Magazine
Images
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Page last updated: 28th May 2020