Bedford
Cliftons

Places > Bedford > Shops > Cliftons

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The menswear shop was founded in 1913 by Henry Clifton on a site where the Harpur Centre now stands. In the 1920s he bought the site at 33 Midland Road on the opposite side of the road where the Black Swan public house stood empty and a few years later he extended the shop by taking over the pub next door the Royal Oak.

In the late 1940s the business opened a second shop at 16 St. Paul’s Square. When in 1962 a third pub, The Cock Inn at the corner was converted the decision was made to move the business from St. Paul’s Square back into what was often called by the locals Clifton’s Corner.

In July 1996 the shop closed, with managing director Michael Clifton saying that the changing shape of retailing with the competition of major stores and out-of-town shopping centres was the major factor behind the decision to close.

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Cliftons by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2014

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Page last updated: 7th May 2014