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Arthur Day - Ladies' Outfitters
13 High Street

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Arthur Day

Advertisement for Arthur Day from the Bedford Directory, 1947 Arthur Days shop, described in the 1926 Bedford Directory as a costumiers, sold womens clothes and hats. By 1928, it was listed more comprehensively and grandly as Arthur Chas. Day - costumier, furrier and milliner. Two decades later the business had become a limited company, Arthur Day (Costumiers) Ltd. From 1969 onwards, Kellys Directory of Bedford described the business as a ladies outfitters. Its reputation was of a shop which catered for the more exclusive end of womens fashion and it became well-known as a specialist in bridal wear for the last 15 years of trading.

This was a family business run by 3 generations. Arthur Day came down from the North to Bedford with his wife Nora, to set up a shop at number 13 High Street, in May 1926. He semi-retired in 1959 and died in 1963 aged 69. Born in Bolton, Lancashire, his son Leslie Day then ran the business together with his wife, Enid and their daughter Susan Mant. Nicholas Day, grandson of the founder, took over the reins after his father Leslie died in 1977 aged 57.

Number 13, High Street , Bedford is a fine three storey, red-brick Victorian building, with a basement. Local directories and the official censuses from 1851 to 1901 show that drapers, that is cloth merchants and costumiers had been in business at that address for much of the 19^th century. The Bedfordshire Directory for 1847 lists Luke Cherry in business in the High Street (this was quite possibly at number 13: he was definitely installed at number 13 High Street in the 1861 census). He is described as a linen draper, silk mercer, Brazilian straw hat manufacturer and agent to the Legal and Commercial Insurance Office. The 1868 Bedford Directory shows Cherry and Gilpin, drapers at number 13 High Street. They later expanded to take over number 11 from Henry Adkin, Gunsmith and at that time were described as drapers and silk merchants.

Subsequently, Gilpin (William) & Sloper and then William Gilpin alone, also drapers, ran the business. Where to Buy at Bedford, published in 1891 described the shop as elegant and as one of the chief houses in the [drapery] trade in this district. At some point after 1891 another draper, William Kirkbride occupied the premises: he is listed at number 11 and 13 in the Bedford Directory for the years 1893 to 1899. The next occupier of numbers 11 and 13 High Street, from 1900 until 1925/26 was Arthur Field Pearmain, described as a draper and later as a ladies tailor and costumier. According to the 1901 census, he and his family lived at numbers 11 and 13 High Street together with a number of female employees who worked for the business as drapers assistants or dressmakers. Census records show that previous owners had also provided accommodation over the shop for their employees .

Initially, in 1926, Arthur Days business occupied the ground floor of number 13 (number 11 was vacant when he opened the shop but was later occupied by The Belfast Linen Warehouse). A photograph of its exterior taken when it had first opened, shows a crowded shop window with an elegant costume in the centre surrounded by hats on stands. A sign with the name Arthur Day is just visible propped up on the inside of the window pane. According to Bedford Boroughs General Rate book for October 1926, the owner of number 13 High Street was C.R.B. Tingey and the property was described as a shop and workrooms at a gross rental of 160 per annum.

Over the years, the shop expanded to fill the whole of number 13. A member of staff who started working there in 1960 remembers how large the shop seemed, 'four floors and no lift, so you kept quite fit'. She described the layout, 'The staff and tea room were on the top floor at the back plus the alteration room. On the top floor at the front were the suits, skirts, dress/jackets. On the next floor down were knitwear and dresses (sizes 10 to 60 inch hips). On the ground floor were coats, sheepskins and rainwear. Going to the back we had the millinery. In the basement it was unpacking parcels, old models, roller rails and hangers'. As a junior she spent much of her time unpacking and packing clothes. A phone call would let staff know that the parcels had arrived. I seemed to spend years in that packing room. It gave you a good fashion sense and how to co-ordinate your colours'.

In 1976, the shop celebrated 50 years of trading. An advertisement feature in the Bedfordshire Times that year describes the shop, On the top floor hats galore flower in the millinery department and one floor below there are dresses with coats and jackets, hostess dresses and suits. Rainwear, coats, jackets, furs and simulated furs are on the ground floor and co-ordinated and separates are on the lower ground floor.

When the shop opened it employed 5 staff, 50 years on in 1976, there was a staff of twenty-four. The anniversary feature gives a flavour of the type of clothes sold to women of all ages and sizes. The shop can offer the discerning woman a superb selection in dresses, suits, coats, millinery and evening gowns. It stocked makes such as: Eastex, Gor-Ray, Berketex, Windsmoor, Butte Knit, Dereta and Denmar Hats. Leslie Day and his wife were buyers for the various departments: coats, furs, rainwear and co-ordinates, dresses, hostess dresses, dress/jacket, dress/coats and suits. The emphasis was on service, quality and tradition. From the beginning, Arthur Day had always offered an alteration service. Much is made of the fact in the advertisement feature that some manufacturers had been supplying Arthur Day since its beginnings in 1926, notably Hitchcock, Williams & Co. This was a well-known clothing firm, based until the second world war in St Pauls Churchyard, London and in business itself since the middle of the 19^th century.

The 1970s was a time of great change in fashion however and the feature reports how Leslie Day was seeking now to change the image of the shop which today sells clothes for trendy young fashion followers as well as maturer women. Maxi skirts and short tops are as equally at home in the co-ordinates department as the traditional blouses and medium length skirts.

Similarly, when Arthur Day set up shop in 1926, womens clothes retailing was undergoing enormous changes. In 1926 several drapers were in business on the High Street and apart from Arthur Day, only two other costumiers. Of course drapers businesses were very varied and although some only sold cloth and sewing accessories, others also employed dressmakers and milliners. William Gilpin for example in the 1890 directory, advertises his business as a drapers and silk mercers and provider of millinery, mantles, dressmaking, wedding trousseax and India outfits. E.P Rose in 1926 although described as a draper, also supplied millinery and all ladies wear.

By 1936, more womens fashion shops and milliners had appeared on Bedford High Street and drapers businesses were diminishing. One reason was of course, that some businesses which had previously described themselves as drapers now also called themselves costumiers and included ready-to-wear clothes. This was one of the most significant changes in womens clothing in the first quarter of the 20^th century. In the late 1920s and 1930s, economic and social change revolutionised the cut and price of womens fashions. Improvements in manufacturing, the use of cheaper, synthetic materials and new simpler styles gave impetus to the mass production and retailing of fashion now that there was much less of a stigma attached to the wearing of ready-made garments than before the war [1914-1918]. (Elizabeth Owen. Fashion Photographs 1920-1940). This opportunity was seized by Arthur Day. Now there was a choice between using a dressmaker or buying clothes off the peg.

By the time that the shop had closed in 1994 when it went into voluntary liquidation, Bedford had changed. Its retailing centre had moved towards Midland Road and the town centre. Arthur Days grandson blamed the businesss forced closure on the demise of the High Street and the failure to redevelop it.

Information from Hilary McDonald2011

High Street Fashion Shops and Drapers in 1936

13	Arthur Chas. Day, Costumier, Furrier and Milliner
59B	Geo. Herbert Hartop, Draper and Clothier
75	Dust - Bedford Ltd., Silk Mercers and Costumiers
113	Blott and Son, Drapers
117/119	C. Whitlock and Co., Drapers
123	Ann, Milliner
8	'Lewis', Milliner
12	Central Fur Stores
22/24	'Jons', Gown and Blouse Specialist
38/40	'Joys', Fashion Wear
46	H. Howard, Draper
48/50/52	E.P. Rose and Son Ltd., Drapers and Costumiers
70	Alfred Walker Ltd., Drapers
98	John Wilson (Costumiers) Ltd.

From the Bedford Directory 1936

Sources

Bedford Local Studies and Heritage Library (HL)

Bedford High Street Heritage Gazetteer. Economic Development Unit, Bedford Borough Council, 2008
Bedfordshire Directory, 1847 HL
Kelly's Directory of Beds, Herts and Northants, 1890 HL
Bedford Directory and Kelly's Bedford Directory various years including: 1868, 1893, 1899, 1926, 1928, 1936, 1947, 1949, 1969, 1976 HL
Official Censuses 1841-1901
J. Hamson.Bedford Town and Townsmen 1845-1895: a record of the local history of Bedford during the last half century. Bedfordshire Times Office, 1896 HL 942.561
Elizabeth Owen. Fashion Photographs 1920-1940. B.T.Batsford, 1993 (Bedford Library)
Where to Buy at Bedford: an illustrated local review. Robinson, Son and Pike,1891 HL BED/WHE

Newspaper Articles

Bedfordshire Times 21.5.1976 pp.8-9 Success that grew from the middle of the General Strike. 50^th anniversary advertisement feature
Bedfordshire Times 24.6.1977 p.3 Ex golf champion dies aged 57
Bedford Record 28.6.1977 p.2 Death of shop owner
Bedfordshire Times 20.2.1981 p.4 High Street shopping: a place in the heart of town
Bedfordshire Times 4.11.1994 p.5 Bridal firm into liquidation

BARS

General Rate Book for Borough of Bedford, St Pauls South, October 1926

The Higgins

Model of Arthur Days shop with furniture and dolls. Date unknown.
A label on the doll's house states, 'Mr Days Shop. This dolls house was made by Arthur Day and is a copy of his shop in Bedford High Street, which opened in 1926. Mr Day ran his shop, selling ladies clothes and wedding gowns, until he retired in 1959. The business was carried on by his son and grandson until last year [1994] when it closed down. The shop is now called Polly Flinders. Purchased by the Museum and Gallery Education Service through the generosity of the Amy Walmsley Fund and furnished by the skill of the Education Service Volunteers.