Two small white marble paving stones incised with the letters ‘C. B. & S.’ (Clement Brewer & Sons) in front of 123 - 127 Ashford Road, which is still Brewers main office and depot.
Historic Context: -
After returning from 3 years in Arizona running a goat farm with his business partner Arthur Pritchard, Clement Brewer (born 1861) started work at John Line’s wallpaper supply business in Reading in 1884. Clement married Mary Pritchard (Arthur’s sister) in 1888. After running the Aldgate branch of the business for a number of years, Clement was advised to move to the south coast for health reasons, and along with his wife Mary, and their six children moved to Bexhill in 1901 to join his former business partner Arthur Pritchard in his Venetian blind business. The business struggled and within a year Clement went to Eastbourne to work as a clerk in a building firm called Glovers. In 1904, with Mary’s financial backing, they started their own business selling mainly wallpaper at 64 Cavendish Place. In 1910 the business moved to 28 Pevensey Road and later expanded into No 26. Mary passed away in 1920. In 1925 the firm became a private company, C. Brewer & Sons Ltd. In 1928 the Eastbourne branch moved to Ashford Road. Clement passed away in 1940 aged 80. By 2004 the company had 115 branches in the UK.
Information from Kelly’s Directories as dated: -
1929: 123 Ashford Road, William Rogers, decorator. 125, William Bond (Pearl House). 127a Brewers C. & Sons Ltd.
1930: 123 Ashford Road, Brewers C. & Sons Ltd. 125, William Bond (Pearl House). 127a Brewers C. & Sons Ltd.
No 125 the middle property was not acquired until the early 1950’s, so it seems likely the two marble paving stones date from this period.
References: -
‘Brewers 1904 – 2004 The first hundred years of a family business’ by Christopher Brewer.
Kelly’s Directories as dated above.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments will be reviewed before publication to remove any spam or abusive language. Comments may take up to 48 hours before they appear on the Blog.