Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society

Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Vol 1 No 1 Spring 2011 incorporating Islington History Journal

The retail palace of Holloway

The tale of Beale’s emporium, from humble beginnings to Victorian splendour

Memories of Dame Alice Owen’s School at Angel in the 1950s l Caroline Chisholm, the emigrants’ friend l Canal transport in Regency times l Regency lives uncovered via household insurance l New galleries at the Museum of the Order of St John l Your local history questions answered l News and events Beale’s store of Holloway Road

Beale’s store was a landmark in one of London’s most fashionable shopping parades. Its origins are traced from a small bakery in Upper Holloway, in an extract from the store’s history by the founder’s grandson John Beale

861 was the year in bread dough would be mixed lay the famous stone where which Grandpa and moulded all by hand –  Richard Whittington rested  William Beale back-breaking work carried out and heard the bells of London descended without in the heat, dust, steam and coal calling him to return and become warning upon  fumes of the traditional London Lord Mayor of London. 1the defenceless inhabitants  basement bakehouse of the time. Grandfather must surely have of Highgate. William was strong and tough. been similarly inspired as he  In 1852, at the age of 18, When morning came he would set out for fame and fortune in William had left Buntingford  set out with his horse and van, the same direction. to be apprenticed to his uncle and deliver his own bread, hot Edward, a baker of Popham from the oven, to the First Holloway lease Street in Islington. surrounding district. And In 1866 Grandfather secured  In an interview given to the Christina would mind the shop, his first beach-head in Lower Caterer magazine in 1897 he is as bakers’ wives had done for Holloway with the lease of quoted as saying, “I learned the centuries before her. In addition No 368 Holloway Road – trade of baker and confectioner she found time to produce the “formerly Vine Cottage but now from my uncle, Edward Beale,  first two of her seven children. known as Holloway House… at his shop in Popham Street, William Edward was the first  abutting at the rear a field called Islington. In 1861 I commenced of the family to be awarded the Sibell”. The cobbled sunken business in a very small way in honour of two Christian names. highway lay three or four steps Highgate Hill. I was twenty- Baby Thomas Henderson arrived down from the wide pavement. three at the time and had only  just as they were preparing to It might have been from here, in a capital of £50 of my own. With move to Lower Holloway in earlier days, that a man on this, and £200 which I borrowed, 1866. Meanwhile the business horseback rode daily to the City, I started. Business prospered,  had grown and some substantial crying “Holloway Cheesecakes” and in 1866 I secured a lease in outbuildings had been erected at round the streets. Holloway Road, at a rent of £110 the rear of the premises. But rural Islington was per year.” disappearing fast. Soon horse- It was indeed in “a very small drawn buses would start to ply way” that William started up in randfather had been from Camden Town to Finsbury the poverty-stricken little shop  studying the possibilities Park, crossing Holloway Road at at No 6 Whittington Terrace, Gof trade in Lower the Nag’s Head. Others would Highgate Hill, Upper Holloway, Holloway. Prosperous City leave Beale’s corner for King’s though we still have an early merchants were moving out Cross down the Caledonian photograph that he was proud from the inner suburbs to the Road. Holloway Road from  enough to have taken of it. It new dormitory area of Islington, our corner to the Nag’s Head hardly looks worth the £250 that followed by the more humble became one of the best shopping our young hopeful paid for it in Pooters they employed. parades in London outside the terms of 1861 money values. Holloway Road, the “Hollow West End. For the time being it was  Way” from Highbury to To the corner opposite us, a hard slog for William and  Highgate, part of the ancient across Tollington Road, came  his wife Christina. The heavy highway from London to the the brothers William and John north, lay ripe and ready for Jones one year later, to start up development. as drapers in the small shop at It might have been from here, Never a man to shilly-shally, No 2 Peartree Terrace, with one in earlier days, that a man on William took the plunge and assistant and an errand boy,  moved his little business and his and the first day’s sales recorded horseback rode daily to the City, little family in time to get in just as being £3-7-0. From these crying ‘Holloway Cheesecakes’ before the rush. Almost outside beginnings grew the department his shop on Highgate Hill there store known as Jones Brothers,

8 Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society Spring 2011 Vol 1 No 1 later acquired by Selfridges, and later still by the John Lewis Partnership. The two families of Beale and Jones built up their respective empires with some rivalry and a little jealousy, as we shall see. William’s new shop was an appreciable jump in size and standing from the down-at-heel mini-bakery on Highgate Hill. He was aiming at the top end of the much varied population of the new urban Islington. He would deliver daily and twice daily if required to the imposing houses springing up in Tufnell Park, Finsbury Park, Camden Road and Highbury – houses  for well-to-do families and  their servants. The plain fare of Highgate Hill was toned up considerably. Meals in good-class society were elaborate affairs and the services of a good-quality baker and confectioner were in demand. William extended his range to include a selection of top-quality groceries and provisions. He opened a small cafe at the rear of the shop, where Mrs Beale held court for the fashionable ladies of the district. There they would Beale’s of Holloway, completed in 1889, on the corner of Tollington Road. It included sip their glass of port and nibble banqueting rooms, bakeries, a department food store and its own power station a biscuit after their shopping, while their carriages awaited them outside. London. It was hard work for the 1889, could stand muster with family. An entry in the banquet many of the fine shops that Expansion – and a grand store diary for 1887, of our catering for men like Selfridge, Whiteley, For the next 24 years both 800 persons at the old Holborn and Gamage were building in William’s person and William’s Town Hall, reminds me that my the West End and the City.  business continued to extend. He father could never pass the place It was to be the pride and joy  let No 368 at a profit and took later without groaning at the of the family for many years  over Nos 370 and 372, together back-breaking work it had to come. n with houses and gardens down involved, shifting the heavy Tollington Road at the side and crates of china and cutlery up Many thanks to Andrew Beale rear. It was all part of a site and down the stairs. – William’s great-great grandson leased in 1793 for 961 years at  William was making money. – for allowing us to reproduce this a fixed rent of £6-0-0 per year  His ambition grew with his extract from Minding Our Own – the possibility of inflation not success. He borrowed £28,000 Business, his history of Beale’s occurring to the landlord at the from the bank and set about the of Holloway time. William built a bakery at complete rebuilding of his site. the rear of No 376, and took on The planning and erection of the another shop at No 464 new Beale’s was Grandfather’s William’s new shop was an temporarily, pending the large- most remarkable achievement. scale rebuilding he was now The new premises included a appreciable jump in size and contemplating. department food store, large standing. He was aiming at the top From Grandma Beale’s back restaurants, banqueting rooms, parlour cafe, there developed an bakeries, and an electric power end of the much-varied population outdoor catering department station in the basement. The of the new urban Islington that became the largest in north main building, completed in

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