Bank Buildings, Victoria Street and High Street West.

This article is the second of two dealing with the occupants of Bank Buildings. It was written to complement that on Number 1 High Street West, Glossop's Noted Corner Shop, the most prominent part of the site. The whole plot, first leased, for 91 and a half years, on 25 March 1844, comprises numbers 1 & 3 High Street West, together with numbers 2 & 4 Victoria St.

As mentiond in the article on Number 1, several businesses were already trading on the site, and continued to do so whilst the Manchester & Liverpool District Banking Company was there. Whilst 1871 was the first census which listed the property numbers, some trade directory records also did so and, taken together, they allow us to identify which properties the different businesses occupied.

	Bank Buildings
	2 & 4 Victoria Street	1 High Street West	3 High Street West
1871 Census	William Swire (Draper)	William Parker (Chemist & druggist)	John Beard (Draper)
1861 Census	Samuel Robinson (Grocer & tea dealer)	Inhabited but no one slept in it	James Hardman (Boot & shoe dealer) and his son Henry (Chemist & druggist)
1851 Census	Samuel Robinson (Tea dealer)	Robert McDonald (Druggist)	James Hardman (Boot & shoe maker)

The result of that analysis is that the first occupant of number 3 High Street West (other than the Manchester & Liverpool District Banking Company) that we can place with certainty is James Hardman, shown in the 1851 census as a 40 year old boot and shoe maker employing 2 men and born in Salford, Lancashire. Similarly, the first certain occupant of 2 & 4 Victoria Street is Samuel Robinson, shown in the 1851 census as a 46 year old tea dealer born in Manchester, Lancashire. The two men were brothers in law, having married sisters Nancy and Hannah Collier whose brother Thomas was in business at 5 High Street West in 1851.

2 and 4 Victoria Street.

It would appear that what were nominally two properties were always operated as a single entity. Trade directory and census entries sometimes refer to number 2 and sometimes to 2 & 4 for the same occupants.

As mentioned above, the first occupant of the property that we can be sure of was Samuel Robinson (trading as J. Robinson). It is virtually certain that the business was that of John Robinson, Grocer of Howard's Town, listed in Pigot's directory of 1842.

The Robinson family seems to have stayed at number 2 for around another 20 years or so as the next tenant, William Swire, advertised his business in later years as being established in 1865. At the time of the 1871 census, 2 Victoria Street was occupied by William Swire, 26 year old Draper. William was listed in trade directories and census records variously – as a Draper, a Hosier, glover and smallware dealer and a Draper & sharebroker. William Swire advertised, in the Glossop-dale Chronicle and North Derbyshire Reporter of 11 August 1883, that he had moved to more commodious premises at 5 High Street West.

In the Glossop-dale Chronicle and North Derbyshire Reporter of 22 December 1883 an advertisement from Isaac Jackson stated that he was in business at 2 Victoria Street and 2 High Street East.
Kelly's directory of 1888 lists William Higginbottom, Draper & milliner at 2 Victoria Street.

Higginbottom's Shop at 2 & 4 Victoria Street.

The Higginbottom business occupied the premises for over 30 years. William Higginbottom died, aged 74, on 7 January 1897 but his wife, Deborah, continued in business until at least 1912 (our last available entry in Kelly's directory). The Glossop Chronicle, in its report on 18 March 1938 about the new Burtons shop said “The shop in Victoria-street, which will form part of the new premises, was known throughout the district as a linen shop, popularly referred to as Deborah's”. Deborah Higginbottom died aged 84 on 7 February 1915 (of 2 Victoria Street).

Mary Shaw advertisement, Whitfield Church Bazaar programme 1928.

Lack of available records means we don't know who, if anyone, occupied the shop immediately after Deborah Higginbottom but the 1921 census recorded the family of Mary Hannah Shaw at number 2. There is no entry for 2 & 4 Victoria Street in Kelly's directory of 1925 or in the Midland Counties of England Trades Directory of 1926-27 but Kelly's of 1928 and 1932 list Mrs Mary Shaw as being in business as a Fancy draper. Given that Mary Shaw described herself as single in the 1921 census and "Miss" in the 1928 advertisement above, means that the directory compilers married her off incorrectly.

3 High Street West.

James Hardman had been running his boot and shoe business for at least 10 years before the 1851 census. He is recorded in both the 1841 census and Pigot's Directory of 1842. We continue to find him there until the 1861 census and White's Directory of 1862. He appears to have retired to farm at Hurst soon afterwards. James advertised the farm to let in March 1864 but continued to live there, with wife Nancy, until his death on 5 March 1870.

The next occupants of the shop we are certain of were Miss Martha Orme and her partner Miss Woodcock, who advertised, in the Glossop Record of 2 September 1865, that they had moved their millinery business there. Just a few weeks earlier, John Beard had advertised that he had set up his Hosiery and Smallware business further down the High Street (number 76). Why is that significant? Because just over three years later Martha Orme and John Beard married at Littlemoor Chapel. John was a widower, his first wife Sarah Ann (Kenyon), who he married in 1866, died in 1867 following the birth of their son, Fred.

Advertisements published in September and July 1865.

It appears that Miss Woodcock left the business after a couple of years as advertisements in 1867 are in Martha Orme's name only.

Martha Orme advertisement, 1867.

John and Martha Beard were to remain in business as drapers and milliners until after the turn of the century. Martha died on 10 January 1901, John being shown on the 1901 census as a 62 year old widower with their daughter, Hannah Orme Beard aged 27 as his assistant. The family must have taken on the lease of the whole of Bank Buildings because it was re-granted in Hannah's name for 999 years on 5 August 1918 for 999 years to Hannah Orme Beard (Hannah Orme Beard died Dec 25th 1950 aged 75 years).

Beard's Shop at 3 High Street West.

John Beard died in 1907 but he retired some years earlier as the Derby & District Trades Directory for 1903 lists 3 High Street West twice - as occupied by M. E. Lyne, Confectioner and as Lyne's Cafe, refreshment rooms. Ownership had changed at least as early as the previous year as newspaper advertisements published in 1902/3 show. The advertisements in question were for a company named Macdonald's, of Manchester, who sold and fitted false teeth. An example of their advertisement is shown below.

Lyne's Cafe		An example of the advertisements published for Macdonalds in 1902/3.

At the time of the 1901 census Mary Elizabeth Lyne was running a confectioner's shop at 14 Platt Street, Padfield. Living with her were her sister Minnie (as housekeeper) and brother James (a grocer's assistant). Presumably Minnie (and maybe James) moved with Mary but by the time of the 1911 census she was no longer there. 3 High Street West was then occupied by sisters Mary Elizabeth Lyne, aged 41, and Amy Brook Lyne, aged 25, who were recorded as confectioners. Mary is recorded as still being in business in Kelly's directory of 1912 but she soon sold out. Mary Lyne married Tom Newton in 1916 at Littlemoor Congregational Chapel and Amy Lyne married Stanley Kennedy in 1913.

Advert for Mrs Platt, Mount Pleasant Bazaar programme 1926.		Mrs Platt's shop at 3 High Street West about 1935

The business was taken over by the recently widowed Mary Duxbury Platt, whose husband Fred Platt died in September 1912. Mary Duxbury Platt is recorded in the 1921 census, in Kelly's directories of 1925, 1928 and 1932 and in the Midland Counties of England Trades Directory of 1926-27 as a baker and cafe owner. She died in February 1936 at the age of 69.

Redevelopment.

As with The Corner Shop, there is no entry in Kelly's directory of 1936 for either 2 & 4 Victoria Street or 3 High Street West. The whole of Bank Buildings was shortly to be transformed into the new premises for Montague Burton (The Tailor of Taste Ltd.).

Bank Buildings in the early 1960s.

In the late 1950s, when the site was redeveloped again, the new Midland Bank branch occupied 1 High Street West and 2 & 4 Victoria Street. 3 High Street West became home to two businesses – Price's Bakery (which later became a branch of Greggs) and Smith's Cleaners (later Max Spielmann photo shop) before being combined once more as a branch of Subway in 2010.

3 High Street West in 1994 and after being converted to a Subway branch.

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Last updated: 5 November 2022