The Draper's Shop (No. 2 High Street)

No. 2 High Street, Hampsthwaite, formerly known as No.5 and No.6 Hyde Terrace was once the home and Drapers business belonging to Albert and Elsie Bramley who purchased the premises in 1964.

Elsie ran the shop until she retired in 1980 when she closed the shop and converted it into a Living Room as extended accommodation to her cottage. Albert died in 1971 at the age of 56.

Prior to Albert and Elsie’s purchase of the property from Milton Lambert in 1964 the property was occupied by Mr and Mrs Charles Knight and comprised Cottage (No.5 Hyde Terrace), Garage and a small Drapers shop (No.6 Hyde Terrace) on the end run by Mrs Knight with Mr Knights Workshop and Store above.

Mrs Knight’s Drapers shop was originally located in what is now Hampsthwaite Hair and Beauty Salon and the small shop (No.6 Hyde Terrace) was Fred Hopkinson’s Cobblers shop. Fred Hopkinson and Mrs Knight swapped premises so that the Knights home and business were all in one location.

Elsie would occasionally help Mrs Knight run the Drapers shop.

When the Knights moved out, Milton Lambert who owned the property converted the current Drapers shop and Garage into one large shop which was sold to Albert and Elsie with the adjoining cottage in 1964.

Where the large shop window can be seen in the photographs above, was Charles Knights Garage with Mrs Knights Drapers shop on the right and their cottage on the left.

The sign over the small shop window in the above photograph’s read ‘A & E Bramley, Drapers’.

The shop sold mainly women’s and children’s clothing, wools, cottons, zips, buttons etc. and for a period of time, Elsie baked and sold loaves of bread, bread buns, iced buns, scones, tarts, cakes etc. displaying them in the small shop window. The large shop window was dedicated to displaying clothes on manikin busts.

As you entered the shop from the High Street, the door triggered a bell and Elsie would appear from the house through a connecting door. There was a large glass display counter in front of you from where you were served, a glass counter on your left and one on your right in the form of an inverted ‘U’ shape. Behind the main counter on the back wall opposite the door were rows of shelves with packets of wools of every type, size and colour you could imagine.

The shop till was an old fashioned wooden one with a pull out drawer that rang a bell.

I can still remember, as a small boy playing a prank on Elsie, my Grandmother by entering the shop when it was empty and hiding in front of the counter so when she came to serve someone there was nobody there.

Other than some evidence of the former shop door being built up or knowledge of the shop you would not know of the Drapers shop existence.

The Drapers shop was a focal point within the village, as was Lundell’s corner shop and Newsagents opposite, now Hampsthwaite Village Store and the Post Office run by the Smiths, now run by Jane and Mozi Nami. Elsie new everyone in the village and everyone knew Elsie.

Elsie died in July 2014 at the age of 98 and the property was sold and is now in the ownership of others.

The two photographs below show what the property looked like before being converted by Milton Lambert.