The 60s…there’s no place like home

The 1960s, a monumental time for music, the kick off of Doctor Who, the first James Bond, and shops full of penny sweets. Check out our latest feature in the press as we move through the decades. We look fondly on the 1960s because it's when our Wells Street premises became our main base for the next 40 years. There's no place like home is there? We also have a few other stand-out memories... We responded to the locals' craze of making homemade lamps by offering our service to drill holes into glass bottles (just like the much-loved Harris Gin bottle lamp today). We wonder how long these lamps were key pieces in households when lava lamps took prominence in this decade! We also introduced a new service to re-silver mirrors, crucial to locals perfecting their outfits in the swingin' 60s. If that wasn't enough, we were the only place in town with a regular supply of straw (due to packaging) and so not only did we dabble in home furnishings, but we can confidently conclude that we kept many rabbits cosy...before the days of pet shops and Facebook marketplace, on Saturday mornings, we would have streams of kids queueing up to claim bundles of straw for their pets. For a bit of nostalgia factor, we had a read up on what else kids might have been up to in the 60s. We figured that when they weren't lining up outside our doors, they might have dabbled in trading Scaletrix cars, getting their Spirograph kit out, or becoming the next Scrabble champion (thanks to the word game's release to the UK in 1953). We certainly had a community following at Wells Street, and across the business as a whole.

To this day we still hold that principle of supporting the community, and that has been the way from the beginning, like helping out the children with their pets in the 1960s.

Chris Dowling, Joint Managing Director Take a peak into what we were up to in each decade between the 1950s - 2020s here. Did you know we're running a month-long competition later this year to commemorate 70 years? This blog post gives a sneak peak into our top prize! In the meantime, sign up to our newsletter (at the bottom of this page) to stay in the loop of our giveaways!