High Class Grocery established c1870s
The already established firm of Hudson Brothers of Osborne House, Ludgate Hill, London, set up their first store at 67, East Street in Brighton during the early 1870’s. A live-in manager originally ran the store, in 1875 being Edward Platt and in 1881 Francis Clements. Although the firm billed itself as a Cheese Warehouse, it also sold meats and other deli foodstuffs. By the 1920s their Head Office was in Bond Street, London and their East Street store now was equipped with a telephone. Its adverts proclaimed ‘High Class Groceries and Provisions at Store Prices’.
Advent of the supermarket
Directories up to 1974 continued to list the firm as a provisions merchant. I regret I know nothing of when the firm closed its doors, but presumably, it fell victim to the advent of the supermarket. The shop closed some time in the late 1970’s. The owner, a Canadian business man named Garfield Weston owned many other businesses, including a chain of supermarkets named Fine Fare. When he closed Hudson Brothers, the staff moved to the branch of Fine Fare in London Road. The supermarket still exists but it is now called Somerfield’s.
My second job
Hudson Brothers was my second job after I left school.I worked there for about four years, the wages where when I first started was £6 12s 00. I started there in August 1961 as a sales trainee. I first started on the grocery counter where I did shelve stacking as well as serving the customers. On the grocery they had a fresh coffee counter where they sold coffee beans. They had a coffee grinder so that you could have your coffee beans freshly ground for you.
High class grocery
The shop was called a high-class grocery and provision shop; there was a grocery counter, a cooked chicken, cheese, and frozen food counter that were in the centre of the shop. It had a provision and fresh meat counter; it also sold a range of meat pies that it cooked on the premises. There was an off licence section at the back of the shop.
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Hudson’s, East St was an absolute delight. I well remember going shopping with my mum and we would go along East St just to look around the store. What I always recall is the smell of all that food! Big red bacon slicers, coffee roasters and (to us) very exotic looking foods. It was the Fortnum and Mason of Brighton. What a shock for the staff to go to Fine Fare, which at that time many would remember as Bellman’s, very down market after Hudson’s!
Their homemade apple pies were truly delicious. I would stroll down from Gilletts on a Friday to get one for my lunch.
I loved looking in this shop, loved the smells. The assistants all looked so clean and smart. I recall three such wonderful shops in Brighton. One was in Bartholomews, just up from Hudsons. The other was in St James Street, Meads? Anyway, it was where Boots is now. Oh how I wish those shops were with us now.
The East Street Hudson’s used to sell whole roasted chickens from the spit and the smell was absolutely delicious. I remember going to buy one once – we must have been flush as it was considered a fairly pricey place.
I would visit this shop with my mother, I recall the aroma of its delights and Christmas was wonderful.Shame that shops like that closed to awful supermarkets.
My great grandfather, James Hudson, on my grandmothers side of the family, had 11 children and together with one of his sons was instrumental in creating Hudson Bros a chain of high class provision merchants. They had about 30 shops mainly in London and Home Counties James Hudson built and lived at Capenor Nutfield Surrey. Direct descendants are welcome to contact me.
I worked opposite at Hanningtons from 1966. I loved the smells of the cooking of their fabulous pies and would buy a pie for my lunch – sometimes savoury, sometimes sweet – they were lovely. Really missed that shop.
My mum came across this page we could not believe it but the young boy in the front is my uncle Donald.
Fabulous shop, much missed. From 1961-69 I worked for The Automobile Association in Marine Parade and would often walk down in my lunch hour with ‘orders’ from other colleagues for a variety of their mouthwatering pies! East Street had some fine shops such as Cresta and Jaeger which were rather out of my price range as a teenager – but I could dream!
The lady on the left was called Vera.
This lady was Doreen Barfield, aka Dob. She became my mother-in-law some years later. She died in February 1979. I also worked in Hudsons briefly – on the cheese counter.
I currently own The Chambers in Folkestone which is on the site of the old Hudson Brothers store. I’ve been looking for years to track down some pictures of the site when it was trading as HB’s but as of yet have been unsuccessful. Discovering this thread could be really useful especially the comments by Charles Lown. I’d be hugely grateful if someone would be able to start me on the right path to discovering the history of the Folkestone Hudson Brothers store on the corner of Sandgate road & Cheriton Place. Many thanks in advance to whomever can help.
Chris, the basic local history start to your quest is to visit a local archive or local history section of the library and work through the street directories(usually Kellys[red books]and Pikes [blue books]). These finish in 1974 so best to work back from there with a known address. Archives will have rate books which will give you more info and if really lucky they may have GOAD insurance maps,at a very large scale with extra info on the layout and use of different buildings. As Folkestone does not[I think…]have a site similar to’My B&H’ a letter to the localpaper may yield some info.
I have a photo of what was Hudson Brothers. It is now a coffee shop in Sandgate Road, corner of Cheriton Place.
Hudson Brothers was later owned by the Canadian millionaire Garfield Weston who is the founder of the company now called Associated British Foods, which has many companies such as Primark.
Frank Hudson had built up the business of Hudson Bros, cheesemongers and provision merchants, with his brother James, dubbed the ‘Butter King’ of the London market by the Pall Mall Gazette in 1886. From their base at 50-52 Ludgate Hill, London, they came to have 30 branches in London and the South. From 1874 and for the next 100 years, there was a branch of Hudson Bros. at 67 East Street, Brighton. Regarded as ‘High Class’ grocers, the firm survived until the mid-1970’s when they were bought out by Garfield Weston’s Associated British Foods. It is said that staff from the up-market Brighton store were then transferred to the down-market Fine Fare supermarket, which ABF also owned and the East Street store closed.
Frank and his brother James had become very rich from the grocery business. Frank had bought a country estate near Sevenoaks where he became prominent in Liberal party politics, the church and local causes. He was fond of Brighton & Hove and spent time here with his wife in the 1890’s, taking a house at Lewes Crescent in 1896 & 1897.
Upon his death in 1899, the Sevenoaks Chronicle of 27th October 1899 wrote ‘As a business man Mr Hudson was the architect of his own success. His father died in 1846 when he was only ten years old and nine years later he took over from his elder brother, James, his father’s business and from this they built up the enormous connection which the firm now enjoys. During the Franco- Prussian War of 1870 they introduced the dairy produce of France into this country, an event which has revolutionized the provision trade of the Metropolis. Mr Frank Hudson was the first civilian to enter Paris after the famous siege was raised. His firm had consigned many tons of hams and other provisions to the French capital, and [he] undertook the responsible and risky task of conducting the transit of the cargo. He triumphantly surmounted all obstacles and, by travelling concealed in the luggage van, succeeded in conveying the greatly needed food to the starving inhabitants of the City” The obituary does not say whether this was an act of charity or commerce but there is no doubt that Frank had a social conscience.
I am fascinated to read Andrew Doigs post. I am 72 now and worked for Hudson Brothers throughout the 60s starting in Folkestone and then working in Cheapside, Bishopsgate, Bedford Street, Highgate and South Kensington. A few years ago I contacted ABF to see what information and history they had of Hudson’s but they said they had none so Andrews information was interesting . I seem to remember the head office by then was in Baker Street and the MD was a Dr Davies .
The Canford Cliffs and Bournemouth branches
In December 1941 our father moved from Surrey to central Sandbanks (where the cheapest housing to rent was) to manage the small branch at nearby Canford Cliffs. This was a village whose population would have been described as middle-class. Things went well, and he was promoted to manage the much grander Bournemouth store. I loved the smell of the coffee being ground in the front window. Dad put a lot of effort into window displays, and had a loyal staff. One feature in particular captivated me – the cashier’s desk in the centre of the store. There were many different counters separately staffed, and each had the means to load a canister which then swung along beneath electrified cables near the ceiling to be delivered to the cashier (a system preceding the use of vacuum tubes). There was a buzzing noise and a smell like electric sparking. The cashier would then issue a receipt, insert the change and sent back the same way to the originating counter. They had to be quick. I loved watching it. Twice a year it would be time for stock-taking, which was a huge task and meant working into the early hours but Hudson Brothers looked after their staff well, and I remember Dad’s delight as each year he received a generous Christmas bonus – the store had done well. All seemed to be going well, but then in 1956 Garfield Weston bought the business and decided he wanted a change in management and Dad was made redundant. He had had an epileptic fit, and whilst in bed recovering (he was always devoid of any of his usual spark after these by now mercifully rare episodes) two directors came down from London on a Sunday afternoon to tell him he had been fired. He had five young children, had given fifteen years of faithful service and deserved better than this. Yet it proved a blessing in disguise. Through the generosity of his family doctor, neighbours and friends, he was able to start up his own business and run it successfully for many years
My great great grandfather George Hudson was one of two half-brothers to James and Frank. Their father William bequeathed George his butcher’s shop which operated from Kingsland Road, Shoreditch which later operated from Hackney Road (Cotton’s Gardens was called Hudson’s Court before 1912) then moved to Roman Road in Bow.
After reading Charles Lawn’s entry, I looked up Capenor in Nutfield which is now a beautiful wedding venue.
Andrew Doig’s post is hugely enlightening, and I would be very interested if any of your readers has more information about Frank who sounds like a very interesting figure.
Regards, Tarran Hudson.
My father, George James Hudson (1894-1954) told me one of his forefathers, a butcher, had several children by his first wife. She died, he remarried and had more children. He also started a grocery business.
When he died, the children from one wife got the butchers business, the children from the other got the grocery business.
Unfortunately we came from the butchers line.
This information came from my father when I mentioned the Hudson grocery store at South Kensington Underground arcade that I saw many times while attending Imperial
College 1950-56
I have lived outside the U.K. since but I tried to trace my family tree some thirty years ago and was surprised by the number of Hudsons listed as butchers in the records of St. Leonards Church. I gave up at the year 1765. Someone might be more successful than me if they include grocery in the occupations in their search of possible years of marriage,birth and death of this line of Hudsons. Of course some may have attended other churches.
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