Welcome to the world of advertising! Whether adverts for products or services, or for events, like wood sales and auctions, adverts can tell you so much about a place, its people, how and where they lived, and how the place and people developed. I suppose the ultimate advert for Loughborough was that alerting people to the sale of what feels like practically the whole of the market town of Loughborough in 1808-9, when the Earl of Moira sold off his interest in Loughborough - amongst other places!
On 14
December 1862, our local Rector, the Revd. Henry Fearon delivered a sermon at
All Saints church (now All Saints with Holy Trinity). Just in case you missed
the sermon, it was also published, so you could purchase a copy for sixpence.
An advert was printed in a local newspaper in January the following
year, showed the pamphlet was jointly by Rivingtons of Waterloo Place, London, by Crossley and Clarke
of Leicester, and by Gray, Abbot, and Stain of Loughborough.
Adverts
appearing in the local newspapers in January 1881, and some seem to be quite focused on provisions, so there are several
adverts for tea, one for cheese, and a couple for alcohol. One may be forgiven
for finding the words ‘mayo’ and ‘cheese’ together, but actually, Mayo was the
surname of the shop proprietor, whose store was on the corner of Market Place
and what is now Market Street (later occupied by Simpkin and James, then
Dolcis, followed by New Look (I think) and is now a big-chain coffee shop).
Thomas Mayo later became mayor of Loughborough, and earned the name ‘the grand
old man of Loughborough’.
It appears
that in 1881, John F. Ealand has taken over a wine merchants previously run by
Mr Dobell, although they were still selling Dobell’s Sovereign Dinner Sherry!
The place became known as Ealand’s Vaults, and was found on Market Place
(probably with an entrance along George Yard). Ealand also had premises in
Melbourne – I’m assuming they’re referring to nearby Melbourne in South
Derbyshire, not the Australian one (which was, incidentally, named after Lord
Melbourne, aka William Lamb, Prime Minister, of Melbourne Hall).
Another advert from 1881 advises us that J. Bennett
has moved to the Boot Hotel in Cattle Market, from the Longcliffe Hotel in
Nanpantan. As was customary, he expressed his thanks to all his customers.
Still in January 1881, Topping at 57 Leicester Road (at the corner of Wood Gate) was
selling Christmas cards. A member of the Topping family (Frank) would go on to
be the librarian at the Carnegie Library.
The Monitor
newspaper was also keen to publish serial articles, and in this same issue, it
shares news of its forthcoming serialisation of a new story by B. L. Farjeon,
which was called “No. 119, Great Portland Square” [London]. Something to look
forward to in the dark January nights!
Of course, no
newspaper would be complete without adverts for jobs! People were looking for
‘young ladies’, ‘respectable lads’, ‘stock men’, ‘general servants’, ‘working
housekeepers’, and ‘apprentices’ – amongst other things!
It was the
firm of Cayless and Sons who were looking for those apprentices, to work on
tents, waterproof coverings, sacks, nets, and ropes, in 1881. Cayless had just taken a
stall at the Smithfield Club Show, held at the Agricultural Hall in London,
where they could be found at Stand No.39.
Cayless would
later become C.J. Ellison, here advertising in 1885
In 1885
Chester Brothers of 18 Church Gate placed an advert for their “marvellous 2/- tea”
which apparently defied all competition!
Also in 1885, there appeared an advert for F. E. Hubbard, draper, costume maker etc. based at
27 High Street, where “experienced dressmakers and fitter [were] always in
attendance”. The shop were looking for apprentices and improvers.
Also in 1885, there were various adverts at the end of a section of local news.
In 1886, the
Building News and Engineering Journal presented an advert for “White and red
facing bricks” which were “pressed and moulded into 500 patterns”. Some of the
best commercial terra-cotta on the market was also available, as was synthetic
stone, made from Leicestershire granite, using a process that the Hathern
Station Brick and Terra-Cotta Company had been granted a patent for. Although
the company were based nearby at Hathern Station (which is actually closer to
Normanton on Soar), their head office was on Baxter Gate, Loughborough.
The
Examiner of 8 January
1887 was the paper in which H. Coltman & Sons chose to advertise. Their
products on offer included vertical engines and boilers combined, and
sufficient were kept in stock for immediate delivery.
The Loughborough
Herald and North Leicestershire Gazette of 8 January 1891 carried a whole
front page of adverts, which was quite common at the time, and we can learn a
lot about the makeup of Loughborough through these adverts, which were for a
wide range of products, shops, and other things. Here’s some of them
The concise
advert from A. & M. Moss revealed their trade as milliners and costumiers,
based at 32 High Street
John German
auctioneers held their sales at the Auction Mart on Baxter Gate (now a Pizza
Express), and also had offices in nearby Ashby-de-la-Zouch. They were
advertising their next sale of household furniture, which included a rosewood
Broadwood piano.
We find that
there were a couple of photographers based in Loughborough: Robert Frost was
offering to make life-like enlargements from any photograph in his studio at 19
Church Gate. Photographer John Burton was also at Church Gate, at No.52, but
only on Thursdays, presumably to coincide with market day. On Tuesdays they
could be found in Melton, Tuesday being Melton’s main market day.
John Griffin,
tailor and gentleman’s mercer, established his business in 1865, and was based
at 31 Swan Street, where he stocked a wide variety of shirts, collars, ties,
cuffs, braces and more!
George Minor at
his cycle works on Wood Gate, was selling bicycles fitted with cushion tyres
for a moderate cost! We may think today that Nottingham was the home of the
bicycle (because of the popularity of Raleigh), but actually, nearby Coventry
was instrumental in developing these two-wheeled contraptions, and George Minor
was selling “all best Coventry Machines”. George Main, on the other hand, did
specialise in selling Raleigh bikes from Nottingham, although the address of
his premises is not noted in the advert. It’s worth comparing these two
adverts, which both, to a degree, seek to replicate the call of the
costermonger, or market seller, with the use of repetition:
Simpson and
Rickard were tailors and outfitters based at 44 Market Place, but also had a
branch on St James’s Street, Derby. Their wares included liveries, breeches and
uniforms, as well as ladies’ riding habits, jackets, and ulsters, which was a
tailored overcoat, principally for the upper-class woman.
B. G. Young was
a brewer of pure hop-bitters, and horehound beer, and was selling Burton ales
and stouts in both casks and bottles, on his premises at 25 Derby Road.
The manager
of the Loughborough Furnishing Company which was at 60 Baxter Gate, was Thomas
Garner. Apparently, the company had stores in every principal town in the
country, and offered an easy payment system, and were the cheapest for cash
payments.
F. Wood, the
draper and outfitter at 4 Church Gate, guaranteed the style and fit of the
products he sold, and he was the sole agent for King, who was apparently a
celebrated London tailor.
New autumn
dress goods were now available at F.E. Hubbard’s shop at 27 High Street, where
new dresses were made by experienced sewers.
G. Tucker and
Son were advertising themselves as the Loughborough Pottery, rather than a
brickworks, although they did specify in their advert that they made terra
cotta, bricks, and horticultural pottery. Two different adverts, both frrom January 1881, where the company were targeting a
specific group of people, and described themselves as a brick and tile
manufacturer
There are a
few other posts on this blog about Tuckers, for example, here is Part 3 of a series
of posts.
Also
targeting a specific group, in this case likely the gentry, was R. Hibbins whose
waterproof boots, ladies’ and gent’s calf walking boots were good for the
autumn and winter shooting season. They were also the sole agent for the
celebrated K Boots, and could be found at 1 Baxter Gate.
Gadsby and Simpkin
the leather merchants at 28 Derby Square, also included a large assortment of
ladies’ and gentlemen’s winter boots, as well as dress boots and shoes in great
variety.
Of course,
boots and shoes were quite a necessity, and so another shop, that of G.
Attenborough was selling “genuine boots and shoes”, that were equal to any
house in the trade, and hand-sewn footwear could be made to order at their
premises at 54 Church Gate, and 44 The Rushes.
Frederick
Stubbs, jeweller and watchmaker, was advertising his Christmas and New Year
specialities, like ladies’ gold bangles and bracelets, dress and engagement
rings, and “new fischu brooches in gold” – fichu brooches were used to attach a
small scarf at the throat. His premises was at 19 Market Place, and you can
read more about Stubbs in an earlier blogpost.
Another
jeweller was Benjamin Baldwin, who is also selling “Interesting novelties for
the Christmas season.” He also had for sale selling fancy rings, gilt bangles,
and sparkling evening jewellery. The address of his shop is not given in the
advert, but is believed to also be Market Place, between the Home and Colonial
Store to its left, and Maypole Dairy to its right. After Baldwin’s death, the
jewellery shop was run by the Latimer family, who also had a chemist shop in
the town.
Interestingly,
Benjamin Baldwin’s son was also a chemist, and advertised in this 1891
newspaper. George Baldwin seems to be creating his own remedy called Baldwin’s
Neuralgic Mixture, which he is selling in bottles for 1s. or 2s. from his
premises at 14 High Street, which we are told is opposite the King’s Head
Hotel. In his advert, Baldwin presents testimonials provided by people who have
used his mixture.
Of course,
there are several chemists in Loughborough town centre at the time, and some
are engaged in other trades, too.
Chemist,
William Frederick Charles at 36 Market Place, was preparing carbolic colloid to
cure toothache, which retailed at either 7 ½ d. or 1 ½ d. This was the company
that would go on to make the flower scents, called Zenobia, the factory being
on Wood Gate.
R.L. Gibson the
dentist could provide single teeth, or sets of teeth, as well as wild cherry
balsam in his capacity as chemist, both services being offered from his
premises at 27 Swan Street. Again, testimonials from local people who had used
his products were provided within the advert.
Mr Bowater
advertises himself as a surgeon dentist, who works from Mr C. Jones’ chemist
shop at 22 Market Place, 11.30 until 4pm on Thursdays, and other days by
appointment. Apparently, his terms are moderate, and he uses nitrous oxide for
painless extractions.
Mrs Watts has
opened a shop selling furniture on Derby Road, which was next to her timber
yard. She had previously been based in Swan Street. She reassures us that
funerals are “promptly attended to”.
Over on Mill
Street is another furnishers, although Mr J. Pegg is dealing in general house
furnishings. This furniture is reliable, and cheaper than any other place in
the trade! Mr Pegg also undertakes repairs and alterations in a skilful and
prompt manner.
Shelton and
Fox were advertising drapery bargains as it was the time of their annual
stock-taking clearance sale, where there were great and genuine reductions to
be found throughout their store on 4 High Street.
Thomas Beeby
was an ironmonger and seedsman, but the address is not given (I believe it was
Market Place). Beeby was selling a wide range of products, including digging
ploughs, Avery weighing machines with weights, slow combustion hot air stoves,
and sheep racks.
The final
adverts in this selection from 1891, are firstly, an advert for the Loughborough
Building Society. The Society, which was now in its 24th year of operation, was
opposite the Post Office in Baxter Gate [the Post Office was where the former
Odeon is, and the LBS was based in, or close to the former Wortley store]. The
notice was placed by Samuel Cattall who was secretary of the Society for around
44 years.
Last, we have
an advert for lectures given at the Town Hall by Miss Lydia M. von Finkelstein.
Sadly, the original newspaper is damaged so the complete advert is not viewable,
but the same advert appeared a week later – this was her farewell series of
lectures, which were described as popular and tableau entertainments on social
and religious life in the Holy Land, and were delivered after her return from a
tour of Australia.
Coming into
the twentieth century, adverts and products they were promoting began to
change. The Leicester Daily Post in 1906 carried an advert for Simpkin
and James (who had taken over the store of Thomas Mayo) who were offering Christmas
ale at 1/- a gallon.
Over the
years, Messengers the horticultural manufacturers, established in 1858, had
placed a variety of different adverts in a wide range of publications, many of
which were decorated with pencil sketches of their glasshouses. The 1921 advert
in a supplement to Country Life is surprisingly plain – typed out below
Rushing
forward to 1950, the advert placed in a local paper, by E.H.
Allsopp, the drapers at 11 Market Street, is of its time
Ten years
later, in 1960, Rileys car garage on Derby Road, opposite the entrance to Alan
Moss Road, took an advert in the Coalville Times, offering for sale such
vehicles as the Hillman Minx, the Ford Zodiac and Ford Consul, a Bedford
13-seater workers bus, and a Morris Oxford and Morris Minor, with prices
ranging from £330 to £725, for vehicles that were anything from nine to two
years old.
So far, we’ve
looked at newspapers as one place where printed adverts would have appeared,
but there were also a variety of other publications, like magazines,
directories, and other local publications that would have carried adverts.
Trade
directories specialising a county, or several counties in the same volume often
carried advertisements for various trades. Local borough guides, as well as
telling the reader all about the area and its history, were also good places to
advertise local products. Will’s Illustrated Guide to Loughborough,
published in 1889 was littered with adverts, and some were the same advertisers
as appeared in the 1881 newspaper mentioned above. This advert for R. L.
Gibson, the dental surgeon is somewhat more sophisticated in the guide. It
appears on the same A5 page as an advert for Edwin Cook & Co, the iron and
brass founders on Nottingham Road.
This advert
from around 1950 was for the Nottingham Manufacturing Company on Trinity
Street, which later became Mansfield Hosiery, and is known for its workers’
strikes in both the Leicester and Loughborough factories. The site is now home
to a series of residential dwellings.
Here’s an
advert for Hammonds bearded needles on Havelock Street, from 1960, after it had
become a subsidiary of Bentley Engineering Co.
In this short
whizz around the advertising of Loughborough and its products, we can only
focus on a small selection of such adverts, and a small number of resources
which carried such adverts. Things we haven’t been able to cover are
advertising hoardings, posters placed in, for example, shops, nor any media
like radio, television, or social media.
____________________________________
Posted by
lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
_______________________________________________
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(2026). Welcome to the World of Advertising Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/01/advertising-loughborough.html [Accessed 25 January 2026]
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