Prompted by reports of the demise of Beales, Roger Bingham sketches the ebb and flow of Kendal's retail trade:

IN THE 1800s, Kendal reflected Napoleon Bonaparte’s contemporary jibe that England was a nation of shopkeepers.

In 1829, a flourishing picture of Kendal was presented in Parson and White’s directory. Specifically, Kendal provided 48 grocers, 39 butchers - including 15 in the New Shambles and nine in the Old - 26 bakers, 24 milliners and dressmakers, 21 linen drapers, 17 tailors, 15 tea and coffee sellers, 11 wine merchants, nine confectioners, five tobacconists, five cheese dealers, four glass and china merchants, three ironmongers and an individual optician, cutler and pawnbroker.

Moreover, twice a week, stalls overspilled from the market place into most streets - except Kirkland which, nevertheless, had 20 shops - while seven shops were described as being in the fish market at the top of Finkle Street.

Changing trends a century later meant more confectioners, ladies’ outfitters and 33 shoe retailers. In 1914, no hairdressers were noted, but there were seven in 1934 and 24 in 1954. Shops were becoming larger and big grocers such as Richmond’s, Daish’s, Leighton’s and E.H Booth aped the food halls of big city stores.

During the 1920s and 1930s, chain stores arrived. In Stricklandgate, Woolworths (‘nothing over sixpence’) appeared opposite the town hall, with Timpson shoes next door. Along the street Marks and Spencer replaced the Kings Arms Inn. Nearby, Burton Men’s Outfitters was graciously opened by Montague Burton himself in 1935. A rival men’s clothiers, John Collier ('the window to watch'), commanded the entrance to Finkle Street. Smaller shops still prevailed like Townley and Taylors Toy Shop (‘the children’s paradise’), Clarence Webb’s Horticultural Stores as well as Briggs Boot Store, while Brunskill - gowns and mantles - occupied the corner of Market Place

Musgroves (later Beales) - ‘Westmorland’s only Department Store’ - founded in 1859, spread through 45-53 Finkle Street and, until a fire in 1965, retained its original glass door engraved ‘cheap drapers shop’. For the 1975 brochure of the fourth centenary of Kendal’s Borough Charter, Musgroves reproduced a Victorian advertisement.

Adverts for other old firms included Titus Wilson (printers), W.G. Todd and Sons (Saddlers) and Blacow Bros men’s and boys’ wear, founded in 1772, along with the almost as old Middleton’s ironmongery and hardware. Other long-established shops included chemists like Rutter’s, Edmondson and Voght's and Boons. Also featured were Keith O’Loughlin’s Models and Toys, McCormack’s ('your family furnishers’), Illingworth’s Tobaccos Ltd, Halls Pet Supply Stores and two Brennand’s Pork Butchers - one on Stricklandgate and one on Finkle Street. Today, Farrers Tea and Coffee store on Stricklandgate and H Hogarth Jewellers on Branthwaite Brow are possibly the only shops still occupying the same premises as they did in 1975.

By 1975, however, big changes were on the way. Tesco in Highgate and the Co-op and Lipton in Stricklandgate had arrived in the 1960s. Incredibly, to modern eyes, these ‘self-service’ stores were crammed into the main streets conveniently next to bus stops. Concurrently the old, often family run, shops were drifting away.

50 years on, the town’s former main shopping area reflects a nationwide trend, having some boarded up shops with many others replaced by charity outlets, takeaways and offices. Increasingly, a doughnut effect has been created of a hollowed-out, deteriorating inner core being bypassed by the public driving to ‘supermarkets’ with their super free car parking on the edge of town.

Nostalgically, many folk regret this trend. Yet almost everybody shops at supermarkets. Even so, online ‘shopping at home’ is already hinting that doing the ‘big shop’ at the supermarket may eventually fizzle out.