Skip to content

John Barber, Author

Books, articles and blogs by John Barber

  • John Barber, Author
    • Email
  • Biography
  • Spurs Double team
    • The Double Year
    • White Hart Lane
  • Hertford
    • Hertford – county town
    • Folly Island, Hertford
    • Folly Island in photos
    • The Tunnels of Hertford
    • The Old Barge
    • Sarah Stout – Murder?
    • Brewing in Hertford
    • Katherine Ferrers
  • D.I Winwood and Rutherford
    • Colours of the Underground
    • The Cricket Club Murders
    • Seven Days in May
    • The Russian Doll
    • Murder at the Fleetwood
    • The Book of Life
    • When the Dead Rise Up
    • The Naked Cellist
    • John Barleycorn
  • The Fordhamton Trilogy
    • A Little Local Affair
    • Return to Fordhamton
    • The Last Resort
  • Selected published articles
  • 1980’s Britain – a Report

Everything must go!

5th February 2020 | 7th July 2020
John Barber

Like most residents I was dismayed to learn that three more shops will be closing; Monsoon/Accessorize, Sugar Smith and Botsfords.

Botsfords is almost synonymous with Hertford. It is sad to see such a famous name disappear from our town.

I have written countless reports which have no doubt ended up in the same place as that written by the Retail Group (see previous post). I used to point to Hertford as being almost unique these days as having a haberdashery (Margaret Hart), a diving school (In Depth) and an ironmongers (Botsfords).

‘What made Hertford famous made a loser out of me’ – apologies to Schlitz beer, Milwaukee, Rod Stewart and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Quite ironically Mrs B saw a plea on Facebook from a person looking for information on Addis. My curiosity fanned I took a look through ‘Mercury Remembers’. This was a 120 page supplement issued by the Hertfordshire Mercury in 2001 and looking back over the town’s history.

I saw the headline: ‘Shutting up shop after 200 years’. It was a feature on Gravesons which was closed in 2001. Now in 2020 the current tenants Monsoon/Accessorize are also closing down in town.

Inside I had stored a yellowing copy of ‘Hertford Past & Present’; a Midweek Mercury Supplement from July 1983. From this and the above here are three photos showing Gravesons through the century. I cannot give any more credit to the photographers other than they all appeared in those two publications.

Gravesons in 1928An exterior view of Gravesons as it was in 1928

Interior of Gravesons 1905

The interior of the shop as it was in 1905 with chairs supplied for customers

Gravesons in 2001 just before it closedGravesons as it appeared in 1920

The end of an era approaches and we all await with bated breath the future development of Bircherley Green.

All my previous posts archived here:

  • November 2020 (1)
  • October 2020 (2)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • July 2020 (2)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (3)
  • January 2020 (2)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (3)
  • September 2019 (2)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • June 2019 (1)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (2)
  • January 2019 (3)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • March 2017 (3)
  • February 2017 (2)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • November 2016 (10)

Hertford blog posts

  • Hertford Lockdown Blues 3rd November 2020
  • Regeneration – sort of! 21st October 2020
  • A Time to Remember 12th October 2020
  • Premier Inn Checks Out 27th September 2020
  • Pub – not as we know it 28th July 2020
  • The Village Inn 28th July 2020
  • Hertford Saved! – Doomed! 26th June 2020
  • Fore Street – Solved!! 27th May 2020
  • Seed Warehouse 18th May 2020
  • A Message of Hope 16th April 2020
  • Hertford East Station 8th April 2020
  • Isolation for Folly Island 21st March 2020
  • Bircherley Green 2020 28th February 2020
  • The Great Wen 21st February 2020
  • Everything must go! 5th February 2020
  • Hertford Retail Check 29th January 2020
  • 2020 – a New Year 2nd January 2020
  • A Christmas Carol 12th December 2019
  • Yarn Bomber’s Tree 22nd November 2019
  • Good, Bad and Ugly 31st October 2019
Previous post Hertford Retail Check
Next post The Great Wen

You Might Also Like

Hertford Lockdown Blues

Hertford blog3rd November 2020

Regeneration – sort of!

Hertford blog21st October 2020

A Time to Remember

Hertford blog12th October 2020

Premier Inn Checks Out

Hertford blog27th September 2020

Pub – not as we know it

Hertford blog28th July 2020

The Village Inn

Hertford blog28th July 2020

Hertford Saved! – Doomed!

Hertford blog26th June 2020

Fore Street – Solved!!

Hertford blog27th May 2020

Seed Warehouse

Hertford blog18th May 2020

A Message of Hope

Hertford blog16th April 2020
Copyright © 2016-2021 John Barber, Author. All rights reserved.