Locals to Reading are remembering an iconic staple to a past Broad Street that closed down 50 year ago.

E Hill & Son closed on January 5, 1974, and the picture above shows the crowds queueing up for the closing sale that Saturday. 

The shop that occupied 38 Broad Street is now home to WH Smiths which has remained in business on the high street for many years.

Made with Flourish

 

Mr Neil Klopke posted this photograph of the remembered store along with its history on social media.

Ebenezer Hill originally opened his leather merchants at 25 Broad Street in about 1883 and enjoyed early success for the duration of his time there.

But when the building was demolished to make way for the Capital & Counties Bank (now Lloyds Bank) he moved to 38 Broad Street and stayed there until the shop’s closure 70 years later.

He had the shop rebuilt in about 1903 as we see it here and the building has remained very much the same throughout the last century.

Mr Klopke wrote “The business became E Hill & Son Ltd and later expanded to sell baby wear, prams and pushchairs, and, most importantly, toys upstairs, which most locals will surely remember.”