Pearson Brothers

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Interesting photo. My sister and I had a coach built pram like the one in the window. It was built by Paragon who, I believe, made cycles but I don't know whether they were a Nottingham company. My parents had to order it early in 1950 as rationing was still in force and manufacturers were still in the process of reverting from war related industries to civilian needs.  When my sister was born in July 1950, the pram was not ready and my mother had to borrow her sister in law's pram until it was!

 

Rarely see the coach built prams today as I believe only Silver Cross make them now at £1500 a pram! Pricey but very classy!

[oldphil 331]

My mum used to take me in there every Saturday to " settle her account" , and then we would descend a magnificent marble stairway to the small café, where she gave me "proper" coffee and croissants.

 

 

[philmayfield 6,115]

I knew Pearsons well as they were one of my firms accountancy clients and I spent many hours there. The shop was a real rabbit warren (not quite so bad as Griffins!) and it was a similar maze behind the scenes. They took over the premises of the grocers AB Gibson at the rear so they went right through to Parliament St. In the Gibson’s part, which was used as a warehouse area, there was a turntable for spinning the vans round in the confined space. John Pearson had perfected the trick of driving in at speed in his Jensen Interceptor and braking hard on the turntable which caused it to spin round so he was ready for driving out! The business  set up was very much like the “Are you being served” programme. Some of the staff compared it to the song “Mathew and Son”. The company secretary and accountant was Don Whitehead, who was ex Mellish, and was a prime mover in setting up the old boy’s rugby club ground near the Traveller’s Rest on the Plains. We worked in an office at the Gibson’s end so we took our breaks in the nearby Kardomah cafe at the top of Market St. Coincidentally an uncle of mine bought the house of the company founder, Tom Pearson. This was a splendid rambling place on Richmond Drive in Mapperley Park.

 

[philmayfield 6,115]

So long ago Ian. It was in the 60's. A lot of water's been passed since then. The house might have been Laurie Pearson's who was the son of Tom. I think John was his son and there was also perhaps a David. The wife of one of those boys was an actress. 

[LizzieM 9,507]

2 hours ago, philmayfield said:

ICoincidentally an uncle of mine bought the house of the company founder, Tom Pearson. This was a splendid rambling place on Richmond Drive in Mapperley Park.

 

The Pearsons must have been a large well-heeled family.  One of them, and I have no idea which one but I was led to believe he was the founder ( but Phil has thrown doubt on that now) had a house built on Carisbrooke Drive, along the road from us.  An old neighbour told me some years ago that there were 7 children in the family and the house is certainly large enough to accommodate so many kids.  It stands well in a large garden and has been a Nursing Home since well before we moved to the area 14 years ago. 

[philmayfield 6,115]

Have a look on Wikipedia Lizzie. The Pearson family shop goes back to the 1890’s. They were still in the 1890’s when we did the audit and accounts. We did find some serious misfeasance by an employee in one audit. That was my first fraud.

[LizzieM 9,507]

18 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

Have a look on Wikipedia Lizzie.

 

I just did a bit of googling!  Apparently it was Tom Pearson and his wife Ida who lived in the house on Carisbrooke Drive.  (according to their niece who used to visit in the 40s)

 

[annswabey 599]

Thomas Pearson died in 1962 and his address was 22 Carisbrooke Drive.  He left £29000 - a sizeable sum for the time and Probate was granted to Laurence Herbert Pearson and Alan Stewart Pearson (his sons?) and a solicitor

[philmayfield 6,115]

Yes, as I recollect Lawrence and Allen were his sons. The shop was a well run organisation with some very competent staff. I was sorry to see it go. I think Habitat occupied part of the site subsequently. I used to like Habitat stuff at the time. Not so much now!

[annswabey 599]

I like Habitat too at the time - relatively cheap and different.  Not the same now

[DAVIDW 1,681]

There's an extensive early family history of the Pearson family on this thread . 

https://www.british-genealogy.com/archive/index.php/t-68323.html?s=040f7d17782172985..

The business started with a Frederick Pearson born c1830 and died 1909 . Depending on the census he was either born Rutland or Leeds ??

He was living at 5 Park Valley on the 1891 and 1901 Census .

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Posting this , as a query about the Golden Cage shop on Derby Rd came up on FB a few days ago. 

Wasn't much response to my answers but I found it interesting in that the shop was run by members of the Pearson Bros store family , one of whom,  Jill Pearson,  was also a movie actress and when not filming helped in the shop apparently.

 

Can't say her name springs to mind but she appeared on Coronation St in the 1960s and one film mentioned was "I Love NY" and another called "Marathon" with Christopher Plummer. 

She had a daughter with the exotic name of Jane Paradise who also was a director at a firm called Robotec.

 

This is an amalgamation of articles from the mid 1980s about the Golden Cage shop and the ladies that ran it :

 

This trend of women wearing mens suits delights the staff at Golden Cage in Derby Ròad who pan
eight decades of fashion between them.

The shop is run by Mamie Smalley, 80, her daughter Jill Pearson and grand-daughter Jane
Paradise, with their friend Celia Radcliffe, and they recently turned the whole
of their antique shop over to old clothes.

 

Older customers come in to reminisce with Mamie while young girls admire
the ballgowns that Jill Pearson wore in the '50s.
Jane's fashion memory does not go back so far but she's starting to sell the kind of clothes she wore in the 60s.

Clothes currently on the rails include a ballgown of Jill's from the 50s and styles her mother would have worn back in the 1920s. 

Sequinned flapper dresses hang alongside garish prints from the 50s. 

Further back there is a novelty rail for youngsters who are going to fancy dress parties.
Dress prices start at £5 and rise to £155 for a full- length beaded evening dress. But it's the tailor-made dinner jackets which have the greatest fashion appeal at the moment, says Jane.

 

Jane Paradise set for new Golden career.
GO-AHEAD businesswoman  and mother Jane Paradise, has been taking time out from her family life to play a central role in two Nottingham city centre retailing battles.
For Jane is a member of the Pearson family that was trying to save the famous store of that
name from the clutches of a development company.
While the fight for the 98-year-old department store ,founded by her great-grandfather, reached its climax and ended up in the hands of developers.

" I suppose retailing must run in our blood because I love the shop says Jane who is the also marketing director of Robotec, the Nottingham automation firm.

 

Jane, who took the shop over from her mother Jill at the Golden Cage has been fighting flooding and internal renovation issues costing a five figure sum.

It's a lot of money for a small operation she said.

 

Golden Cage sells a wide range of period clothes appealing to trendy up-market customers from as far afield as London and exports have been sent to Japan for Harris Tweed Jackets
 

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

I remember The Golden Cage. It was there for years. Also Pennyfeathers on Goldsmith Street, in an old Victorian house that probably isn't there any longer.  They were ideal places for finding theatrical costumes.

 

When I was a child, we lived next door to an elderly couple whose only daughter, Muriel, had been one of my mother's best friends from early childhood.  After attending Berridge and the dreaded Manning Grammar, Muriel went to Millers Business College and then found employment as a secretary to one of the directors of Player's.  Muriel's mum, according to my mum, was determined to marry off her daughter to one of the Player family and she bought her the most exquisite clothes, including evening gowns and swanky shoes for the social gatherings Muriel attended in the late 40s and 50s.  Many of them came from a very high class ladieswear shop in the council house arcade in Nottingham, next to Burton's.

 

The best laid plans of Muriel's mother went awry and, whilst on holiday in Cornwall, Muriel met a Cornish boat builder and married him instead.  In the early 60s, Muriel's mum turfed out all her daughter's old clothes and donated them to my dressing up box.  I loved parading about in them 

[Cliff Ton 10,458]

2 hours ago, DAVIDW said:

The shop is run by Mamie Smalley, 80, her daughter Jill Pearson and grand-daughter Jane
Paradise, with their friend Celia Radcliffe, and they recently turned the whole

 

I wonder if there's a connection with Smalleys, whose are still operating on Derby Road, albeit on a reduced scale.   (They used to be further down near Chapel Bar).

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/GDZvrchJWV8KKoNG8

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Crikey. Didn't that used to be part of Baker & Plumb?

[Stuart.C 491]

Yes Jill.
B&P were no 48 to 60, that's from Derby St to the Strathdon, all the block in the below link.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.955151,-1.1579491,3a,90y,40.4h,99.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTT8VRgknJEtQNWRkZqSIcw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[DAVIDW 1,681]

4 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

 

I wonder if there's a connection with Smalleys, whose are still operating on Derby Road.....

Could be !

In 1939 living Chaworth Rd , W.Bridgford is Jill Smalley (later Pearson) ,born 1932 , living with parents Stuart H Smalley and Lillian M. Smalley (nee Cannell). (Presume Lillian M. was known as Mamie and also Peggy ! ).

 

Stewart H Smalleys occupation "Mens Hatter and Raincoat Retailer". He died 1985.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Thought so. Thanks Stuart.  I used to like wandering round Baker & Plumb.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Actress Jill Pearson had 3 different names , her birth name as Jill Smalley, her first acting name as Jill Stuart and then after marriage , Jill Pearson.

 

Her marriage to one of the Pearson Bros family: 

 

John Laurence Pearson, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Laurence H. Pearson, of 15, Oundle-drive, Wollaton Park, Nottingham, and Miss Jill Marie Geraldine Smalley, the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart H. Smalley, of 57, Chaworth-road

26 June 1952

Nottingham Evening Post

 

Some of her film credits from IMDB

 

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0669295/

[Cliff Ton 10,458]

18 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Crikey. Didn't that used to be part of Baker & Plumb?

 

When it looked like this....   

https://picturenottingham.co.uk/image-library/image-details/poster/ntgm019212/posterid/ntgm019212.html

 

And another version of Smalleys shop .... 

https://picturenottingham.co.uk/image-library/image-details/poster/ntgm002713/posterid/ntgm002713.html

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

It did, indeed, CT. Does that say Park Row on the side street of Smalley's shop? If so, the street pattern has changed since those days.

[Cliff Ton 10,458]

The street pattern has changed, but I think Smalleys have moved several times......although always staying around the same area.

 

This is the junction of Park Row/Derby Road these days .....  https://maps.app.goo.gl/dFKPiEGMhNmpvNqKA

[Brew 5,409]

John Laurence Pearson used his middle name and everyone called him Loll.

 

OOps... confusing JL Pearson with Laurie... soz...

[Beekay 5,134]

Can some kind person tell me why I cannot find Granby street? Tried Google but just getting the Granby hotel or Granby street in every other bloody town !

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

59 minutes ago, Cliff Ton said:

This is the junction of Park Row/Derby Road these days

That's the conclusion I came to, as well. CT.  Doesn't seem long since I was a very small child and stood not far from there watching the construction of a high rise block on the other side of Maid Marian Way.