Day-to-night: Beddoes, the old ironmongers

I’ll bet that there aren’t very many of us left in the Ironbridge Gorge that remember this building when it was Beddoes, the ironmongers, where you could get anything from four candles to fork handles.

It was established in 1871 by Frank Green Beddoes, and he had this building purpose-built as his shop, with showrooms on the first floor. He also had a large warehouse unit on Waterloo Street, opposite the Police Station; because the business didn’t only exist for domestic customers, they also supplied the many local furnaces, brick & tile works and mines with tools and equipment. It sadly closed in the early 1980s, with its trade sucked away by out-of-town superstores like B&Q. The shop is now one of two estate agents in Ironbridge town.