This is the first of a series of blog entries about shops.
The never-ending shift to buying things online combined with the restrictions imposed by the government in reaction to coronavirus this year have sounded the death knell for many of our shops. HMV, long a landmark on Oxford Street, is no more; its shopfront is now boarded up. The once mighty Debenhams chain, which began with the opening of a single store in London in 1778 (whilst the War of American Independence raged on other side of the Atlantic) appears to have finally given up the ghost and is now, sadly, advertising its closing down sale.
In the midst of this doom and gloom, there remain a few wonderful old establishments which, for now at least, remain open and are some of London’s oldest businesses. I thought I’d better visit and record them while I still can…..
I’d never heard of Paxton & Whitfield, my first destination, until fairly recently. I was talking cheese with old pal, as you do, and he mentioned that this shop was his favourite place in all London. I rarely venture into Jermyn Street which is just off Piccadilly and renowned for its traditional and pricey gentleman’s clothing emporiums. It is certainly not where I would have thought of going when I had a craving for Wensleydale or Stilton. But when I turned the corner into Jermyn Street on a wet and cold December morning recently I found I was not alone in my pursuit of good cheese for there was already a queue of people ahead of me, waiting patiently to take their turn in this fine smelling shop.
The sign proclaims that the business dates back to 1797. The internet tells me that not only does Paxton & Whitfield trace its roots back to that date but goes back even further to when Stephen Cullum – a cheesemonger from Suffolk – arrived in London and in 1742 opened a market stall selling fine dairy products in Clare Market. Clare Market was no place for the faint hearted in those days. It took place in a series of late medieval streets about which Charles Dickens wrote in Sketches By Boz, “There is more of filth and squalid misery near those great thorough-fares than in any part of this mighty city” The old buildings were cleared away to build Kingsway and The Aldwych and the LSE at the start of the twentieth century.
Stephen Cullum’s son re-located the business to Swallow Street in 1797 to be closer to more affluent customers and took on two new partners, a Mr Paxton and a Mr Whitfield, whose names grace the business today. In 1835 Swallow Street was being redeveloped as part of the Regent Street scheme and the shop was forced to move again initially to 18 Jermyn Street and then to its present home at 93 Jermyn Street in 1894.
It must have sold a humungous amount of cheese in that time, much of it to the royal family. Paxton and Whitfield received its first royal warrant for supplying cheese to Queen Victoria in 1850 and since then has supplied many royals. It currently has two royal warrants – for the supply of cheese to the Queen and to Prince Charles – and so the likelihood is that any cheese consumed during the history of The Crown was supplied from this very business.
The proof of the cheese is in the eating of course. I queued for my turn to but a piece of Stilton – the company helped popularise the cheese many years ago. The service was helpful, the price quite high but the cheese was delicious and the shop is well worth a second visit.
