Dyers of Ilminster

"For anyone interested in shopping, social history and the traditional pleasures of provincial life, a visit to Dyers of Ilminster is essential.  The glorious façade is just the start of an exciting, and increasingly rare, High Street shopping experience”   Paul Atterbury  - BBC Antiques Roadshow

 

Selling ladies and gentlemen’s clothing and shoes, haberdashery and homewares, Dyers of Iliminster was established by RP Wheadon and Son in 1870.  Although RA Dyer Ltd bought the shop in 1937, it still bears the original custodian’s name on the magnificently etched glass entrance doors and the mosaic floor tiling of the twin lobbied shop front.

 

Now owned by one of Somerset’s oldest families, the Speke family, the shop boasts a quaint Victorian cashier’s booth, fine wood balustrade staircases, large, mahogany, numbered hat drawers and several large wall mounted mirrors.  Dyers is a truly rare example of British retail history.