End of an era as the ‘Queen of Primrose Hill’ closes her shop Welsh's

Published: 8 April 2010
by DAN CARRIER

THE shop has been nicknamed Arkwrights, after the corner store in the hit Ronnie Barker series Open All Hours, and neighbours have crowned its proprietor the unofficial “Queen of Primrose Hill”. 

But after 52 years of selling a vast array of assorted hardware and other household goods, June Beechey, of Welsh’s hardware store in Regent’s Park Road, has decided it is time to retire.

Welsh’s has been on the site and in the same trade since 1870, providing the good burghers of Primrose Hill with vital everyday goods from light bulbs and screwdrivers to egg whisks and doormats. 

But now Mrs Beechey, 78, has decided that as her lease runs out, now is the time to stop running the store she and her husband Jim set up in 1956.

A trader known as an “oil man” called Henry Lovell first opened the shop. In pre-electric times, his goods were in great demand as he sold both paraffin and rapeseed oil, which would have been used to top up the lamps that cast a pale light across the drawing rooms of the Victorians who lived there. 

The name Welsh arrived when Richard Welsh took over in 1900. His family owned a chain of similar businesses across north London. And when Mrs Beechey and Jim took on the shop, they paid the princely sum of 50 guineas for the privilege of keeping the good name of Welsh’s above their door. They had to have a poisons licence due to the nature of the goods they sold, and customers’ purchases had to be logged by the couple. 

Lee Smith, who has worked with Mrs Beechey for eight years, recalled how the street has changed. She remembers how the popular nearby Greek restaurant Lemonia was a spit-and-sawdust pub called the Chalk Farm Tavern; how the street’s launderette would be the place to go for a neighbourly chat, and how she would treat herself to a bag of chips for lunch at the fish and chip shop over the road, which closed around four years ago.

Ms Lee’s time at Welsh’s  was supposed to be temporary, but the friendly atmosphere Mrs Beechey fostered in the store that meant she stayed.

Ms Lee added: “She knows everyone. People come in for a nice chat. 

“We do not always know people by name but we know them by what they buy – for example, there is the chap who comes in for candles.”

As for Mrs Beechey’s retirement – the doors are due to close in about a month’s time – Ms Lee added: “June has done a fair shift.”

Philip Barry, who runs grocers and florists Yeomans next door, said the shop would be greatly missed. He said he doubted that another hardware store would open in its place.

“I have known June for 30 years and it has been a handy store to have on your doorstep,” said Mr Barry. “It will be a huge loss for the whole community, although I am glad she is retiring – she deserves to enjoy herself. She is the Queen of Primrose Hill.”