#AmazingAccrington

E. Bramwell and Son The Fish Merchant’s Tale

Accrington Market HAS EVERYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLY NEED!

If you have mobility needs you can talk to an expert at Accrington Market Mobility & Furniture. You have a choice for your e-cig requirements at E A Electrical, and E-Cigs and Phone Accessories. Phones are also catered for at Phone World, while PCs can be looked after at PC Repair. The Wham Factory Shop has houseware and bakeware items at keen prices. Other specialist retailers include Accrington Nails, Happy Hands for your haberdashery needs, Matthew’s for cards, balloons and gift wrap, Petmart for everything you might need for your pets, Riley’s with an extensive selection of DVDs and Star Book Exchange on the outdoor market with a great selection of books. The Hyndburn Heritage Museum is also located in the Market Hall, well worth calling in to see some really interesting Hyndburn artefacts. If all this means you need a pit stop, you have a choice of the Accrington Pals Outdoor Café, Clarkeys Café upstairs, Frankie’s Café, Nettie’s Butty Van outdoors, or the Pie and Mash Shop – all selling a great variety of hot and cold food and drinks to keep you going. Tricketts Ices is a fabulous place to treat yourself to an ice cream or toastie and sit at the counter watching the world go by. Two new additions to the balcony are Buddu Chill, providing sports massages and holistic therapies, and Jo Workshop, selling upcycled and recycled furniture, ornaments and much more. Ideal for Christmas, her handmade items really are unique. Jo says “A trip to Glastonbury five years ago really inspired me creatively, and I decided to set up my own shop selling beautiful items. I’m so happy to be on Accrington Market, the staff cannot do enough for me, they’ve been so helpful and supportive. I’m getting to know my fellow traders as well and they’ve made me feel so welcome. I hope to get back to running my craft workshops soon, they’re great for wellbeing and I get a lot of pleasure out of them.” Here at Amazing Accrington we can’t think of anything that you can’t buy on Accrington Market!

Fish merchant Edward Bramwell and son.

Fish merchants John and Steve Bramwell will have plenty of fresh fish to order for Christmas and the new year. The brothers now offer a home delivery service started during the COVID-19 crisis that is proving extremely successful. They want to see salmon being the number one alternative to turkey this Christmas Day.

Accrington fish merchant E. Bramwell and Son is one of those solid bricks that make up the foundation of the town. They can trace their family business back to 1876, but there’s a good chance the firm is older than that!

Julie Hesmondhalgh shopping at Fairbrothers Biscuits.

The Market Hall is a beautiful Victorian building that has been modernised to keep it warm and dry, and the outdoor market has robust stalls with a large variety of traders. You can find everything from fresh produce, DVDs and furniture to the Official Accrington Stanley Supporter’s Trust shop. Clothes, shoes and accessories can be found on stalls including the Children’s Shoe Stall, Bagsy That for ladies’ handbags, jewellery and accessories, Essentials Clothing for underwear and nightwear, Jazz Jeans for menswear, jeans and workwear, Illusion for ladieswear and Maureen’s Shoes for adult shoes. Produce can be found at Allfruits and Smiths Fruit and Veg, for whole and prepared fruit and veg, Gregs Bacon and Cooked Meats plus sausages and pies, Slacks Farm Butchers for all your meat requirements and Slacks Farm Deli for sandwiches, pies and cooked meats. Sarah’s Cheese stall sells high quality gift style cheese, wine and related products, and Sweets and Treats has lots of retro style sweets as well as new. They also have a sugar free range. E Bramwell is the resident fishmonger for all freshly caught fish, new stock arrives daily. Fairbrothers Biscuits sells biscuits, snacks and treats. John Healey has manned the stall for 28 years! He says, “It’s the original biscuit stall because I bought it from the previous owner, and I’ve only moved location once in the Hall for the last 28 years. I see all my regulars and it’s nice to have a few words, see how they’re keeping!”

retired fish salesman living in Accrington. James had made a success of his life and was enjoying his retirement surrounded by his son William and eight grandchildren. In that year the Office of National Statistics shows that the life expectancy for a man was just over 50 years old, so James had done very well indeed. The same census in 1911, shows the then head of the family, William Bramwell (aged 54), son of James, was working as a fishmonger. Following the story through the census records we find that William himself had two sons, one of which was Edward Bramwell who lent his name to the family firm and later passed the business down to his son also named William. John Bramwell has happy memories of his father William. He was a smart businessman and, in true Lancashire fashion, a hard worker. He would wait for the train to bring fresh fish every morning from Fleetwood, and drag the daily catch from the station to the Market Hall. Even back then he recognised that times were changing and that the high street needed to change too. He warned that the supermarkets would one day present a serious challenge to the independent traders of places like Accrington Market. In those days there was just one supermarket, Asda in Colne. The Bramwell brothers thought their father was joking or gone daft in his old age, but that man left his sons a piece of advice that shines through the years like the iconic lighthouses of Fleetwood. “Shopping bags in town centres will be a thing of the past, but in every town worth its salt there’ll always be room for one butcher, one baker, one greengrocer and one fish merchant.” “Make sure you’re that one.” The family business continues and now with consumers worried about things like food miles, plastic waste, and sustainable supply chains, perhaps the tide is about to turn. Your friendly local food suppliers have so many advantages over the supermarkets. For one thing, when you buy Bramwells you become part of 144 years of Accrington history. You can’t buy that in Asda.

John and Steve Bramwell are the current generation of fish merchants at Accrington Market but there’s been a member of their family selling fresh fish at the market for at least 144 years. It’s possible the business was around before then, and given that the Market Hall was built in 1860 there’s a good chance they’ve been there since the very beginning. The name E. Bramwell and Son refers to Edward Bramwell, grandfather of the current Bramwell brothers John and Steve. It always seemed a fairly safe assumption that Edward was the founder of the business – and that was the accepted version of the story. But safe assumptions are assumptions nonetheless. 30 years ago, one Monday morning at Accrington Market the Bramwell fish merchants were tending their shop when a member of the public approached with a story that would challenge what they thought they knew about the origins of the family firm. John Bramwell was serving at the time. The customer, a local lady, approached the market stall and asked the question “how old is your family firm?” She had been researching a thesis in the town library. She produced a copy of a newspaper article from 1876. The story told of a court case in which an Accrington man was put on trial for selling fish from a barrow, outside the Market Hall at 11.25pm on a Saturday night. The headline of the story was as follows: “James Bramwell before the bench (again)”. The story reported how one James Bramwell had been arrested for selling fish outside the market, after the close of business for the day. Those were the days before refrigeration and any stock left unsold on a Saturday would spoil before Monday. The three men working behind the counter were brothers John and Steve Bramwell and their father Bill. They had always thought the business was set up by their grandfather Edward Bramwell – explaining the name E. Bramwell and Son. But the information in the newspaper article gave a tantalising glimpse of an even older history, one that was previously unknown. In the 1911 census one James Bramwell is listed as a 74 year old

Mani Mobiles & Electricals.

Slacks Farm Deli.

Jo Workshop upstairs in the Market.

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