{"id":3316,"date":"2022-10-21T08:30:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T08:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=3316"},"modified":"2022-10-11T10:50:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T10:50:47","slug":"a-local-institution-quietly-closes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2022\/10\/21\/a-local-institution-quietly-closes\/","title":{"rendered":"A Local Institution Quietly Closes"},"content":{"rendered":"

With expected fanfare, Beales department store was set to end its 139 year tenure in Bournemouth\u2019s town centre in April 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic intervened. The institution was instead quietly shuttered by a nationwide lockdown in March. While Poole still boasts a Beales store, the organisation founded by James Elmes Beale had ceased to exist as the new store owners, New Start 2020, had purchased only the Beales name<\/a> for the sum of \u00a35000.00. The other two remaining Bournemouth town centre department stores also subsequently closed \u2013 Debenhams in 2021 and House of Fraser in 2022.<\/p>\n

Dorset History Centre documents bring the past alive<\/h3>\n

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The Dorset History Centre was able to take some of the historic Beales materials into its collection in 2020. While it remains uncatalogued, there is a wealth of information on the Beales flagship store and its other outlets, including Bealesons and other branches across the country. Some of the most evocative items in the collections are photos of the various iterations of the store on Old Christchurch Road \u2013 the first rebuild in the 1910s, the grand art-deco style building opened in 1931, the smouldering ruins after a 1943 air raid, and the stages of construction of the building that still stands.<\/p>\n

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There are also lovely images of the staff over the years – posing for a group photo before a staff outing in charabancs in the 1910s, the 1920s women\u2019s hockey team or Bealsons\u2019 proud champion darts team in the early 1950s. The Beale family also features prominently, with family photos and a newspaper clipping book documenting J.E. Beale\u2019s years as Bournemouth mayor.<\/p>\n

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Local history for all<\/h3>\n

The Dorset History Centre archives are a wonderful resource for researchers like me who are documenting the history of Bournemouth department stores. The photos and other materials, such as the Beales employee handbooks, have provided information and talking points when collecting oral histories. However, you don\u2019t have to be a historian to enjoy what the archive has to offer. The Beales collection and the many other wonderful collections housed in Dorchester are available to see by appointment for all with an interest in the past.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

This was a guest blog written for Dorset History Centre by Kate Terkanian, Senior Lecturer in Modern History, Bournemouth University. If you would like to contribute a guest blog, please get in touch with us: archives@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With expected fanfare, Beales department store was set to end its 139 year tenure in Bournemouth\u2019s town centre in April 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic intervened. The institution was instead quietly shuttered by a nationwide lockdown in March. While Poole still boasts a Beales store, the organisation founded by James Elmes Beale had ceased to… Read more A Local Institution Quietly Closes<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,137,156,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3320,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3316\/revisions\/3320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}