Curl Brothers were a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

based in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. The store later became part of the Debenhams chain.

Early history

In 1860, three brothers from the

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

village of East Winch joined the drapery business of

Buntings The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus ''Emberiza'', the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 45 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills. Taxonomy The family Emberizi ...

(a fellow department store lost by the bombing in the Second World War - now the site of

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

). This partnership did not last long, and later that year they purchased the Rampant Horse Inn, converting it into shops and a warehouse. By 1900, the store had expanded taking on further nearby properties. Between the World Wars, Curls was bought by Ipswich department store business Footman, Pretty & Company, which was controlled by the

Drapery Trust Drapery Trust was formed in 1925 by Clarence Hatry, a notorious British financier. He had made his fortune in speculating on oil stocks, and had convinced investors to promote department stores and bring them under the management of a retail con ...

. By 1929, the store had grown to 51,000 square feet in size and included a restaurant which offered a six course lunch for two shillings and sixpence, and dominated Orford Place and Brigg Street.

Modern History

In 1942, the store was completely destroyed by German fire bombing. The

and

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

store suffered the same fate that night, as well as the RG Pilch sport shop, whose building was in the same block as Curl Brothers. Initially

Jarrolds The Jarrold Group is a Norwich–based company, founded as ''Jarrold & Sons Ltd'', in 1770, by John Jarrold, at Woodbridge, Suffolk, before relocating to Norfolk in 1823. ''The Jarrold Group'' still involves members of the Jarrold family. Fami ...

, another department store in the city allowed Curl Brothers to use their first floor before they transferred to a smaller property on Westlegate handed over by Norwich Union for use by burnt out businesses.Norwich in the 1950s by Peter Goodrum The old site lay empty, a giant hole in the middle of Norwich. It was used as both a water tank and as a car park. Work started on rebuilding in 1953, however the work was not completed until 1956. When the new store opened it had entrances on Brigg Street, Orford Place, Red Lion Street and Rampant Horse Street and had 97,000 square foot of retail space. Debenhams continued to operate the store under the Curl Brother name until the 1970s when they rationalised the brand. Debenhams closed all its stores in May 2021.

References

Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Debenhams {{UK-retail-company-stub