EPSOM BUSINESSES 1911

This is one of the properties on the North Side of the East End of the High Street. These were all demolished by the start of World War 11 to enable the road to be widened – for more details see Epsom Heritage Page 5. The new properties were built in a completely different position so unlike the rest of this project it has been decided that it is pointless attempting to give a ‘Current Occupier’ as this would not be applicable.

A further complication is that the buildings were not numbered at the time and have therefore been presented under the owner’s name and as far as possible in sequential order from west to east in line with the 1911 Census and photographic evidence.

Eastman & Sons Ltd, High Street, Epsom (Site Of)
Occupiers in 1911	Eastman & Son Ltd Dyers and cleaners
Details of 1911 Proprietors	Older readers may remember seeing these in many towns, as they were a chain. The firm was founded by Londoner William Eastman, starting out in Acton Vale, West London, which in the late 19th and early 20th centuries housed a considerable number of laundries (my grandfather looked after the machinery in one of them). The reason why these establishments appeared there was its reasonable proximity to the West End hotels, which sent out their laundry. Consequently, it made very good sense for someone to set up a business that catered for the more complicated jobs, such as dyeing your silk dress or cleaning your brocade curtains. Mr Eastman also patented an amazingly complicated machine for ‘pressing busts and shoulders of garments’. The firm later became Associated Dyers and Cleaners, still run by Eastmans, and was merged into what is now Johnsons Cleaners UK. Example of an Eastmans letterhead from 1904. Image source: Lainey Powell via flickr.com Eastmans are to the right of Boots. Image courtesy of Bourne Hall Museum.

Go to the 1913 Map of Epsom High Street (East)