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 under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

based in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. The store later became part of the

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...

chain.

Early history

In 1860, three brothers from the

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

village of East Winch joined the drapery business of

Buntings Bunting may refer to: Birds * ''Emberiza'', a group of Old World passerine birds * ''Passerina'', a group of birds in the Cardinalidae family known as the North American buntings * Blue bunting, ''Cyanocompsa parellina'' * Lark bunting, ''Calam ...

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

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

). 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 (initially called the Drapery & General Investment Trust Ltd) 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 departmen ...

. 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 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, 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 Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva a ...

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.

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