Milners of Leyburn, also known as C Milner & Sons, is a small, family-run

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 ...

in the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

Leyburn Leyburn is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, sitting above the northern bank of the River Ure in Wensleydale. Historic counties of England, Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the name was derived from 'Ley' ...

Wensleydale Wensleydale is a valley in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Dales, which are part of the Pennines. The Dale (landform), dale is named after the village of Wensley, North Yorkshire, Wensley, formerly the valley's market tow ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. On the ground floor, they sell women's clothing and accessories from brands including Seasalt, White Stuff and Powder accessories, as well as hosting a haberdashery section filled with fabric remnants, wool, buttons, and much more. Milners Interiors, (on the first floor) provides a made to measure service in curtains, blinds and shutters and a selection of carpets and range of flooring. They host a wide range of fabric and wallpaper sample books from well established brand houses, such as Morris & Co and Colefax and Fowler, as well as Little Greene Paint Company's complete selection of paints. The business was started in 1882 by Christopher Milner, hence the C in the name, with a shop in

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a tourist attraction in the Yorks ...

, and is now in its fifth generation in the family following the retirement of David Milner in March 2008. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

made a

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

series of three programmes, entitled 'The Department Store'. Produced by

Richard Macer Richard Macer (born May 1967) is a British documentary maker who has made over fifty films whose subjects include singer/songwriter Shaun Ryder, model Katie Price, Jordan, dyslexia, morris dancing, British Vogue magazine, department stores, and ...

, it was about independent department stores and how they are surviving in the modern world in the face of stiff competition from chain stores. The first programme in the series, on Milners, was filmed by the BBC from September 2007 to April 2008. It was initially shown on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

on 17 November 2008 and subsequently on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

on 7 April 2009. David Milner, who was featured in the programme, has retired and even assisted with a charity expedition to the Gambia in January 2010. His daughter, Leonie, with her husband, Keith Garrard, are now Managing Directors of the store which continues to trade after 140 years of serving the Dales."Milners of Leyburn Update"
pipspatch, 21 July 2010.

References

External links

* Department stores of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1882 Leyburn Companies based in Leyburn British companies established in 1882 {{UK-retail-company-stub