1957
Original footprintShop floor, counter, office and store room, with a garage store behind. Two bay windows at the front.
The family archive
Our Story
The people, photographs and memories behind our family hardware shop.
“What would Nailsea do without John Brown!”
In 1957 John and Alice Brown opened a hardware shop in a building John had helped his father put up. Nearly seventy years later the family is still behind the counter at 90 High Street.
A phrase often heard in the shop and along the High Street, recorded on the shop's previous website.
Before
1957
The family builds the row
John Brown and his father Charles built the row of shops that still includes John Brown Hardware.
Charles was a local builder and John worked alongside him on the whole row. John later bought the end shop from his father.
Family history
1957
John Brown Hardware opens
John opened the hardware shop in the end premises he had bought from his father, with his wife Alice beside him.
The origin is unusually direct: John had helped build the premises before establishing the business there.
John, Alice and their seven-year-old daughter Maggie moved into the flat above the shop. Alice initially continued working at Hale's Cake Factory in Clevedon, then joined the shop full-time as it grew busier.
Family history · Obituary of Alice Brown, 2011 · BBC News: Owner of Nailsea's oldest shop celebrates 100th birthday
The books
First year's trading, 1957–58
- Sales
- £8,717
- Wife's wages and bonus
- £416
- Net profit
- £1,011
Alice was paid from the first year: her wages appear in the accounts as “Wife's wages and bonus”.
1960s
More room, more stock
A rear extension gave the growing shop more room as Nailsea expanded and the range widened.
John's own written reflection dates the first extension to the mid-1960s, when the rear of the main shop gained more floor space.
Family history · Family history presentation
Early
1970s
A second major extension
A further extension in the early 1970s doubled the size of the existing shop.
The expansion helped the business develop beyond traditional ironmongery into a broader practical range for the home, garden and workshop.
Family history · Family history presentation
Three working footprints
How the shop grew
Plans from the family archive. The new space at each stage is shaded.
Mid-1960s
First rear extensionAn extension to the back of the shop, shaded. The counter was moved.
1970
Second major extensionA larger extension, shaded, with counters and areas for paints and plumbing, DIY, giftware and watches, and housewares.
Alice
Alice Brown
Alice was both John's partner in life and a vital part of the shop's early decades.
Born in Ystrad Rhondda on 20 June 1919, Alice worked her way up at Hale's Cake Factory in Clevedon to become PA to its owner, Frank Hale. She met John when she was a bridesmaid at her sister Hilda's wedding, and they married at St Quiricus and St Julietta Church in Tickenham on 4 September 1948.
Alongside her work in the business, Alice was active in the United Reformed Church at Stockway North, Nailsea. She taught Sunday school and founded its junior choir.
In 2006 John semi-retired to care for Alice after she had a stroke. Alice died on 27 January 2011.
Family history · Obituary of Alice Brown, 2011
1975
Joe and Maggie
Joe joined John Brown Hardware in 1975 and became central to its next generation.
Born in London in 1945, Joe completed a printing apprenticeship and spent about ten years working as a travelling representative. He met Maggie in Spain, returned to England, married her and the couple lived in the flat above the shop.
Joe took responsibility for deliveries, Calor Gas, warehouse purchasing and buying-group relationships. He now leads the day-to-day running of the business.
Family history
1980s
A changing shopfront
The frontage was updated as the shop continued to evolve.
Calor Gas, deliveries and expanded stock were important parts of this period. They are recorded as history here; customers should check the Services page for what is offered now.
Family history
1997
The shop's 40th anniversary
Forty years of trading were marked in the shop with a cake, an in-shop celebration and specially designed commemorative bags.
The bags were designed by Nathan Fordham, Joe Fordham's son.
Family history
Around
2000
The interior is modernised
The shop interior was modernised around the turn of the millennium while the business remained firmly rooted in personal counter service.
The date is deliberately approximate until invoices, plans or dated photographs can confirm it.
Family history
2007
Fifty years on the High Street
The business marked its 50th anniversary in 2007.
The surviving cake photograph visibly records 1957–2007; the people and setting are not identified beyond what can be seen.
Family history
2011
Legend of Nailsea
Readers of Nailsea People voted John their Local Legend in 2011, at the age of 85.
He was chosen from more than 30 nominees. John credited Alice, the shop's staff and its loyal customers for the success of the business.
“I do feel honoured to have been chosen and very proud to think that the people of Nailsea think that I am worthy of the title.”John Brown, Nailsea People, 2011
Nailsea People, Local Legend winner report, 2011
2015
Opening Millennium Park
John opened Millennium Park, the public green space on the former Nailsea Glassworks site across the road from the shop.
Read about the park opening and the shop's community connections.
2015
John celebrates his 90th birthday
John marked his 90th birthday in the shop, surrounded by the clocks and practical goods he had spent decades helping customers with.
The family archive preserves this portrait of John behind the counter with his birthday cake.
Family history
2017
The shop celebrates 60 years
Customers, staff and family marked six decades of John Brown Hardware.
Friends and customers joined the family to celebrate the shop's diamond anniversary with a cake. John was still repairing watches in the shop and approaching his 92nd birthday.
Family history · Nailsea People, John Brown is a real diamond, 2017
Later
years
Still behind the counter at 98
John worked regularly in the shop until the age of 98 and continued to oversee the business afterwards.
John remained a familiar face in the shop, especially at the watch-repair counter.
Family history · BBC News: Owner of Nailsea's oldest shop celebrates 100th birthday
2025
John celebrates his 100th birthday
26 October 2025
The man who helped build the premises and opened the shop in 1957 celebrated his 100th birthday nearly seven decades later.
Born in Clevedon in 1925, John reached the milestone with the family business still serving Nailsea. Among his birthday cards was one from King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Nailsea People's birthday coverage recalled his watch repairs and the business he and Alice had built together.
Family history · Nailsea People, Local Legend winner report, 2011 · Nailsea People, Happy birthday Mr Brown, 2025 · BBC News · ITV News · North Somerset Times
Today
A working shop, six days a week
John Brown Hardware remains a practical working family shop, open Monday to Saturday.
The family and team continue to help customers at 90 High Street. Meet the team or plan your visit.
Help with the archive
With thanks
Our thanks to Carol Deacon, editor of Nailsea People, for sharing photographs and a copy of Alice Brown's obituary, pointing us towards coverage of the shop's 60th anniversary and John's birthday, and allowing us to use photographs from the Nailsea People archive.
The archive is still growing
Do you have any memories of John Brown?
If you worked here, shopped here or have photographs, memories or historical material connected with the business, we would be glad to hear from you.