A smartly dressed man stands in the doorway while a horse and cart wait outside a shop that was located at what is now one of the best known locations in the centre of Watford.
The Watford Observer has again teamed up with its friends at Watford Museum to look back at structures, objects or businesses from the town’s past that have either disappeared or been relocated and today we recall Kempton Bros.
The museum’s volunteer archivist Christine Orchard said: “There used to be a number of grocers up and down the High Street. This image shows one of them on the corner of Queen's Road and High Street.
“There had been a grocers on this corner since at least 1850 and by the 1870s it was owned by Thomas Tyerman Kempton. The business grew and by the 1900s Kempton Bros. were ‘grocers, tea dealers, provision, wine, spirit and bottle merchants’.
“In 1912, new premises were built for Boot's who were here for many years. The shop was later occupied by Ketts, then in the 1990s the site was redeveloped for the Harlequin shopping centre which used this corner site as an entrance to the shopping malls.”
Watford Museum is open Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
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