Spectacular visions of design genius of Burtons
People came miles to see the old shop window displays at Burtons. ANDY SMART reports
PROGRESS conspired against Burtons, one of Nottingham’s favourite fine food shops. The rise of supermarkets, and restrictions on parking around the Council House, condemned the Smithy Row business, which had been trading since Victorian times, to closure in 1983.
But older shoppers remember it fondly, especially those striking window displays which could stop passers-by in their tracks.
Burtons was a high-class greengrocers considered to be the Fortnum & Mason of Nottingham.
The company, founded by Derbyshire lad and miner’s son Joseph Burton, who had arrived in Nottingham in 1858 to seek his fortune, ultimately made its home at The Exchange.
Then known as The Exchange Arcade, this was, just as today, the part of the Council House building given over to commercial enterprise.
It had been a controversial decision to pull down the building in 1926 and build a new Council House, but the modern, box-steel constructed building proved to be an ideal home for the Nottingham grocers.
The elegant building, built at a time of world recession, was for the city fathers, in its scale and design, a demonstration of wealth and, perhaps above all, of pride in the city of Nottingham.
For Burtons, the move provided a perfect opportunity to market food in an even more flamboyant way as the new building, with its high ceiling, beautiful dome, lavish art and glowing York and Bath stone provided the ideal backdrop to display its high-class produce.
By the time of George VI’S 1937 Coronation, the company’s displays had become so great that Burtons won the £5,000 first prize in a Daily Mail-sponsored national shop window-dressing competition.
By the 1950s, Burtons had begun its famous Christmas displays which attracted crowds simply to view them.
They were created by a chap with an eye for art named William Birch. He had worked in the grocery trade in Walsall and West Bromwich before going off to war, serving with the Staffordshire Regiment as a regimental sergeant major.
In 1949 he made a successful application for the job of assistant window dresser with the firm of Joseph Burton & Sons in 1949.
Two years later, he moved with his wife Annie and their young family, to Coningswath Road in Carlton, and began to learn the special skills of a window dresser.
But fate played a hand when his boss was killed in a road accident, thrusting William into the top job ... and he took to it with eye-catching results.
Among his most memorable displays, the store promoted Ryvita, Ind Coope beer and Sunblest bread. But Burtons is perhaps best remembered for the wonderful 1953 Coronation arrangement. Figures of Lifeguards troopers flanked every shop window – one devoted to a display of copies of the Coronation regalia.
For 54 years, the Burtons name had been synonymous with quality, luxury and top-class service and the shop had become an icon of Nottingham.
But in 1983 it closed for the last time. The city council put the premises out to commercial lease, and The Exchange was redeveloped as the privately-owned shopping centre we know today. The beautiful building is now Grade II* listed and food retailing returned in 2012 when the Patisserie Valerie store opened.
Describing his creativity, William’s son Mel, 77, a retired businessman, said: “The ideas just
came to him and his windows won lots of prizes: cars, holidays ... most of which went to the company.
“I remember he used to go up to Blackpool and buy decorations as soon as the illuminations had finished.”
At his home in the village of Stanley, proud son Mel has a gallery of photographs of many of the windows his father designed.
“I used to go with him when they were taking pictures. It was in the old days when the photographer put a cover over his head. We used to go in the middle of the night. The photographer had to stand in the middle of the road, opposite the Black Boy Hotel.”
William’s job changed when the company was taken over by Fine Fare. He became regional director, responsible for shops, a pork factory in Hyson Green and a bakery in Talbot Street, now the site of Rock City.
After retirement, William took up painting. “He was brilliant,” said Mel, who has two sisters, Marguerite and Hazel. “He exhibited in Arnold Library, and sold many of them. He just had this natural artistic ability.”
William died, at the age of 75, six years after the shop was closed and just ten weeks after the death of his beloved wife of 53 years. But the memories of his incredible shop window displays live on for many Nottingham residents.