Step into history with the Bridlington shop still frozen in time since 1901 after the death of 'technophobe' owner Ann Clough

The family owned store has sat proudly on the corner of Bridlington Promenade since it was first founded by her grandfather Ernest Whiteley so many decades ago.

“There’s nothing like it anywhere, other than maybe a museum,” said shop manager Sue Walker. “It is frozen in time, to a degree. The drawers, furniture, everything is just as it was. The cases and the cabinet, and the mechanical till. Kids, when they come in, say ‘how do you count it all up?’ Well it’s with a piece of paper and a calculator, for us.”

To Ms Walker, entrusted with the shop’s care, this is more than a store: “Bridlington will definitely miss it. The older ones will. When it’s ripped to pieces, that is history gone.”

The clothing store, so familiar to many, was first launched next door at No 65. In the 1930s Mr Whiteley bought the corner lot from his draper neighbour, paying him back over time.

The original case, with all its antique drawers, were made to fit for £1,000. Then the tables, picked up over the years. And the old ‘Arkwright’ till, with its familiar ding.

Cash, here, was ‘king’, said Ms Walker. Ms Clough would never hear of change.

“She was a total technophobe.... there’s no credit cards here,” she said. “And the beauty of it is coming in to the shop. You can’t get that online.

“When people come in, they look around and they see things properly.”

Born to Susan and Joseph Clough, Ann’s early years had been near Keighley. Her father died when she was aged around nine, and her mother worked with her grandfather in the shop.

There was a spell at food technology college in Manchester, according to accountant Steve Woolias, before she became a housekeeper at a number of schools and universities. At the University of Hull she is said to have looked after renowned poet and novelist Philip Larkin - hand making his own personal cottage cheese as he refused to buy shop bought stuff.

She is thought to have returned to Bridlington around 1960, as her grandfather lost his sight and her mother was struggling alone in the shop.

And while once this was known as a ‘better class’ establishment for the older lady, times have changed. Corsets and fashions make way, shift and change.

When Ms Walker first started, 35 years ago, there were half a dozen full time staff.

“It was busy, it really was,” she said. “How it’s changed over the years. One thing happens, and then another. And then Covid.”

Ms Walker said Ms Clough had always been “exceptionally” busy, joining a great number of groups from the local tennis club to operatics, history and gardening.

Opinionated, strict, but with a great sense of humour, Ms Clough was very much “of her era”, she said. In the shop, accounts had to be handwritten, stock counted by hand.

She was living at White Rose Lodge when she died in November. Now, with her estate to be shared between a number of charities, the shop looks to be sold this summer.

“We knew this was always going to come at some point,” said Ms Walker.

“It’s like history. It is history. You’re not going to see anything like it again. It’s like an experience, to come in. That’s what is going to be missed I think.”