Posted 23rd September 2022 by Mongers Admin
On the 17th September 1997 we moved into Nos 15 & 16 Market Place Hingham. It was an eventful move. I expect that all moves are quite eventful, but this included the delivery lorry breaking down 10 miles from its destination. It then being unloaded in the dark and the removal men sleeping on the living room floor. We had sold a small one bed maisonette in North London and exchanged it for a 5 bed house with two shops, outbuildings and a derelict 15th century cottage.
There has been no going back, 25 years of hard work, joyous times amongst many moments of struggle, but all with an underlying sense of achievement and we are still here.
We opened the shop on the 1st of October 1997, an event marked by a small gathering of family and neighbours. The florist shop had been stripped of all its fixtures, the walls and ceilings painted and we put-up displays of some stock that I had been storing for the new venture. Shortly afterwards we opened the yard after putting up the Mongers’ gates, a reclaimed brick wall and planting some silver birch trees. The fish and chip shop became another showroom shortly afterwards, having repaired the chimney which was in danger of collapse when all the flues from the deep fryers had been removed.
Our original stock largely came from a clearance in in Chesham, Bucks and included the Costermongers cart that we used to place on the green everyday with our sign that reads ‘Architectural Salvage Open’. The sign is still in use, but the cart is relegated to the store and is in need of some restoration.
Over the years we have added more showrooms, a garden, workshops and expanded the yard area to what it is now. We originally set out to be a general salvage yard but, without the space to operate a forklift truck, I opted not to sell bulk building materials. Concentrating more on restored and decorative pieces. However, our ethos of loving a challenge has led to all sorts of adventures, from removing a Metropolitan drinking fountain, originally from King Street, Ipswich from a local garden, which now resides at the Beamish Museum, County Durham, to dismantling whole Boulton & Paul wooden bungalows and transporting them to new locations to be re-erected. Over the years we have built up a talented group of restorers and local tradespeople with whom we work regularly and have developed many skills in house for the transformation of items into re-usable objects. However, in recent times, along with much of the trade, we have specialised more than we originally did.
We have now become the countries largest and most knowledgeable stockists of antique and reclaimed bathroom fixtures and fittings. As many sanitaryware dealers moved into manufacturing new we have bought up a lot of their old stock of antique items that we are gradually getting round to restoring and have items from the 1880’s to the 1950’s.
The salvage trade is constantly changing. Mongers will continue to be influenced by fashion in design; whether we will be here in another 25 years is not certain, but we hope to be suppling our bathrooms and other architectural items for many years to come.
