In contrast to other change-of-use businesses, the Tea Tree café at 23 High Street plays the nostalgia card by retaining the facade of the former Home and Colonial Stores Ltd. As a long-departed echo of the British Empire, the company began selling groceries and tea in 1883. By the 1920s it had become one of the UK’s largest retail chains in a business that became dominated by a small number of huge multiple retailers.
Author: Q Barrett