DEPARTMENT STORES are an established part of the shopping scene today but 200 years ago they were a novelty regarded with some wonderment by people who until then had bought all of their goods from high street or corner shops whereas here was a retail establishment that satisfied all of their consumer needs under one roof, whether it was furniture or clothing, household and garden products, food and drink. 

Among the first in Britain and possibly in the world was Bennett’s of Irongate in Derby, established in 1734 and still trading from the same building today. Similar enterprises soon spread throughout the country and although most of the smaller towns were passed by, the first such store came to Bourne in 1860 when it was opened on a site overlooking the Queen’s Bridge in Eastgate by John Branston and selling a wide range of goods including household linen, curtains and fabrics, boots and shoes, men and women’s clothing, candles and groceries. Inevitably, it was an immediate success even though the population at that time was less than 4,000. 

Over the next 40 years, it became one of the biggest retail outlets in Bourne, selling a wide range of goods for the housewife and home and in the process made Branston a wealthy man. In 1900, he built two adjoining houses near the store with a date stone bearing his initials on the front, one for himself and the other for one of his married daughters. 

John Branston retired the following year and handed over the business to his only son, Thomas Elmore Branston, who in 1908, managed to save the store from a big fire which broke out on the night of Thursday 28th October. He was returning home when he saw smoke billowing from a warehouse near the entrance which contained a stock of brushes, candles and firelighters on the ground floor and heavier goods on the top floor, including a consignment of boots that had not been unpacked. When the door was opened, the building burst into flames and neighbours rushed to help, using buckets of water to douse the fire before it spread to any of the adjoining premises but there was considerable damage to stock in the warehouse by fire and water although everything was fully covered by insurance.  

As a result of the blaze, Thomas Branston decided to invest in new shop premises, a building constructed with yellow brick and blue slate. The grand opening was held in 1909 and a stone plaque on the front recorded the date together with his initials TEB while the name Branston was been picked out in mosaic in the front doorway.  

John Branston remained at his home adjoining the shop premises until he died in 1908, aged 73. Thomas Branston continued to run the store but in 1913, he sold the business to George Bett who had wide experience of the retail trade. He had begun as an apprentice to a grocer and draper at Mareham-le-Fen, near Horncastle, Lincolnshire, and in 1895 went to work at the Bon Marché at Brixton, London, built in 1878 and employing 400 people who all worked and resided on the premises.  

After gaining considerable experience of the trade he left London to set up in business with his brother at East Kirkby, near Spilsby, Lincolnshire, known as "Bett Brothers, Universal Providers". This was a portent for the future because when he moved to Bourne he fulfilled his ambition to run his own department store and once in charge, he began to expand the scope of the business that had been started by John Branston half a century before. 

Within a year of taking over, he was selling everything except uncooked meat, fresh fish and alcoholic drinks which he refused to stock because of his commitment to teetotalism, being a Methodist lay preacher. He also opened a sub-post office at a time when the public relied on the royal mail to keep in touch through letters, postcards and telegrams. It was therefore inevitable that soon business was booming and a trade advertisement from 1930 said that “the shop by the riverside sells almost everything at rock bottom prices” and there were also plenty of customers because by this time the population had risen to almost 5,000.  

The new owner described himself as grocer, draper and house furnisher with a wide range of products for sale which included shoes and clothing for all ages, household drapery, fancy goods, carpets, rugs, furniture, bedsteads and mattresses, linen, lino and oilcloths, perambulators and sewing machines.  

His motto was: “Come in and walk round. You are not pressed to buy” while all larger purchases were delivered free by their own vans, distance no object. In fact, stock was so varied that the store soon gained a reputation as an Aladdin’s Cave filled with most things anyone would need. 

George Bett ran the business for 33 years, becoming one of the town’s leading citizens and making a significant contribution to local affairs as a member of Bourne Urban District Council, being elected in 1923 and serving twice as chairman, in 1928-29 and again in 1936-37.   

When he retired in 1946, the business was sold to Messrs L and H Hayhurst who remained there until it closed in 1970 by which time large stores were becoming commonplace and as many customers had cars, they had a greater choice. The building then became the showroom for the furniture retail business known as Kinnsway but the shop closed in 1985 when the firm moved to its present premises off the South Street car park.  

The Eastgate property was used for storage for several years until March 2005 when it became an antiques shop but in June 2008, planning permission was granted to turn the premises into a private house. It remains a spacious and stylish old building, the biggest shop in Bourne until the supermarkets arrived, and the present owner has retained many of the original features, a reminder of Bourne’s first department store.