How To Run An Edwardian Tea Room | Turn Back Time: The High Street | Absolute History

one typical british town its high street was once its heart and soul not anymore but what if we could turn back time to the days of the butcher the baker and the candlestick maker a group of shopkeepers and their families are leaving the 21st century behind you are going to discover what the high street was really like your aim is to make this town fall in love with this high street again today's mantra is sell sell [Music] through peacetime and wartime the swinging 60s to the shocking 70s 100 years of high street history it's absolutely magical can they sell the products of the past to 21st century customers oh the poor creatures i'd be frightened to give this to the birds and can they make a profit while they're at it this is unbelievably hard i don't know how these poor buggers did this in the old days if i'm really being honest i hate it tonight the high street arrives in the early 20th century an era of elegance etiquette and emotional upheaval all right keep going keep going keep going run run run run can the shopkeepers persuade people to love their high street once more oh these 21st century traders are now kitted out for the earliest years of the 20th century the elegant age of the edwardians for baking family the devlins anything's better than what they've just been through i think we had such a difficult time in the victorian era we had nothing that would make our lives easier in fact we had pretty much nothing at all butchers the sharps are looking forward to a more refined age edwardian here a bit more about etiquette i think and how we deal with customers this is when shopping began to be a leisure activity as well as a necessity britain was the world's richest nation and its shops were stuffed with luxuries for those who could afford them [Music] this week there's a new shopkeeper joining the high street dressmaker jill cockwell she wants to return to a time before clothing was mass-produced i'm hoping that i'm going to have a shot full of ostrich feathers and i can go and put feather in everyone's hat and make them more glamorous all the shopkeepers are heading to the historic heart of shepton mallet in somerset where their shops await them their mission is to lure back shoppers to this unloved town centre and to make a profit hello oh how exciting my shops over there making sure they stick to the rules of the era is the high streets chamber of commerce social historian juliette gardner tom herbert a fifth generation baker and greg wallace not just a judge on masterchef but also a successful green grocer welcome back to the edwardian high street now you've already experienced a week as victorian shopkeepers and you did pretty well so well in fact that i need to show you something this is the front page of the local newspaper look at that oh wow a town reborn the residents of this town are starting to fall in love with their high street again but now you're gonna have to really up your game the edwardians expected a really high level of customer service etiquette salesmanship and service these are the key words juliet and tom will be popping in to see how you're getting on one last thing butchers bakers grocers meet your staff i don't believe it fantastic the butchers bakers and grocers will each have two new pairs of hands hello chaps how are you though edwardian shops often had many more hello [Music] the arrival of staff is by no means the biggest change the bakers are now offering more than bread [Applause] [Music] tea rooms provided somewhere civilized on the high street for edwardian ladies to socialize without risking their reputation they're little infusers and you put the tea in isn't that lovely in the 21st century caroline is the baker of the family and an equal business partner with nigel but bread making was very much a man's role in the 1900s it was the same in the victorian era when nigel struggled to learn the work caroline was forbidden to do you can't blame me i'm a woman i'm not meant to be in here though nigel remains in charge there has been some progress for women as the family learn from the rule book each shopkeeper has been provided with the bakery is part of an important social change during the edwardian era the women of the family will oversee the running and servicing of the tea room i think in this era there's going to be more opportunity for a woman to actually well make her make more of a name for herself as a as an individual rather than um standing behind her husband i think that bakery stroke tea shop is going to be the absolute triumph of our edwardian era oh the sergison family are pleased to see their grocery store has gone up market too oh wow very nice isn't it look at the slicer lavish displays were common even at shops which were basically the edwardian equivalent of supermarkets [Music] and amid the grandeur are brands that are still around today all the packaged tea now no more this way in our own blend out lions lions we've got typhoon new typhoons all right but some of their stock wouldn't be allowed by modern trading standards obesity what on earth is obesity used like an ordinary soap positively reduces fat without dieting or gymnastics birdie comes in my shop and i'm going to see if i can flog it to him [Laughter] carl and his family are just getting better and better at it i think they're gonna have a great week gosh no more constipation for debbie i've got melon [Music] the sharps have been butchers for generations but andrew recently lost his business andrew was desperate to be a butcher in the heyday of butchery and this is it he is now a master butcher with staff andrew's hoping this experience will teach his 14 year old son michael how respected the family trade once was so i guess i'm working behind you huh you'll be out there and i'll be in here watching what's going on no you can't you're you're a main man when i first started work in a butcher's shop this is what it was like maisy behind the desk miserable amazing how much just like in the victorian era they've no fridge in which to keep their stock cool just an ice box and what's in it this time round is something of a surprise wild rabbits wild looks pheasant unlike today game was a staple of the edwardian diet for rich and poor alike people shipped to mullet probably have never had anything to do with a game in their life unless they're really old hanging rabbits and pheasants is gonna go down very badly it was bad enough for pigs heads gaming restaurants smart restaurants yes game in the highest street i'm not too sure i think he's got his work cut out the big revolution on the high street is the shop which has replaced the victorian iron mongers ah that's a bit of a shock penny bizarre i wonder what that means it's the era's equivalent of a pound shop it's not the kind of store simon grant jones was hoping to run i am a little bit disappointed that i'm not valued as much in this period as i was in the victorian era simon previously spent much of his time making his own stock in a forge at the back of his shop a blacksmith in the 21st century he proved his skills once had a place right at the heart of the high street but already his craft is looking redundant the bulk of his stock is now factory made it does go against a grain for me to serve this sort of stuff i'm not really all about mass-produced items i mean i'm a craftsman at heart unlike the victorian era i think simon's got a lot more things to sell yeah yeah you should attract a lot more customers but it's it's him himself is he a shopkeeper i think he wants to make things yeah yeah we're getting now into the the into the ed warden era where things are moving maybe a little bit faster people want things a little bit quicker so they're possibly willing to settle for a little less quality above the penny bazaar is the parlor where new arrival jill will try to make and sell dresses fantastic i love it i absolutely love it she's the only woman on the edwardian high street allowed to run her own business this is a proper corset making dummy i've always wanted one of these needlework was one of the few respectable trades a woman could go into the dressmaker is going to have quite a challenge she's got to attract women into her shop now how is she going to make a profit some modern day customers used to going into shops aren't they trying things on you know getting them cheap i just want to play dress up now i'm going to try everything on for the next week the shopkeepers will live and trade like it's the 1900s 10 000 people live in shepton mallet all are potential customers but most currently go to the other end of town where the modern superstores are will the shopkeepers be able to convince them that edwardian personal service is a match for modern convenience shopping right it's uh first day one very busy customers coming in about an hour so basically when it gets stuck in we're going to stack all the shelves something that's got a high-end smell like boot polish don't put it in the same cupboard as a tea just twin little bit back and forth carl really is having a ball here you know he is the grand fromage he can boss people about and uh do very little apart from be very gracious to his customers and that's him down to a team it's 20 to 9 we've got 20 minutes to go and we officially open for business first day big day big smiles everyone happy none of this is going to be straightforward chicken is very straightforward and so is pork chops but after that tongues pigeons you know any game venison it's all bambi warship down it's all those you know emotive connotations that the modern customer has got i'm really excited about meeting my first customer maybe i'll take a commission today i hope so [Music] there's just enough time before opening to focus on the finer points of edwardian style service it's sir it's mom it's miss it's master and it's mistress for the little ones do not make any personal remarks to them you have to be detached but very very pleasant to them make sure your aprons are ironed and your hats are nice and fresh lesson over it's time to start trading [Music] the first customers have all been persuaded by the chamber of commerce to shop only on the edwardian high street in this new era i'm expecting far more produce much more color much more stock and i might be surprised by the things in the shops does that make you thin the obesity soap well apparently so rub it really hard and it rubs it off apparently as you see we're rather banged out at the moment would you like to take a seat and i can help you with a seat thank you very much okay a big bunch of big bunch of restaurants so if you get a large bunch of grapes can we interest you any of our cheese i would like some potatoes half a dozen three onions have you got any tapioca oh the poor creatures hanging up good morning good morning what is this that's a monk jacket deer if i get a rabbit will you prepare it so it's like don't worry darling you just have some vegetables or something one of simon's first customers is a fellow shopkeeper caroline from the tea room i'm looking for tea plates cups and sauces i quite like this this is very pretty it's quite nice actually yeah it really really is and we could have it on account until the end of the week that would be fine for the edwardians the idea of handling goods while you browsed was such a novelty they feared they'd be charged for the privilege hence the admittance free sign you can have a good old rummage cart and it's nice i like buttons and cotton rails and bits of chalk and things like that although the signs say you only need to spend a penny the old prices are merely to give a flavor of the cost for edwardians shepton's customers are in fact charged the modern equivalent how much are those honey in new money 41p the early signs are that edwardian service is working oh the service was just fantastic i felt like a lady and i was asked to sit down and what would you like madame i was a master and mrs and i just thought it was just wonderful the tea shop is due to open at lunch time but there's still work to do though ladies would still not bake bread caroline is allowed to make the cakes but she needs the manual to tell her how i am not a cake maker and my children will vouch for that worse still butter in the edwardian period was seriously expensive lard was much cheaper making the animal fat most women's favorite you don't like that demon because you're vegetarian i can't believe it's got lard in it there seems to be lard in everything absolutely everything in the bread in cakes it's vile to be honest it looks awful right we've got to get this cake in the oven [Music] come on aren't you impressed you know the master baker and he's drying the dishes oh are you good what is that woman's job but next door after just two hours michael's already bored there's too much help on hand i can't really do anything and i can't wait till we get rid of the apprentices now they don't like them they are good but i mean when we get rid of them i can do more with so little to do in the shop he takes it upon himself to drum up business around town rabbits pheasants very soon but the products are a little less processed than modern shoppers are used to hello could i interest you in any game at all oh i wouldn't know what to do with it if i had it what do you have to do to them just basically do that all the way around oh right mate if you'd like to um hop down to sharpen sons if i have persuaded you enough pheasants rabbits pigeons got a sharp and something could i interest you in any game at all oh no oh god it's years ago since i did anything with that and i couldn't do it now oh dory look oh go and put it away i couldn't skin it you can cook it like chicken oh i know because i know like a baby if you've stuffed it yep bye then thank you dressmaker jill is attempting to drum up some business too that's lovely on you that's really charming it really suits you the garments being tried on are just samples wealthier edwardian ladies would never have bought ready-made off the peg dresses if you're lucky enough to be a rich woman you wouldn't have to work you could just sit on a lawn and eat scones jill's hoping to encourage customers to order a custom made dress from her and that's what she does in the 21st century too once you have something made and it fits perfectly it's quite an addictive thing she wants to take her customers back to a time when handmade clothes were all that willing i'd like to create real genuine items that you can treasure as opposed to just throwaway fashion which you wear twice and and then replace i love the fact that the fabrics are all so much nicer i can't even shop anymore because everything is acrylic and polyester and i just feel it and go not very inspiring no just go back to the workshop and make something it's now lunch time and the tea shop is due to start serving up cakes but caroline hasn't yet managed to get to grips with the edwardian oven it looks good on top but it's kind of moving underneath it's raw and we're talking we're at least two and a half hours in if not more just put it back in put it back in chuck leave it queues of intrigued customers are gathering outside is that all those people wanting to come for tea please tell me not we just have to wing it and we just say just due to unforeseen circumstances this is available an edwardian tea shop would have served everything from seed cake to swiss roll the only thing in caroline's are six scones and a half eaten ginger cake nigel baked earlier in their living quarters above the shop i don't have any other cake listen i don't want to bring the keg down in front of the customers right well wrap the damn thing up i'm going to wrap it in but but why don't you prepare it up there no paper here go get a paper bag get a paper bag bring it i can't be carrying it through once that's a paper jack go and get it all right take the paper bag upstairs and go get it right you've got people waiting outside you've got to get them in okay come on [Music] okay all right okay two english breakfast teas what cake would you like um sorry sorry at the moment there's a tiny bit of ginger cake um there's a scone and um sandwiches that is it unfortunately because our oven is kind of cut out where it's not working very well saffron get your hands out of there right now cup of tea and a scone please within minutes the ginger cake and scones are gone i can't i can't serve from that it's too easy one slice okay that's fine and that's it so that's it yeah okay the teapots are dripping everywhere and not very organized today tea and honey cake unfortunately we have no cake no more cake no more cake not a big problem jill has some customers though not yet a commission for a dress that's a really good fit actually it feels fab a respectable edwardian would of course conceal a corset under layers of clothes a hundred years later you want this variety to wear rather than underwear then yes okay great women are clearly less constrained and jill is managing to combine edwardian personal service with modern fashion have a look in the mirror see what you think about it gives you a great shape that does look good i like that for jill it's a first step towards converting the town to the advantages of handmade if if you did want this one i could alter it and make it look like i'd wear by smoothing off the edge here and which i could do by hand and then i could add some sort of lace or a ruffle or a phrase i think that would be fantastic you can see that that she put thought into it immediately is right this is my client's needs and and this is what i'm gonna do to do that and produce something that satisfies it and i thought it was fantastic as if the shopkeepers don't have enough to contend with the chamber of commerce have set them one more challenge for this era they've sent a very special pair of customers to the high street will and katie are about to get married and want some edwardian embellishment for their reception weddings of the era reached new heights of luxury the upper class fashion for lavish spectacle was increasingly taken up by middle class couples too the surgicans have been told they need to rustle up the perfect wedding breakfast the other shopkeepers will make items to go with it you should not only recreate the look seen in this picture but produce some delicacies for the table that the wedding couple and your customers can try for a pre-wedding celebration at the end of the era decide which six of these you would like to supply lemons trifle rabbit souffle whole tongue truffles semolina croquettes orange jelly calves foot jelly that is nice coffee jelly and oyster patties that's going to be fun which can be really fun okay you take care thank you as the bride and groom continue their shopping carl summons his family for a meeting there's a lot to do there and not only we got reduced to food we've got to dress this table and acquire the uh the dressage equipment to make it look pretty i can do that i would really love to make the garlands because i've made them before and it's really yeah like you see how much you love to do them is irrelevant we've got a lot of work to do you've got to source this out we've got a shop to run and lots of other things are going to happen yeah that we've got to do i i know i can do but i can i can do it you just don't want me to do it i know you can do it and i've got a one two carl you know i just don't know what your problem is i'm also just cleaning that in my head so deb where are you babe i think the interiors need to decide which one's actually boss [Music] do you take sugar okay no thank you would you like a biscuit um i'm okay thank you actually jill is meeting bride-to-be katie to discuss what you can run up for the wedding so how long have you been dressmaking but as katie enjoys the genteel atmosphere of a dressmaker's parlor her fiance is about to discover not everything edwardian is quite so appealing to modern tastes [Music] stuff we have a ball's head wild boar yes i certainly don't think you'd be allowed on top table thank you okay beast will be stuffed and decorated to form the centerpiece of a 1900 style wedding breakfast intrigues to what katie will think of this idea she doesn't even like bones on her plate so how she's gonna feel about a boar's head i'm not i'm not sure and that would make a lovely handkerchief which i could embroider with your wedding date how about the idea of having my initials actually made out of lace and put into the hanky i could make you the hanky um and then stitch the lace on that would be lovely this will test your diplomacy and skills of negotiation you have to learn your new skills as a as a husband on how to um move your wife in the direction which you want her to and not the one she wants to it's not quite as easy as it might sound it's a very dirty job to prepare the head andrew must first burn the hair off it's a bit like my normal bbq technique you must then take the skull out stuff it with rich meats finally once cooked he must decorate it with an elaborate pattern of icing sugar it's going to be a terrible centerpiece a nice wedding so um we'll try and achieve something like that with no more cakes to sell the devlin's tea shop is closing early we survived i think that's about the best we can say there's some seriously disappointed children out there and there wasn't enough food it was hard to keep your etiquette and manners correct trying to be an edwardian and all you want to do is say i'm sorry there's none of this none of that and there's another problem this one's been in for half a day this is my madeira can i just say all right that i didn't think i could make cakes but i really didn't think i could make them this badly okay caroline believes using lard is why the cakes didn't cook but replacing it with more expensive butter will eat into profits we can't afford to buy the butter from the grocers no we can't we can't so what are we going to do master baker put lard instead no why not can't it's a cheaper ingredient i can't do that food was much more expensive for edwardians they spent up to 70 percent of their income on it as opposed to just 10 today butter was four times the price it is now i could go and source it elsewhere [Music] shopkeepers have pledged to shop only on the edwardian high street so we're going to see if we can find another shop where we can buy it a bit cheaper going to a modern supermarket breaks the rules even if the shop they're visiting was open in the edwardian era straight okay okay good we're doing well it's 7 pm and the shops start to close up at the grocer harry tots up the day's takings it's taken just shy of 200 quid today which is not including accounts yet that's very good it's been a good day for the men [Music] after a disastrous start in the tea shop caroline's still grafting making bread and butter pudding to sell the next day though it's not a recipe of the era here we are at half a seven preparing for tomorrow really having to make up a lot of ground and i think that's we've kind of slid backwards again um can you manage to down here or not and caroline's not the only woman on the high street who's feeling frustrated i was really crossed with carl because um i was saying well i really want to do the garland and carl kept saying no it was it was just really frustrating me because i knew i could do it [Music] next morning at the penny bazaar there's a new recruit twelve-year-old rafe the baker's son come in blacksmith simon is losing interest in his shop and wants to get back to his forge i've just uh come to an arrangement with your dad that you're going to work for me for today uh and maybe some more during the week we'll see see how you get on pricing is quite important you've got to get it right don't let everybody tell you that everything in here is a penny because it's not there's stuff out there on the barrow any on on the table any of that is a penny but the stuff in here is priced differently i'm trusting you on this yeah it's a responsible job this is yeah you think you can do it yep okay don't let me down yes the prosperity of the edwardian era was partly thanks to the exploitation of children children as young as eight worked for as little as 15 pounds a week in today's money how much are these they're 40p each everything on the table's affordable 40p i need yeah roughly six of them it says that there's pound fifty ish i'm sure it says everything in the shop's a penny i've been told not to accept that by the edwardian period simon's iron mongering skills would only be needed for luxury items he's making a mirror for the wedding couple his big chance to show modern customers the advantages of handcrafted goods other people have got to look at this and think god i'd like to order one of those i'd really like one of those for myself and so it is very important that it's delivered on time a good job well finished and to the customer specification if i don't do that i'm in danger of losing some potential commissions mrs towner how are sit down there and we're gonna have a little go through it and just make sure i've got everything you have to shout but his wife debbie is still stuck out back preparing food for the wedding breakfast if we were back in his wardian town and cole was my strict husband who said write this what you've got to do i don't think i actually would have went down the line of being a married woman i really feel sorry for women in the edwardian era you know they really didn't have a say at the tea shop last night's hard work seems to have paid off we're ahead of ourselves we're all right and we've actually got stuff out fantastic so even if we haven't got what they want we can actually offer them something else whereas yesterday we were we were literally done a cucumber sandwiches and bread and jam and to help things run more smoothly nigel has agreed to wait tables in terms of the etiquette yeah i'm aware that that the men or the man didn't actually serve but we'll see how it goes what's important here is customer service but just when they think they're getting on top of it along come tom and juliet from the chamber of commerce it's not normally the done thing in their rewarding times but um i'll take your order i got a bit of a problem with mr devlin and his etiquette but um a bit chatty you all seem under control [Laughter] good day mom i'd like the pot of tea for one and i'd like a plate of cucumber sandwiches and then i think i'll have a couple of cakes um i think i'll have a slice of ginger cake a lot of tea i'm afraid we don't have any ginger cake at the moment you don't have any ginger cake would you like to know what cakes we do have um have you a lemon cake no no we have bread and butter pudding cake i could have a word with caroline could i yes of course the role of historian juliet is to make sure the shopkeepers are sticking to the rules of the era and she's seeing some problems with the edwardian tea shop i was horrified when i came into the tea shop to see one of your waitresses wearing a dirty work apron in the shop might be fine for in the kitchen that's okay never come into the shop with a dirty apron like that i asked for some ginger cake no ginger cake no lemon cake you're not really fulfilling your your uh menu and then i was offered bread and butter pudding a cake now you're not a workman's cafe you're a tea shop you're a ladies tea shop dainty is the word we're looking for here not you know rib sticking fair i don't want to see you nigel in the tea shop i just don't want you serving this is women serving and women serving quietly and daintily and very formally you really must keep up standards in this edwardian tea shop a good business is about developing a rapport with their customers and actually making the customers feel they care about them and that they're interested in their lives that is the 2010 way this is a complete contradiction to that tom arrives at the penny bazaar with two bicycles for simon to sell he might struggle since they cost the equivalent of around thirteen hundred pounds in today's money despite that cycling was a highly popular edwardian hobby particularly for ladies rave hi tom hey simon huh um actually he's doing some of his forgery orders in the forge so so you're boying manning the shop yeah at the moment yeah bit of pocket money um well long story really all right yeah what um we're in a bit of debt with him because when we found out that we had to run the tea rooms yeah we had to have like china and that and that's quite expensive yeah so we had no money so i've got to kind of work it back okay well i bought you a couple of bikes awesome whoa i suppose you're lucky to have a bike with you so that's what i am lucky while tom checks in with simon is he managing all right yeah i think so yeah yeah rafe's unable to resist temptation [Music] good yeah i'm really pleased actually because he's quite sensible lad yeah [Music] well i'm quite confident that rafe can look after the shop to be honest if i didn't trust him i wouldn't left him there debbie and caroline are feeling increasingly frustrated by the edwardian world but as well as the tea room the era saw the growth of another type of shop that offered a bit of freedom for women the department store at a time when the suffragettes were fighting for women to get the vote selfridges in london's west end was surprisingly selling all kinds of merchandise for the suffragette movement [Music] as debbie and caroline are about to discover from the store's historian you would have been able to buy any accessory or blouse or belt or waistcoat in all the movement colours here in the suffrage department and the suffrage movement i think is very interesting in terms of the way that they used shopping as a a method to empower themselves women go out and buy don't ask your husband's permission go shopping for yourself power girl power was very important but you did actually have to have the money to do it they were a very powerful movement and so here we have your votes for women your own department stores broke social taboos even selling products like lipstick or beard discreetly under the counter there is a little hello of guilt attached to this i think i actually need to toughen up caroline i know i don't have any guilt whatsoever you know i could hear on a weekly basis getting this done and i would be just happy spending carl's money on this treatment no guilt whatsoever back in shepton caroline is following in the footsteps of suffragette campaigners and putting leaflets in the tea room window i don't have a problem with that i don't think giving them the thoughts one thing let them into power or something else as long it doesn't affect the business but debbie isn't sure she could have played such a visible role i think i couldn't have been a frontline person saying yes i fight for right through my course i often did all that because it wouldn't have been good for our business but what i would have liked to have done is maybe being behind the scenes and helping people being involved but without maybe carl neren [Music] everyone's settling into life on the edwardian high street good afternoon but the age of elegance was not to last [Music] after the 4th of august 1914 nothing would be the same again the first world war had begun it's gonna let a few to give a sense of the war's impact on the high street the chamber of commerce has sent out call-up papers right whittingham did you call up purpose your bloody ears as well on the 4th of august 1914 wars declared and recruitment started without delay 60 000 shop workers joined the war by 1915 60 000. all the men should leave the high street women and children step up and do their bit you're not they're not really going to kill you but yeah cheer up it was a bittersweet chance for women to prove their worth they may have 30 minutes to assemble in the square blood hill wow jack shall leave two many many boys under 18 tried to join up those that could pass for 18 found their way to the front it is estimated that 120 000 british boy soldiers were killed or wounded during the great it's war going although the men are only going to spend time away from the street it dawns on caroline how it must have felt for women in her position he's 15. it's quite odd because this would happen in our day this in in the day of edwardian times this happened people got an involved like that and that's it you want to go oh you went to jail but it happened it did happen that doesn't happen at youtube yeah see these like don't kind of get it but i do [Music] while the men are away the women will do as women did in 1914 they'll stay behind and run their husbands shop it took the war to give them the freedom they'd been fighting for right let's have your attention please let's not forget that people actually did this for real let's have a little bit of respect we're going to march out of here with dignity off we go [Music] oh that was absolutely gut-wrenching because um i've lost nigel and worse than that i've lost jack i can't imagine how it was for what i just can't imagine you know it is shock but kind of people react shockly in different ways i was felt a bit liberated because i thought oh my god i can run the shop i can do what i want and he will come back and maybe be really pleased with what we've done fingers crossed the men start their time away with a visit to a world war one memorial in the local church possibly as an edwardian man i would have welcomed the fact that my son was big enough tough enough yeah to fight for king and country i'd be petrified to be honest absolutely petrified my son's just about to join para we held this lad and he's going to be going to afghanistan because he's he's going to join bomber disposal and that that's kind of uh scary the war had an immediate effect on the home front too britain depended on imports for 60 of its food supply and 80 of its wheat we've got no wind to display we've taken all of our stuff what are we gonna do i don't know the chamber of commerce have stripped the shops of stock to show the effect german submarines had in cutting food supplies well there's nothing we can do at the end of zay there's not much to sell then we'll be working out here more than we'll be serving guys let's have a look see what we've got oh good lord for bakers the wheat shortage became so severe they had to make bread with potatoes potatoes [Music] it was challenging enough actually to think that i was gonna have to manage without nigel and and jack and just produce basic bread um that was gonna be challenging enough but actually we're we're having to produce something that is pretty inedible anyway and that's all we've got do you know how to like the oven though yeah i do [Music] but for 14 year old michael it's a chance to run his dad's shop something he'd never be allowed to do in the modern world i'm up here we got rid of the apprentices and i like i like the guys they were good and they were good butchers but they took my work away from me and now the shop is gonna be run my way which isn't faffing around we're gonna get selling stuff yeah he quickly proves to have consummate sales skills could i interest you in trying some of this potted venison nice i'll take a quarter thank you that's five pounds please thank you very much you're determined to sell this honey yeah yeah i am i am right then i'll have one pound of worth hopefully because you're such a lovely lad as food supplies dwindled prices rose sharply now that germans have got some marines they everywhere's getting blown up so unfortunately what what you were paying yesterday is actually doubled today i'll leave it then okay thanks very much i'm really sorry you're leaving disappointed but hopefully you'll come back soon i will thank you very much thank you bye we are edwardian grocers and uh all this lovely service that we were given service with a smile had a lovely array of staff and now people are just coming in and like i'm not gonna bother you know i think carl's gonna come back and go you absolutely crap it's one thing to know what happened but actually you see people living through you know with the men gone and having to cope and everything to do and they've got such spirit we we've got an awful lot to learn from the past i think i'm going to leave you to the front babe and i'm just going to carry on out here as well as running the shop debbie must still prepare six edwardian delicacies for the wedding breakfast she starts with calf's foot jelly seriously i'm not happy with the color of that but um it helps my control i just think it's actually uh maybe oxidized and just made it look a bit murky bro i don't know okay at the bakers caroline relies on rafe and a mechanical dough mixer to make the potato bread we're gonna let's just see how we get on try try i'll tell you what try can you go in reverse can you go in reverse i won't make any difference well because i have to listen half the stuff is right keep going keep going keep going run run run [Music] full of confidence after some quick sales michael decides it's time to finish off the boar's head decorating it with icing is the final stage icing is definitely one of my strengths [Music] and is this your presentation piece from the banqueting table supposed to be the same banqueting table that i'm actually i've worked really hard for and it's going to be absolutely amazing [Music] it was like a dog's dinner and i actually came in midway and i went is that actually going to be the presentation on the table he went yeah i just don't think so now debbie's got to salvage the centerpiece of the wedding banquet on top of everything else could you open the fridge for me caroline okay do you know how to open her you literally have to thank you the pressure of the day finally gets to her i'm just absolutely exhausted and i've been crying i've been laughing and i'm probably gonna get really upset you know this was our history and this is what really happened but there was many grossest wives out there they had maybe four years of you know this hard slug and i'm i'm really struggling now i think that's what it is on november the 11th 1918 bells rang out across britain to signal the end of the war [Music] baby hello shepton mallet was changed forever by the conflict 140 of its men never came home those who came back returned to their former jobs but the world had changed can we please talk about it as a partnership i've proved that i can run this business whilst you're away so perhaps we can of course negotiate of course you can run this business of assault but as i said jack and i are back now and we need to get this business back to the way it was i i'm not going to argue but i would like to say that the business has been run a little more than other sorts in 1918 women finally got the vote but only if they were over 30 and married like the women michael also has to accept a demotion can't start taking over now you've been gone for years i'm back it's time for a celebration and soon the wedding couple will arrive everyone is putting the finishing touches to their contributions at the forge simon polishes off his mirror it could be his last chance to prove a blacksmith has a place on the high street hey that's great jill finishes the bride's lace hanky she's also begun to convince women of the benefits of having bespoke clothes absolutely gorgeous i'm so glad you liked it i absolutely love it i think i might have to work something oh you're gonna have to yeah as the grocers begin to lay out the wedding breakfast greg juliet and tom arrive to find out if the shopkeepers have been successful in their mission to convert modern shoppers to edwardian service and make a profit for the shopping experience and the fact that you're getting a piece of clothing that is actually made for you i think it's fantastic only very wealthy people tend to have their clothes made for them i think the day of the handmade clothes for everybody has been gone one's in one table and one's on the other hand no i did not say that it's so lovely because it's so nice to go into a shop yeah and be classed as a customer yeah and not a number it's brought sheps and mallet back to what it used to be years ago good morning good morning much much more civilized than the 1871 much more hygienic and a pleasure to be in it looks like the very expensive food halls in london look today and they've obviously taken their style from this era and it works even now even the potato bread is going down well we're actually getting quite a good loaf out of it quite a good crumb it was a different taste to it tasted fresher the chamber of commerce retired to consider if the shopkeepers have really made the high street a going concern despite the war diminishing their ability to trade to what proved to be a real success and that was the dressmaker the ladies around here absolutely loved that shirt yeah that'd be great 85 see someone like a dressmaker could survive she's got that great atmosphere that people love but she's got to sell them high-end stuff i'm disappointed that i thought the tea shop was a gold mine they're waiting to be dug and i think it's their fault they broke their shovel i think they should have made fortunes out of that this way i think it's probably more of a challenge than any of us realised part of me is really pleased to see the back of this because it has been so emotional and i've toiled really i've toiled the iron manga the penny bazaar not very good um almost half of what he did in the victorian period i think he's really got to rethink his business thing his heart's not in it his heart's not really in the selling of the penny bazaar absolutely now what about the butcher i mean you have a fantastic display i gotta say andrew won't want to hear it but michael was an absolute star in the making i think it was probably more positive for my son when he got rid of me in terms of sales and marketing he could learn a lot from his lead i haven't missed my dad whatsoever i wish he'd go away and let me do it on my own for the rest of the life the grocer has done well again they've made 1101 pounds and 18p i'm not a gambling man but looking at these figures looking at the ledgers i'd i'd bet on this working this high street proud of you honey he's done a sterling job done really good back on the high street the wedding breakfast is ready time for the bride and groom to return hello wow yeah we've really worked hard brian really hope you like it sure we will hello hello nice to see you the mirror goes down well but it's the only product simon's been commissioned to make all week he's realizing that the blacksmith's days on the high street are numbered uh that's the bit it does make me sad really i can see my craft just slowly disappearing over the years oh it's beautiful if people want to buy cheap quality let's sell them treat quality [Music] i'm so glad that it wasn't just about coming in and buying dresses it was about a service that they really enjoyed and a whole experience that they really enjoyed well he tells me that he's ordered a boar's head so i'm slightly apprehensive about it does it look less like a head than it did the other day okay well you're enjoying this won't you are you ready yeah we're ready got on there you got a look oh my goodness that had to be a head oh yeah i burned that [Music] we've completed the second week and what we wanted to see is whether you could deliver outstanding customer service to give your customers a sense of the showmanship and the display of the era by and large i think uh a resounding very very well done michael you are an absolute star in the making young man of course i am i'm well better than him look in one day i took more money than we took all week which means that he was just kind of ordering me back honey if we were going to give medals out debbie outstanding i mean truly outstanding the men went off to war and you have just worked your socks off that's off to you darling you grafted like a loonie i really think this has been the women's era at the end of this because they've had to pick up when the men have gone off to the trenches it's just shown you i think how tough the life of an edwardian shopkeeper was it was not an easy life it was really hard and the rewards weren't all that great so well done i know you've worked hard and i know it hasn't been easy i realized that especially with the main going off to war but there are plenty of smiles amongst the families here so we wish you the best of luck with the next era which is the 1930s i did really enjoy being out the front and i enjoyed being with the customers but you know we are a team and i did feel like half of me was missing really i think the worst um aspect of this era has been while cakes and i think the worst that could possibly happen to me in the next era is more cakes so please no more cakes [Music] next time caroline opens a cake shop if i'm really being honest i hate it and for the surgicans too life is sweet so whilst they're praying and singing to god i shall be taking god's good money thank you very much

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 361,436

Keywords: history documentaries, quirky history, world history, ridiculous history

Id: Fw1zbyDSbLk

Length: 57min 39sec (3459 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 13 2021