What Shopping Was Like During The Victorian Era | 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 manchester is sell sell sell every week they'll be living and trading through a different era [Music] from victorian to edwardian rabbits pheasants 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 journey begins at the birth of the modern high street the pies as the shopkeepers graft from dawn till dusk what a fat son of unmarried parentage but can they persuade the town to love its high street once more i wish shopping was like this every day [Music] four shopkeepers and their families are leaving their 21st century lives behind kitted out in victorian finery they're on their way to shepton mallett in somerset shepton's once thriving town center like so many in britain stands empty and unloved the horrible truth is shepton mallett's dying online shopping and an out of town retail park have left many of its shops empty it makes me feel very very sad and depressed really but all that's about to change in shepton's historic market square four empty shops have been turned back to the key trades of the victorian era an empty clothes store has been transformed into a 19th century grocers [Music] it will be run by modern day delicatessen owners from lincolnshire the sergison family there's nothing that's going to faze me it's what i do for a living anyway i'm just going back in time so that's the crack really i think we'll find out a closed down bakery has been returned to its original purpose it's now a victorian baker's complete with wood-fired bread oven taking it on will be artisan bakers from wales the devlins i'm feeling a bit apprehensive at the moment but excited too and really really looking forward to it but i've got butterflies there's not just a grocers and bakers but a candlestick makers too a derelict shop is now an iron mongers modern day blacksmith simon grant jones knows he has his work cut out it's going to be quite difficult to start with but i'm pretty confident that i can win over the people of shepton mallet finally no victorian high street was complete without a butcher's shop andrew sharpe and son michael from cumbria come from a long line of butchers going back to victorian times now they get to see if they can hack it in the world of their ancestors we'll be all right a lot of knowledge and a bit of lag will be fine the families have no idea what they're in for they're about to enter a world of dawn till dusk graft where practically everything they sell must be crafted by hand [Music] and making sure they stick to the ways of victorian traders will be their very own chamber of commerce greg wallace isn't just a judge on masterchef he's a successful green grocer with 20 years experience who knows all the pitfalls of retail he is joined by historian juliette gardner and fifth generation baker tom herbert this is it that's our town this is our big experiment the loss of the high street is a loss for the whole community we want to see if we can get that back for me this is just like a dream come true i'm going to actually see history brought to life the victorian era was when the modern high street was born market traders moved into shops but at a time when trading regulations were largely ignored there were few rules and only one goal to sell sell sell with the market square ready it's time for the chamber of commerce to lay down the challenge ahead welcome to the victorian high street this is where you are going to be working and living for the next week you are truly going to discover what the victorian high street was really like and victorians they would have grabbed any opportunity to sell we obviously expect you to do the same the end of the week is market day now that is a brilliant opportunity to clear your stock we want you ready for business at nine o'clock tomorrow morning ladies and gentlemen off to your shops good luck the family is open for business first thing tomorrow they all have the same aim to bring the people of shepton back to the town center and make their shops as profitable as possible the grocers was a cornerstone of the fledgling victorian high street at a time when it was difficult to keep food fresh most people would visit every day the sergerson family carl debbie saffron and harry are the first to discover what's in store pickled onions angelica what's that i don't know the best gift to a sick friend is bob well two i do like i like our grocer he is the archetypal wide boy and if he can't sell no one can i reckon they're going to love him oh jesus and he looks like a grocer too does he looks prosperous before he starts it looks like he's eating the profit [Applause] being surrounded by victorian produce is a dream come true for the surgicals in the modern world carl and debbie run a delicatessen in spalding lincolnshire well i think carl and i have got a great partnership because i'm maker he salsa thank you very much good luck and carl is a very good salesman you know he could sell ice to the eskimos and charts with my fancy little cape with that or something maybe grosses back in the sort of victorian times i feel was the hub of the high street was hubble the community and it'll be nice to sort of you know get that sense of community back carl has also long held a romantic view of the victorians approach to food i want to go back in time because the high street now nowadays is not as good as it used to be i think as you can tell by these things here we make a lot of stuff ourselves we try and recreate what was back in the old days 19th century early 20th century things were a lot purer and had more of an essence of naturalness while they might be delighted with their pre-packed goods the reality of the victorian grocers is that most of their stock awaits them out back in sacks of basic ingredients what's up there's my head we've got yellow spit peas onions and potatoes right let's get the yellow six freeze to stay up there before they can sell it they'll need to weigh mix churn and even roast as well as wrap everything by hand i think it's absolutely fantastic we've got all the kit we need to um actually make a fair little start and make some money also hoping to attract the business of the people of shepton is the victorian pork butchers look how well placed the butcher is i mean it's on the corner you can't that's prime isn't it it's a prime site they might have a good location but sharp and sun are less impressed with the fixtures and fittings i think we've established everything's pretty basic can we that's the thing that you're going to use the most sun as butchers boy on your hands and knees scrubbing the floor like i used to have to do yeah i feel like florence nightingale and without electricity or refrigeration andrew and michael will have to rely on something more basic to preserve their meat ice butcher's ice was often imported from norway and only delivered twice a week so keeping meat fresh was a constant struggle it won't give us as much chilling as you would like it to have we just have to vlog it as quick as we can the bakery is equally low-tech oh wow this is a bit different all these baskets have to be like hugely important in the 19th century baker's bread provided up to 80 percent of some people's diet wow that's an oven all right already fired up as well come and see this guys there's no taps yeah so where's the water where did we get the water from what there's no aids at all everything is going to be manual very very very hard work i can see it already in their modern lives caroline and nigel run a successful bakery together in wales my role in the business is very different to caroline's if you see caroline very much as the baker front of house i'm very much back office caroline's bakery is somewhere where she is in charge completely and utterly i go in there at my peril at the wrong time and caroline sees running the victorian bakery as the perfect opportunity to bring proper fresh bread to the town i just love creating good bread i think we've lost that in society i'm really hoping that i can persuade local people to buy fresh bread again but as they read through the manual that's been left for them by the chamber of commerce the devlins are in for a shock the role of the baker was strictly a man's job during the victorian era female bakers were extremely rare oh my god the females in the family may assist in the running of the bakery but they should not get involved with the main bread-making activity it's going to be really difficult you and i working together because our roles at home are completely different aren't they they're reversed exactly totally reversed no time to waste if they want bread for tomorrow morning at nine o'clock we have to start the process i admire your enthusiasm really i do my biggest concern is is the iron manga why is that well the other three are food you know we used to buy food but who who who shops in an iron man who needs a mole trap these days i mean if i had to stop some ask people would they even know what an iron manga was oh my god how am i going to make any money on this this is all a load of old tap i think the only people are going to be interested in buying this are probably collectors and people who don't know what they're looking at that's the best place for that the iron mongers was a one-stop shop for every victorian household need but blacksmith simon won't just be running a shop [Music] as a victorian iron manga he will also have to run a fully functioning forge this is fantastic yeah look at this old anvil beautiful a perfect opportunity for the modern day blacksmith who yearns to bring respect back to his craft oh this is the business this is absolutely the business he's going to be able to make things for the other shopkeepers i mean they're going to need things like scales and scoops and that sort of thing i bet he's going to come into his own actually servicing the others i can make some money at this i can actually make some money with this i can make the gates for buckingham palace with this setup [Music] 12 hours to opening and the butcher's stock has arrived could not got us a bigger one are you feeling strong that this is a 500 pound gloucester old spot pig four times bigger than the pigs most butchers sell today it's covered in a thick layer of fat something victorians prized as much as the meat on my knees by the end of the week the sharps must sail every last bit of this enormous beast from the snout to the tail there we go what a fat son of unmarried parentage the setup might be basic but it's a step back into andrew's own family history butchery has been in our family for many generations and times gone by butchers were immensely more respected they were pillars of society unfortunately in the modern world andrew can only teach butchery because his business recently went to the wall he's concerned that his son michael will grow up with little knowledge of their family business i think if times were different he would go into the meat trade but he's seen me go down the path and what career fulfillment is there in now i don't want to be a butcher i want to be a barrister because i've come to the conclusion that butchers don't make any money and barristers do andrew hopes running a victorian butchers will prove to his son the value of the family trade it'll be a life experience for him he'll learn about more about my obsession he may not take up the obsession but give him an insight and you know maybe he'll think differently let's just shove it up a little bit if this is andrew's way of showing michael the joys of butchery they're off to a rocky start honestly that is the biggest pig i've ever seen in my life lifting stupidly everything's like that doesn't make you want to be a butcher that is massive that is the thing even before the shops have opened they're already attracting the attention of the locals but faced with a gigantic pig and no refrigeration andrew's focus is on getting their week's precious stock cut up and into the icebox before it starts to go bad we're not in victorian towns where people would buy something that was you know almost rotten so it's a lot more of a difficult ask the biggest fattest bugger i've ever lifted for a long time all right let's get the dog shot man all the shopkeepers must cope with the most basic amenities their main water supplies found in the middle of the town square come on ray hurry up that's this that's awesome nigel and the boys have a huge amount to do if they're to get bread on the shelves by first thing tomorrow have you checked how much water you are expected to put in your dough mix uh no he's never baked a loaf in his life but he's ignoring the advice of caroline even though she's a master baker what i'm trying to do is have enough dough to be able to work with comfortably all right well i'm not going to can we just do it the way we want to do this see how much flour we need you need nine stone six pounds of flour flour was very expensive to mill in the 1870s so the devlins are baking with the cheapest option coarse brown flour but even a basic loaf required a baker to be accurate about his ingredients more flour no no we need more wet that's the problem no we don't we need more flour look all right good as well as coarse flour victorian bread was also made with animal fat you need to put your lard in and is that measured out no if i can see them struggling and and i know that there's an easier way to do it i can't help but intervene i wouldn't put more salt in that if i but then i'm not supposed to be interfering in a time before electricity all bread mixing was done by hand and it was back-breaking work this is really really really hard to knead and we're not even halfway through yet what remember outside then that's it oh so then long periods bent double inhaling flour meant that bakers were expected to die before they turned 40. i don't believe this even though i've been working this door a good 20 minutes turning it over i keep coming across dry flour i'm pretty strong bloke you know got almost like popeye and still doesn't seem to be enough he's used to watching mum doing it and mum doing it perfectly and then now it's his turn to having to go you know and twice as hard so i think he's finding it pretty hard with their grand opening set for first thing tomorrow the shopkeepers are retiring to the rooms above their shops oh i say it's wicked quite nice actually victorian shopkeepers often struggled to make a decent living it was common for families to all live together in just one room oh little dority looked lovely which led to some unusual sleeping arrangements how are we going to survive in there i wonder who's sleeping in here you and dad and for the butchers the toilet facilities are pretty basic oh you've got to be joking no tomorrow the people of shepton mallet are going to get their first taste of victorian shops [Music] an absolute corker really everything just coming around the corner and first seeing the market square seeing the shot with my name on top and stuff made me feel so proud i was really taken aback when i first came into the square and i saw my shop amazing absolutely amazing it just brings it home really that i am an actual trader in this market square but while everyone else beds down nigel is working through the night [Music] he's aiming to bake 50 loaves 120 fewer than a similar victorian bakers would make but still not easy for an office the victorian era tremendously hard work it was the worst night in the world couldn't believe what i've been dumped into [Music] today the shopkeepers start trading and they all want their shops to capture the attention of the buying public hopefully this will draw people in i suspect they'll all sit there and then all do this i'll hear this thing going all day i [Music] expect does that look nice get to work wench in the grocers according to the victorian rule book only men can be seen in the front of house so debbie and saffron are relegated to the back room where they have to do all the prep including creating their own tea blend but whilst the rest of the street is grafting nigel's just got to bed light so it falls to the rest of his family to discover the results of his hard work done pretty well except for the burnt part that's one and that one and that's when just because it's burnt on the outside doesn't mean it doesn't taste nice in the inside that's right and it also means you can still eat it you can just cut that bit off they're far too salty i don't know how they'd eat this because you just have loads of salt it really has very very very short oh all right nigel's only managed to make half of the 50 loaves he was aiming for and with these being burnt and salty the devlins face a dilemma what what do we do do we do we not sell the bread oh no that's the thing because if they don't like it they won't come back well yeah back then they wouldn't care what people think so we just sell it jack we're victorian bakers we don't have a conscience so let's sell it okay so they need to go in the baskets put all the burnt things on top so then like you can't see that as much as some of these ones if it's burnt it just means there's extra protein in there that's yeah just say that i feel very anxious about this morning but we just have to go with it now because people are waiting outside but the town square isn't exactly teaming with potential customers most of the residents of shepton mallet do all their shopping at the out of town retail park just up the road the victorian shop's challenge is to lure them back and to help them get started the chamber of commerce has persuaded a number of brave locals to dump the supermarket and shop only in the victorian shops for the entire week i'm very apprehensive actually i just don't i really don't know what to expect i'm really worried about going in that butcher shop i actually have i've got no idea how i'll cope because when you start thinking about it you realize that not all the produce will be there girls it's time to open now so i have to have you at the back please okay let's get the girl out hello good morning wow look at all the bread i have no idea what they're going to sell that i would want to buy now morning it's not a lot on offer morning morning would you like to come in come in interesting [Music] at the bakers nigel's bread isn't getting a great reaction they're a bit more well done some people like well done bread bread made with lard is it yeah what is lard yeah do you really want to know it's like the fat off meat basically meat fat yeah nice yes still fancy it was hardly any loaves in there half them would burn and then to see it had a lot in it that i was a bit loved about that i suppose caroline's dream to bring fresh baked bread back to the high street isn't panning out too well there's just this kind of uncomfortable this is a really really harsh lesson for us because we are we are selling rubbish really have you any fresh fruit of any sauce i'm afraid i haven't you don't do mayonnaise no have a crisps i have no crisps but i can taste potatoes if you'd like to make your own in the victorian grocers carl is struggling too i have to say i am concerned about biscuits are they not stale no though they're fresh in every morning chestnut mushrooms again i have no mushrooms at all can i ask why because i haven't no i'm sorry some eggs please eggs now um how many would you like i've got a dozen eggs even when carl does have something in stock it needs to be weighed out and packaged while the men in the front have to wrap sweets weigh tea and package marmalade it's just as hectic outback [Music] the girls need to fulfill orders for roasted coffee and packaged butter [Music] and the cues of shoppers are growing it takes longer than you think doesn't it it does modern technology is not pre-packed the man is very friendly and helpful and can't do enough for you but the fact is it's taking ages uh we've been waiting for what five ten minutes now maybe even 15. it's very long we just thought we could go right over there so it's getting really kind of annoying you know what this is unbelievably hard i don't know how these poor buggers did this in the old days i really don't know we don't do uh sauce tomatoes ketchup or sauce i haven't got this awesome phrase sun cream 30 factor [Music] across the square the butchers probably have the biggest challenge luring customers to their shop victorian butchers use their meat as advertising in a time when people like to smell and touch their food to check its freshness butchers would create grand displays of meat outside their shops andrew and michael have decided to attempt something similar modern trading laws mean they must use cured meat rather than their fresh pig for display but this still brings problems in the height of summer fly fest it's called well that's that's how it would be the shop front is certainly attracting the attention of the locals it does not look very nice that's why i want to be a vegetarian yeah but andrew isn't stopping with the window display any of you people vegetarians don't worry about it so was the pig they never ate a human in its life victorian butchers weren't just shopkeepers they were showmen and it was common for them to butcher meat out on the street for the entertainment of passers-by bit of a hawk make a bit of soup my keen enables assistant my son here is driving me to death to make sure we sell it all so don't forget to get your hands in your pockets but andrew's got his work cut out trying to sell every part of the pig ears make great chews so you can boil them and as there's only a limited time they can keep the meat out of the cold room for michael victorian butchery involves a lot of running up and down stairs i need a slice of the leg a few customers are slowly starting to buy the cuts they recognize and six pounds thank you but other parts of the pig are proving to be a hard sell we've got lungs and heart it's not normal trading by any stretch of the imagination two doors down and blacksmith simon has attracted quite a crowd into the iron mongers too [Music] feel free to browse around the shop if there's anything you're interested in let me know anything you want to talk to me about the shops are all out to make a profit and while they'll be asking victorian prices they'll be charging the customers in modern money [Music] but simon's discovering the difference between browsing and buying these are mold traps they've got a spring like that this makes a slightly larger version for the kids it seems that the only customers who really need his services are the other victorian shopkeepers you want something to light yourself while you're working dude yeah to light the room up i was wondering if you'd be able to make us a bread knife or if you've got something to sell us uh i'm not sure i've got anything in stock but i can make you want to order have you got any hooks that we can buy please uh what sort of hooks you want what do you have um all kinds not a problem no we aim to please we can do that with a list of orders from his fellow shopkeepers simon leaps at the opportunity to shut up shop and spend time at his forge feels better yes at the bakers nigel's woken up to discover there's another problem with his bread right that's i can see where the problem you can see we've got a real problem here the oven was far too hot uh to be honest um and what has happened is it's burnt on the outside and it's just completely yeah but starting to think more like victorian traders the devlins aren't going to let undercooked bread stop a sale well we're learning to improvise as well we're advising people that they can bake it off when they get home they've been baked quite softly so if you want to be able to warm them up bake so a bit crustier straight into the oven so you could take it back and put it and finish it off and finish it off yes you could clever idea at the forge simon is working hard to fulfill his orders [Music] there we go the full butcher's dozen i'm really sorry about the delay things have been really hectic today they should last you a lifetime i am impressed actually they look really strong superb knife handmade to order look at that chilling while simon's managed to meet all the needs of his fellow shopkeepers even a victorian head torch don't shut my headlights son please don't turn my helmet he hasn't been able to serve in his shop i'm really sorry you're waiting for me i'm really really sorry i've been called away at another job but this time he's finally making some sales how much is that uh let me just consult my price list 29 29.60 yeah nothing like that it's made me realize that i really need to advertise for some some help i'm not going to be able to cope with running this business and the blacksmith shop on my own after a disastrous first day baking nigel and jack are off to seek some advice on how to make the perfect victorian loaf there we are okay so nigel if you would do the same they've come to learn from stephen oxford whose family has run a bakery since victorian times that's it that's the way but beyond baking techniques steven's got some revelations about how a victorian baker would make their ingredients go further it goes against every single thing that my family's been fighting for for the last 100 years but the bakers were under such pressure to get the best price of their loaf that they would do pretty much anything profit margins for bakers were incredibly tight to stretch costly flour as far as possible they would add all sorts of nasty ingredients everything from clay to plaster of paris sawdust chalk and worst of all alum the same stuff we used to clean swimming pools today although it's the most poisonous uh it was also pretty much the best ingredient that baker could use because it had both bulking qualities and also was a bleach for the flower as well stephen's baked up some typical victorian loaves adulterated with sawdust and plaster of paris one two three have you ever licked a wall before yeah that's what it tastes like spread that with butter jam a bit of marshmallow yeah yeah you perhaps just get by yeah yeah no you're quite right well steve it's interesting do we go for a reputation or do we go for profit i'm up for gun for profit do you want to sleep at night [Laughter] nigel and jack might be sold but convincing caroline is a different matter chalk rice sawdust sawdust in our bread yeah i know it doesn't sit very well uh with you but in reality from what we've just done today we've lost a lot of money and it's a question of how we get that back but we'll lose a lot of customers well remember what i said i think what we should try and do here is just bake a small sample of the bread with some of the stuff like i said we learned today and see how it goes so you're going to offer it to the customer as a cheaper bread absolutely not we need to keep the profit the customer need not know what we're doing remember what we're talking about this is victorian england okay with each passing hour there are more and more things that i'm less and less comfortable with in the victorian era oh that's for artisan baker caroline the realities of making ends meet in a 19th century bakery are not what she'd imagined it's a it's just outside the way that we would be as bakers and traders we just wouldn't do it nigel 2 is torn between victorian profiteering and his modern day morals talking through a caroline there is only so far we'll go in terms of adulteration to the of the bread we sell however um we're going to use rice it's a good example of how you can use what is a natural ingredient but still if you like lower the value of the the bread first july 1870 carl is also discovering that his dream of 19th century trading is a long way from the reality last victorian grocer is awfully [Music] in just a few days the shopkeepers will set up stall and run a victorian market in the square but if this is going to have any chance of success they'll need to try and win over more customers before then at the butcher shop andrew and michael have a new plan sausages were the perfect way for victorian butchers to sell off every part of an animal and making them was a spectacle that people would gather to watch that's the intestines yeah the shop is a bit like being in the theater so you have your stage and off you go that's fantastic yeah yeah it's been cleaned the invention of the mechanical sausage mincer in 1865 made it much easier for butchers to fill a pig's small intestine with meat that is one hell of a sausage and just as it was 150 years ago it's still a crowd pleaser today we've got a round of applause of about 10 people after we finished making the sausage it was quite strange actually the sausages are flying off the shelves so andrew decides to push his luck thank you the last time i had a pig's foot i was 16. selling pigs trotters cheapest chips man thanks very much and the butchers have made a killing with their sausage sales 186 pounds yeah [Music] in the grocers carl also seems to be getting the hang of 19th century shopkeeping what can i help you with what you're interested in what you're looking for the queues are building up again but he's going to deal with them as a victorian grocer would if you order some tea we've got our own sergey blend it'll be delivered to your house home delivery isn't just the preserve of modern online superstores back in the victorian era every shop on the high street would have delivered even the smallest order to their customers homes okay i would like half a dozen eggs please pound potatoes a pound of onions a few bushels of carrots having the food delivered to my door which means i don't have to carry bags and bags of stuff that yeah that makes a huge sense it's going really well now and people are accepting it it's quite good so so far no one's gone what you're doing so we'll see they've all sort of taken to it quite well so maybe it's gonna work out better than i thought it's a success they've cleared all the customers and taken their money but now they have to make sure to deliver everything on time and that still means packaging it all by hand remind me what's to be done okay you just said you were doing that now so i thought it was all part of this one job so it's not really down for me to remind you you would kind of hurry no lip remember victorians shut up and do this oh it's very important to get it right to get the actual service right how it was in the old days just to see how it's like it's very important because i want to try and get it right so you know i'm dressed like it the environment's like it let's try and do it like it should be done at the bakers it looks like nigel's old-fashioned victorian skullduggery has done the trick there are rows of tasty looking loaves on the shelves bulked out with rice but unfortunately it's the bread from yesterday that the customers want to talk about well we've bought this bread from you yesterday because i'm edible really i mean you need the glass of water really to to to eat it really it was so so salty to be honest i'd be frightened to give this to the birds i think the salt may be an acquired taste that we could get used to but the doughiness is not and i mean i can't sort of feed this to my boys every single day i don't think it's cooked properly it's a bit doughy and also way too much salt in it yes do you think we could have our money back would you like another brown another brown leaf to try i don't know this looks rather nice of white with rice would that be okay to swap and have that i think that would be acceptable yes with customer after customer returning their bread the devlins are having to give away all their new stock in exchange i think that we have to accept that today is going to be another loss-making day for us because we're going to have to try and make things right with people [Music] chamber of commerce member tom himself the owner of a successful chain of bakeries has decided to come to the rescue [Music] tom's brought something to help boost the devlin's flagging sails new flower the arrival of giant industrial roller mills in the 1880s meant that fine white flour became much cheaper it's finer check that out that's very fine wow which made it easier to make better tasting bread you you're going to have to at least double what you make in order to recoup any of the loss that's been made when we've got a whole load of new bread here and products you can really go for it and then on the back of that we can hit market day running you're going to have to he didn't mince his words and told us that we were basically one step away from our children going to the workhouse which was a real punch in the gut real punch in the gut at the forge simon is also getting ready for market day that's it you're doing all right yeah absolutely fine he's hired himself an apprentice who in victorian britain would have simply been called boy i started his trainer today in the forge and i think he'll shape up really well he's going to be a great asset to my business despite having someone who could run his shop simon's decided to put all his faith in handmade products sit nice and slowly let it sink in whilst boy makes candles simon is crafting candlesticks we're both back up here at the forge and the shop is closed so the shop's not making us any money today but i'm hoping that we can recoup that by getting the boy here to produce all these candles and hopefully we'll manage to recoup some of our losses [Music] in the grocers 19th century storage solutions have carl worried about his food's shelf life hello hello good afternoon chamber of commerce historian juliet has come to pay a visit would a victorian um gross up um some of the ways are going to go they're not going to perish by the next day would they have sold them off cheap at the end of the day yes they certainly would there's no such thing as a sell-by date of course frankly you saw what you could get away with so the original dodgy geezer was it the oppression i have to tell you that the victorian grocer not only would he have been out for profit and shaved anything off that he possibly could but he would have done some pretty dodgy practices i mean a lot of them would have would have watered down their milk a bit um of course milk wasn't probably down literally victorian water was all horrible victorian grocers went further even than bakers when it came to food tampering now this stuff here and i'm not going to suggest you touch it this is red lead you know red gloucester cheese would have been added to that then you've got this iron sulfate you might have added a bit to any of your pickles to make them look greener you're beginning to look pale debbie you're beginning leslie i'm so shocked i just couldn't believe that they could do something like that and that was only the start they would also spruce up old vinegar with sulfuric acid add poisonous prussian blue to tea leaves and mix mercury with children's sweets to enhance their color having long idolized the victorian era as a much purer time for food it's quite a shock for carl i didn't have a clue what sort of practices they did lead prussian blue iron sulfate i'm just completely amazed but whilst carl comes to terms with victorian dodgy dealing there are deliveries to be made it's 7 p.m and harry is only just hitting the [Music] road and victorian transport isn't high-speed [Music] [Applause] [Music] hard delivery apologize it's been a very busy day it's a pity really because i was hoping about the delivery being a bit earlier because the stuff we ordered we were going to cook for our tea tonight because unfortunately but despite the slow service it seems that the spirit of the victorian high street is starting to infect the people of shepparton it's a little bit of a personal touch that you know you know that somebody cares they know that how much you need and you know they bring it to your door and i love that after the hard day out together horse and khan deliver x amount of goods to quite a lot of people to bloody ages with market day only 24 hours away the traders biggest chance to make money is rapidly approaching though it upset victorian street traders when market day came round shopkeepers also took their products out onto the street to make extra cash and the modern day shopkeepers are determined to do the same the bakers are using their new flour to produce lots of white bread and simon's finishing his candlesticks in the forge there is a market for these in the 21st century definitely but while the other shopkeepers are busy crafting goods carl's got bigger plans i think cars lost his official title as le grand fromage well we're gonna get this cheese out of here somehow we're gonna try and do this pulley system as a publicity stunt he's ordered a giant two-ton cheddar [Music] the cheese is so heavy that even the point system hasn't worked the original big cheese stunt was dreamt up by victorian grocer thomas lipton when the giant cheese was delivered to his glasgow shop it caused a riot and sold out in a couple of hours there'll be plenty of chatting out cheap tomorrow guys that's it [Music] thank you very much now the best bit i've got to flog it somehow i can't even take it seriously ah superb you look like a complete lemon carl is turning to another retail technique pioneered by the victorians spectacular advertising anybody interested in the world's largest cheddar i've got the world's largest cheddar to starts 9am tomorrow in the market [Music] and it's not just the grocer saying cheese right if we could all remain still like many victorian traders the shopkeepers are immortalizing their place on the high street with a photograph perfect lovely right so if you can keep still for approximately 11 seconds just look a daringly at your father no one two [Music] three [Music] thank you you can relax how did you get on with no electricity good it was so knack every time i got home after a long day the men folk feel they've earned a visit to the local pub but at the butchers andrew still has to get his products ready for market day this pig's on its last leg is fine it's fully um all right but it does need to get used pure unadulterated heart attack he's sinking all his remaining pig into a victorian favorite pork pies to cook them he's using the baker's oven which was common practice as most shops didn't have their own well we'll see and with his pies cooking andrew can't resist joining the others but with the baker and butcher both in the pub no one's kept an eye on the pies [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you can't blame me i'm a woman i'm not meant to be in here sorry i think there's a lesson to be learned about going to the pub the night before market day to be learned here [Music] the shopkeepers have now spent a week living the life of victorians they've worked dawn to dusk and beyond although it's been a great experience i don't think i could live it forever but now they need one last big push [Music] market day has arrived yeah we have to get up close [Music] one week ago the town center of shepton mallet was unloved by the locals and rarely visited since then the victorian shopkeepers have worked hard to start drawing people back but have they done enough will anyone come to their market [Applause] we're going to just get our little bodies into action get some theater going right if we go and hang these up first simon stuck by his plan to sell handmade goods and has produced over 170 candles along with specially forged candlestick holders they don't look too bad actually no that'll bring the customers in [Music] the grocers too are putting together their display all rushing rounds at the last minute that's carl exactly come on staff you come and give us a hand just take them down make them look nice all right and then come back and you can get some trays of bread the bakers have finally mastered their craft with their new flower and another all night session from nigel they have rows of fresh white bread for sale [Music] so the stalls are set up but will the victorian goods sell to 21st century shoppers in the butchers it's looking unlikely [Laughter] what's that meant to be a bit like a log i think we'll take a miss on the pie [Music] it tastes nice so it isn't quite as bad as it might seem yeah but it is a disaster yeah [Music] out on the square though the victorian publicity machine is in full flow and people are starting to roll up are you going my switch debbie this one's for quid i'm going to go with a few above my pocket today somebody has told us to try your new white bread a new roller mill flower that we've managed to get hold of and we're really pleased the baker's bread is flying off the stall we should have made tons more tons more we needed to sell 60 loaves at least today to break even i think the chamber of commerce greg juliet and tom have returned to see the effect the victorian shops have had on the town [Music] this is wonderful ladies ladies ladies ladies welcome to mount it mr wallace nice thank you what it what is it about this shopping experience that you don't normally get it's seeing so many people that i know that i can talk to while i'm here and that's what doesn't happen with a supermarket because you're 90 miles an hour dashing in dashing out going off to do something else that's exactly what i what i was hoping would happen does anybody not know about my cheese please come and get it now hurry up hurry up he's he's got a big cube of this cheese this is stealing the show at the market i'm i'm thomas lipton of the 18th century now me i've done it in 2010 instead while the rest of the shopkeepers profit the butchers are desperate to get in on the act and flog of the last parts of their pig their solution is a classic victorian recipe peas pudding a working class favorite made with boiled yellow split peas and pork [Music] face pudding huts peace pudding cold peace pudding in a pot nine days old this in victorian times is our first fast food and andrew's showmanship seems to be doing the trick i mean look at the butcher shut up that is that is just magnificent they're just right for a sunday lunch there you go sir don't they get a spoon oh yeah they're extra sir i really like that it's really salty absolutely beautiful i want the recipe iron monger simon has put his faith in handmade and it seems to be paying off his candles are selling like hotcakes thank you it's absolutely wonderful the relationship between the customer and the shopkeeper you you sort of feel that you're you're the most important person in the shop it's really really lovely what about the shopping experience does how does that differ from you know chapter mallet seemed nothing like this ever shut down back on the back it's really lovely it's brought it back to life i think the town has come alive i think everybody was a little bit shell-shocked to start with instead of looking from the corners of windows but as it goes on as you can see today more and more people are coming out and wanting to experience it and wanting to be part of it [Music] for the first time in many years this market square is once again the center of the community the shopkeepers have begun to bring people back to their town center but have they managed to make any money let's get down to the most important thing i think and that's how much money these people took um the baker's taken 347 pounds and most of that was today at the market i mean i think they had a tremendous battle i think they had real difficulties at first i think it took them time to rise to the challenge but i think they've all done pretty well really it's been fantastic learning curve and and to end on a high note like this has been just brilliant absolutely brilliant now the iron manga has taken 692 pounds 54 and apparently then he went on to sell the great so the the our iron man was taking a thousand pounds yeah that's not bad that's not bad got a little uh got a little present for you there you are fantastic proprietor of your own 1870 iron language that is fantastic i'm bold over there absolutely you look great thank you so much well you put a lot into this i'm just overwhelmed i'm absolutely overwhelmed the thing here in this this era in particular is that you're much more valued for what you can do he'll eat beautifully the butcher's only taken 352 pounds which which i think uh when you look at the people that were the amount of interest in front of your shop it was sort of a marmite love hate i think wasn't it people loved it or loathed it but it definitely got a response it was a bloody big pig and we have sold so much of it it is quite unbelievable stick in the fridge for a year it'd be fine the grocer has taken over 1300 pounds a big market day for the grocer cues down the street big success [Music] what's happening back from the week is that the victorians weren't such a rosy and honest bunch as we all think i'm a bit shocked i never realized how how bold they were you know i never expected in the business side of things it would actually be quite it's a roguish we've enjoyed it working together michael and i because we understand each other this has been something that'll live with both of us forever i enjoyed it and then and it's been fun it's brought us together in terms of a working relationship and in ways that we've never had before and i don't think our working relationship is quite going to be the same in the future it was a show of devlin's strength absolute family strength we just got on and we just did it and we had an energy that that just brought people to the stall ah just incredible but the shopkeeper's journey is only just beginning next time there's a new arrival on the high street as the shopkeepers take shepton into the age of edwardian elegance it's sir it's mom it's miss where customer service is key oh this service was just fantastic i felt like a lady but some things aren't quite so refined don't worry darling you just have some vegetables or something

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 474,479

Rating: 4.8995728 out of 5

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

Id: DF4jq_CjQIQ

Length: 57min 37sec (3457 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 30 2021