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Archiver > NORTHUMBRIA > 2002-08 > 1029180779


From: "Chris Morgan" <>
Subject: Re: [NMB] Isaac Walton's
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 20:32:59 +0100
References: <001701c23ff1$37f27520$60d8193e@eric>


> After all the talk of Isaac Walton's over the last few weeks I was walking down Westgate
Road between Percy St and Grainger St on route to the Union Rooms to meet Les Forster
when I espied Isaac Walton's Repair shop.

I'm not sure if the menswear shop trading as Isaac Walton's in Westgate Road, almost
opposite the Assembly Rooms is the same firm, but recent topics certainly made me more
aware of what must have been happening unknown to us children when we purchased our
uniforms. Uniform wars must have been going on in the city, with trade eagerly sought.
Having looked again at the long list of kit required it was certainly big business.

It seems the firm of Raymond Barnes & Co in Grey Street had all but stitched up the
school outfitting business for the grammar schools in the city of Newcastle, and also the
surrounding area. They probably dealt with the other schools as well? Whether the original
Raymond Barnes was any relation to Harry Barnes, headmaster at Heaton Grammar
1928-58, I can only wonder. Certainly that firm's name was prominently noted on the list
of uniform items required at that school. My wife recalls getting some items for the
Newcastle Church High from there when her parents rebelled at the high prices at Isaac Walton's.

Isaac Walton's clearly aimed at the fee paying schools as a first priority, and by 1964 they
were awarding annual £50 Travel Scholarships to pupils in order to promote their
business - and encourage the young to travel, of course. In that year a friend of mine
thought it unfair that the state grammar schools were missing out, and had the temerity to
ask to see Richard Walton, and spoke to him in his office. They were happy to get
a toe in the door at Heaton Grammar that year, not so long after Harry Barnes had retired.
Maybe that irony helped us.

No doubt the onset of the comprehensives and the trend towards more casual schoolwear
in the 1970's gradually put paid to this previously lucrative business area.

See the following for a picture of the 1948 Isaac Walton's sale queue! Anyone recognise
their mother?
http://www.lynk-itm.co.uk/photoarchive/newcastle/Newcastle,%20Isaac%20Waltons,%201948..jpg


Chris Morgan



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