Celebrating a Century of Service with Brewers Thornton Heath
July 3rd, 2023
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ShareBrewers Thornton Heath is turning 100 years old this year and we are celebrating! Pop into Thornton Heath between the 17th-22nd of July where we will have weeklong offers and goodies for customers to say “thank you” for supporting us for a century.
The History of Thornton Heath:
Brewers Thornton Heath became the first ever Brewers branch in London and was formerly known as Scratchleys. The Thornton Heath store started life in 1910, when the three Scratchley brothers set up a general merchant business in the High Street, selling building and decorating materials.
Mr Scratchley sourced many of his decorating and glass supplies from the Redhill branch of C. Brewer and Sons, so he knew Brewers very well. When he decided to retire in 1944, he approached the branch manager, Mr Stockwell, to see if Mr Brewer would be interested in buying the business.
Brewers had by this time expanded to 12 stores – but none in London. Redhill was the furthest north so the chance to buy the Scratchleys business was a huge opportunity for Brewers – especially as the area was going to be desperate for rebuilding materials once the war was over. So Scratchleys became the first business to join the Brewers family. The team running the branch were Dennis Hassell, Alf Wisdom, Reg Walker and Arthur Mills, along with Eric Mathieson who moved from Horsham and Bill Gibbs, Scratchleys’ manager.
The Store Today:
Thornton Heath remains a busy and important branch in the area to this day and staff know the needs of their customers very well. The current branch manager, Chris Rowedder, has been in post since 1996 and the senior sales advisor, Mark Hardie has worked there for 20 years so between them they have nearly 50 years of experience! Reo and Sofia are newer members of the Thornton Heath team and they all look forward to celebrating with their customers soon!
