Each month we feature a business operating within the SW1 area. Please click on the links below to see past features and please contact us should you wish your business to be featured in the future.
Contact Rozanne Shipman, Stakeholder Engagement Officer by email: Rozanne Shipman
January - February 2011
: National Trust Shop
Tucked away behind London Transport's office on Caxton Street, off Victoria Street is the Blewcoat School. This beautifully restored building constructed in 1709 was built as a school and is now owned by the National Trust and converted into the Trust’s gift shop and visitor information centre. The Victoria BID’s Nina Provençal met with Janet Bowden, Shop Manager, who has worked at the shop for 16 years, to find out how they are revising their approach and what visitors can expect from visiting this charming shop.
NP: How long have the National Trust had a presence here at Blewcoat School and has it always been a gift shop?
JB:After the Blewcoat School closed in 1926, the building had several uses before the National Trust took possession during the 1950s. During World War II this architectural gem was used by the American services followed some years later the Girl Guides, who used the building as a youth club. However, it was not maintained well and it gradually became more decrepit. It was almost derelict by the time the Trust restored the building and initially used it as their membership and head office, before it was converted into a shop. We have archive photographs of rows and rows of young girls in the call centre answering calls on the old fashioned phones.
How many National Trust sites are there in the local area, and which do you receive the most enquiries about?
Carlyle’s House is the nearest National Trust property to us at 24 Cheyne Row, Chelsea SW3 5HL. It is an historic house, that tells the story of Thomas and Jane Carlyle, a celebrated literary couple, who were well known figures in the nineteenth century and mixed with fellow authors like Charles Dickens. The house has an authentic Victorian interior, preserved in 1895 and doesn’t have a gift shop, so we do get lots of enquiries about this site.I understand the National Trust offer a volunteer speaker service, is this something that has ever been taken up by anyone in Victoria? *
Actually we’ve done these in other areas of London but we have never given talks in Victoria, but we would be very happy to do so. The talks cover the general work of the Trust or specific areas of interest. We really do have some fascinating artifacts, gardens and historic sites, which we conserve ranging from entire coastlines, to castles and lighthouses.
* The National Trust has a group of enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteer speakers. They are available to give illustrated talks to groups of all sizes. Talks can cover many different aspects of the Trust's work, from conservation to garden history, individual properties - among other things.
Do you recruit volunteers from the local area to help support the work of the National Trust?
Yes we do, I try to use a different volunteer every day as we have a healthy pool to work with here. Our oldest volunteer is 72 and our youngest 20. She starts tomorrow in fact! We treat our volunteers just like a member of our staff, top criteria for the job is to be friendly, articulate and smart.
Have you seen many changes in recent years to membership numbers and numbers of visitors to the gift shop?
Like most shops our sales vary with the seasons and as we are a gift shop our products are not essential to customers, so we constantly look at new ways to make our gifts unique and fresh. We aim to keep our prices competitive as cost has become increasingly more significant to customers. There has been quite a big decline in our American customers. Fewer Americans are visiting the UK and they were our biggest group of visitors to the shop, so that has affected our sales. This unfortunate general trend has been compounded by recent improvements in the retail offer in Victoria, so that local office workers are not visiting the shop as frequently as they used to, because there is a much wider variety of shops available to them now.What kind of gifts could people buy from the gift shop, and what are the most popular items?
With the decline of customers we have been looking closely at the range of products we offer and their appropriateness. We are going to bring in more exclusive craft items and are open to suggestions and offers of products made locally. At the moment we source items from as far as the East of England such as jewellery, books and beauty products. We have an exclusive design on our fine china range, which can only be purchased in this shop. Calendars are our all round best sellers by far.
What is your most peculiar item?
A carrot peeler!
The National Trust Shop is at 23 Caxton Street SW1H 0PY, tel: 020 7222 2877 or EMAIL THE NT SHOP
FOR MORE ABOUT THE NATIONAL TRUST
Or take a look at one of our past features below
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