Photos and articles about Brighton and Hove in the time of coronavirus. See our collection and add your own!

Hills Butchers, photograph c1914

This was F. Hills Family Butchers for over 40 years. The photo shows Frederick and Ada Hills outside their shop with two of their staff. The building became a house in the 1960s.

(information drawn from ‘Hilly Laine to Hanover’)

Image shows 57a Richmond Street around 1914.
Photo reproduced courtesy of Jacqueline Pollard,

Comments about this page

  • My mother knew Fred Hills and his butcher’s shop on Richmond Street. By World War II, the shop was owned by Nicholls (family grocers).

    By Pat Collins (Catswhiskas) (24/02/2005)
  • My great grandparents, Thomas and Rose Hall, lived at 27 Richmond Street until the early 60s.

    By Julie Nicholls (08/05/2005)
  • I well remember Hills the butcher. I grew up in Ashton Street after the War and went to the Infant School in Richmond Street and the Ebeneza Chapel Sunday School.

    By Bob Munro (07/08/2006)
  • Hi Bob Munro! I’m doing my family genealogy and I’m looking for information on the Mills family. My great grandad James lived at 2 Ashton St Brighton in 1935 when he married. I can’t find on the census if that’s where his parents lived also. James’ dad was Wilfred. If you know anything about the Mills family and could help me please could you email mel.moreland@yahoo.co.uk  Thank you.

    By melanie (19/10/2006)
  • Does anyone know how we get a copy of the photo? We’re currently in the process of buying 57a Richmond Street and we’re both vegetarians, which makes the purchase of an ex-butcher somewhat ironic. Quite like that though! Thank you.

    By Sophie (10/12/2006)
  • I remember Hill’s the butchers being there just after the War. We lived at 29 Windmill Street, almost opposite, and it was a Mr Hill that was very good at first aid; he bandaged my broken arm and applied two splints made from the bottom and lid of a date box. After Hills closed, I do not remember it opening again, but I may be wrong. If somebody had tried to open it as a grocers shop there would have been a lot of competition. There was Reeves right opposite, on the corner of Windmill Street, Darlings on the corner of Stanley Street, and another grocers on the corner of Montreal Road. Even the dairy on the corner of Windmill Terrace/Albion Hill sold groceries.

    By Ron Burtenshaw (02/03/2007)
  • This is a long shot, but I have a relative named John Wilkinson who married a Monimia Bolingbroke. Monimia lived at 13 Richmond Terrace.
    John’s occupation listed on their marriage certificate dated 2 April 1913 is butcher’s assistant. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if they know of the Bolingbroke family and whether there were any other butcher shops in Richmond St, because if there weren’t then the older fellow with the bike could well be my John Wilkinson.

    John’s address given on his marriage certificate was 24 Quebec St.

    Would love to hear from anyone that might have some information or could answer my query.

    Cheers

    By Caroline Bucknall (01/03/2008)
  • iIam currently doing my family tree (Reeves) and have an address of 80 Richmond Street on the 1891 census. I would love to hear from anyone who may have any connection or memories told by others regarding the Reeves family that lived here, (a message for Ron), you mention a REEVES grocer opposite. Do you have anymore info on them, regards

    By Darren Reeves (27/03/2008)
  • My great uncle James Samuel Brand lived at 59 Richmond Street at the time of the 1911 Census. He was described as an invalid attendant and lived there with his wife Maud, two sons and one daughter. James died in the 1950s, I believe at the same address. Would love to hear from anyone with connections to No 59.

    By Rosemary Brumfield (23/12/2008)
  • Ron – My grandparents used to own the premises you are talking about with a dairy and grocery on the corner of Windmill Terrace and Albion Hill. Many a Sunday we used to visit them after my grandfather had delivered milk to all and my grandmother would still have the shop open till mid afternoon in case anyone ran out of milk, eggs, etc. She still managed to serve a delicious tea for us all. How hard they used to work in those days! My grandfather would deliver the milk in a barrow pushed up and down the nearby hills: even on Christmas Day as my Dad recalls.

    By Jacqui (22/08/2009)
  • My grandmother, Grace Margaret Cooper (nee Hill), lived at 85 Richmond Street, Brighton. My father was William Thomas Cooper. I am tracing my family tree.

    By Lynda Duhigg (08/05/2010)
  • Monimia Bolingbroke and John Wilkinson are my great grandparents and I am looking for information about Victor Wilkinson who is my mother’s father.

    By Jane Greening (11/08/2010)
  • Hi Darren Reeves. Don’t know if we could be related but my grandfather was a Joseph Reeves who was a Farrier and lived in Apollo Terrace and later moved to Sussex Terrace until his death in 1927. Joy (nee Smith)

    By Joy Panteli (09/06/2011)
  • My g, grandmother was a Reeves. Several Barnards had lived at Apollo Terrace in the 19th and 20th centuries one of whom, Joseph Benjamin, married Frances Jane Reeves the daughter of Joseph Reeves, a blacksmith, in 1874. My grandfather was born there, number 23 and married Nellie Clark from number 14 when he lived at number 12. The names “Joseph Benjamin” were a favourite of the Barnard family for several generations. Several years ago I went to have look at where Apollo Terrace was before the site was cleared for new houses and found that the some rubble and foundations (?) still existed at the rear of Sussex Terrace. I believe it was originally the site of a lime pit.

    By Peter Barnard (14/06/2011)
  • Message for Joy Panteli: may I ask the birth year for Joseph because he may be the older brother to my great grandfather George.
    And a message for Peter Barnard: do you have a birth year for Frances Jane Reeves as she may be the older sister to my great great grandfather.

    By Darren Reeves (02/06/2012)
  • Hello Darren Reeves, Frances Jane Reeves was born in 1855 (freebmd) and married Joseph Barnard in 1874 aged 19. In my previous message I was incorrect in the name of her father, it was in fact Edward, a blacksmith of 30 Lewes Road. There was another Frances Jane Reeves, born 1850 in Brighton (freebmd), maybe a relative.

    By Peter Barnard (05/07/2012)
  • Living in the house now! Funny to see the door on the corner 😉 Writing this from the room upstairs. Twitching the curtains if you look closely at the window!

    By Rob Shillito (15/07/2012)
  • Hi Peter, Yes I have a Frances Jane (sister of Edward J Reeves) and there Father’s name was also Edward J. I believe their mother’s name was Sarah and was all in Lewes road in the 1850-70’s

    By Darren Reeves (23/10/2012)
  • Darren, seems we have a common ancestor in Frances Jane (b1855, m1874, d.?) though I know very little about her as I was more interested in her husband and children, which I think were several. Her father was definitely Edward J. a blacksmith, as that is shown on her marriage certificate. Peter Barnard

    By Peter Barnard (30/10/2012)
  • Hi Peter, according to my records Edward’s (1857) daughter Sarah (1876) also married a Joseph Barnard but he had died by 1900, and in the 1911 census there is a William Barnard (1898) living with Edward (1857) and his wife Ruth. William is listed as their nephew all living in Liverpool St. Brighton

    By Darren Reeves (01/11/2012)
  • I’m curious if the owners of the Butcher shop had any children? Fred Hills I mean?

    By Sarah (11/09/2013)
  • My name is Katie hills, and my grandparents were from Brighton. I’m doing a family tree and looking for help. My grandparents were Patricia Hills (nee Bennett) and Peter Hills.

    By Katie Hills (04/02/2014)
  • Hi Katie.  It is regretted that your enquiry involves events much too recently for site researchers to assist you with, as it is the policy of the website not to offer information on individuals post 1911.  However, I note that the wedding of your grandparents evidently took place in Brighton on the September Quarter of 1955 (ref 5H/220). If you have not already done so, you will need to apply for a copy of their wedding certificate using the reference given. This will tell you where they lived and who their fathers were. Subscription to a family history website will aid your research considerably.  Regards, Andy

    By Andy Grant (05/02/2014)
  • Editor’s Note:
    Dear Lynda.  Sorry but we have had to delete/edit your post. We are no longer allowing the posting of requests to find third parties, as sharing information like this breaches their privacy. We recommend you try Friends Reunited website if you want to track old friends or neighbours.
    Comments Editor

    By Lynda Duhigg (23/07/2014)
  • About 70 years ago a part of a wall in Apollo Terrace collapsed into the rear gardens of Sussex Street. Can anyone tell me the date that this happened, it was either a Sunday or Monday? Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    By David Rowland (06/06/2016)
  • Hello David, the Apollo Terrace wall collapsed some sixty feet into the back gardens of Sussex Terrace, now part of John Street, where my family were living.  If you go to the Pathe News website and type in “Apollo Terrace”, they have footage following the landslide. They give a date of 1946.  However, on this website, if you type in ”Sussex Terrace”, under “Memories from the 40s and 50s”, an entry on 7.9.2008 by Pat Collins and his Mum Winnie, states it occurred “one New Year’s Eve just after WW11”. This raises the question, did it happen on 31.12.1945 and Pathe News reported on it at the beginning of 1946, or did Pathe News quote 1946 because it happened on the last day of that year? Interesting. I guess an old calendar could tell us if either of these dates fell on a Sunday or Monday. I will try and find out more. Regards

    By Suzie S (06/06/2016)
  • Hello again David, further to my last message, I can confirm 31.12.1945 was a Monday. (31.12.1946 was a Tuesday). Regards

    By Suzie S (06/06/2016)
  • Hi David. I’m sure someone else will give you a more informed reply, but have you ever seen the Pathé News report of the event? It can be found on http://www.britishpathe.com/video/news-flashes-marionettes-brighton-landslide-amroth  (look for it after the strange little story about the marionettes). The date of the film is 1946, and someone once said here on My Brighton & Hove that the landslide occurred on a New Year’s Eve shortly after the end of WW2. So could it have been overnight on New Year’s Eve 1945?

    By Janet Beal (06/06/2016)
  • Further to my previous comment, 31/12/45 was a Monday. Also, the precise date of the Pathé News report was 7/1/46. Cheers

    By Janet Beal (06/06/2016)
  • Me again, David. I should have gone straight to the James Gray Photo Collection. Mr Gray says that the landslide occurred early in the morning of the 1st January 1946.

    By Janet Beal (06/06/2016)
  • Hi Suzie. They say great minds think alike. Lol.

    By Janet Beal (06/06/2016)
  • Hi David, I can confirm that the date of 01st January 1946 is correct. Local newspapers on that day repoted “Five families, including a number of young children, living in Apollo Terrace. Brighton, had to be evacuated early to-day following a landslide which made their houses unsafe”. Regards

    By Andy Grant (07/06/2016)
  • Hi Janet,  thanks for your comment.  Regards

    By Suzie S (07/06/2016)

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.