Dress Agency: Oxford Street

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• The shop, at 25 Oxford Street, first appears in the available directories in 1881, when it was the premises of W. Parker, a carrier and gilder. It was a couple of doors away from the pub, the Oxford Arms, in Oxford Street, now known as the Bat and Ball. For most of the first half of the 20th century, the Proctor family lived next door at the flint-faced no 26, a very old house, with a tiles denoting it was built in 1815. In 1881, E. Bond, ran his confectionery business from no 25, but in 1885, H. Thatcher ran it as a newsagent and general stores, until 1888, when it was termed a paper warehouse. The following year, he was a simple newsagent, but from 1890 until 1806, Henry Thatcher ran it as a newsagent and general stores. Today, it is a hairdresser’s, but William Arrend also conducted a hairdresser business from the shop from 1897 to 1932. For a short period, from 1907 to 1912, his hairdresser’s shop was over the road at 20 Oxford Street, while C F Farley ran a hairdresser’s from no 25 in 1907, but W. B. Watts, a hairdresser, had the shop from 1908 to at least 1910. In 1911 and 1912, it was empty, while William Arrend still ran his business from no 20. His real name was Wenceslas and he was 38 years old in 1911, while his wife was a decade younger. He was born in Brompton, London, and lived above the shop at no 20 with his wife, Rose, and children, William, age 4, and Grace, age 2. Wenceslous Allen Arrend married Rosina Annie Boyett in Brighton in 1905. He died in 1953, aged 80. Rose, who was from Kemptown, died in 1956, aged 72, when she was living at Roedale Road. After William Arrend retired, Mrs E. J. Edgington took over the shop at no 25, and also ran it as a hairdressers from 1934 until at least 1937. In 1938, it was the home or business of William Henry Morris. By 1947, Mrs R. Shave had moved in, and ran the shop as a dress agency, which she kept until at least 1966. In 1969-70, it was a pets’ requisites business run by Garden Care. Mrs Shave, may have been Rosina Shave, who died in Brighton in 1965, aged 86. Henry Charles Shave married Rosina Geering in 1906 in Paddington, London.

  By Renia Simmonds (09/09/2015)

• This shop was still listed in my 1964 Kellys as Mrs R Shave Dress Agency, I can just remember the shop. It certainly had not been painted outside for many years.

  By Dennis Fielder (09/09/2015)

• The old dress agency shop in Oxford Street in the early 70s became a home brewers shop where you could purchase beer or wine making kits. I remember lots of bottles and corks. This was a craze that was around in the 70s.

  By Ken Mcneill (10/09/2015)