Welsh in London - So much more than rugby

They fed and dressed Londoners and furnished their homes. The Welsh settled so widely throughout London, their presence has largely gone un-remarked but they have left their mark if you know where to look.

Welsh Dairies and Drapers

Probably the first identifiable group of Welsh people in London were the drovers who used to walk their cattle to Smithfield's market back to the 13th Century.

In the 19th Century there was a growing exodus from Wales to London as earning a living from agriculture became harder. Those who continued to farm were turning from raising cattle to running dairy herds and looked for a market for their produce - the metropolis of London beckoned. At one period in the 1830s- 40s, the most popular street vendor in London was the Welsh milk girl.  From small beginnings great things grew. Welsh dairy farmers began to establish small dairies around London. These dairies would even keep cows in the adjoining yards so that they would always have a supply of fresh milk for their customers. These Welsh family dairies became so popular and successful that eventually they were providing milk, cream and cheese to the majority of Londoners. By the 20th Century there were about 700 Welsh dairies operating across London.

 

The corner dairy selling butter and cheese, as well as milk, became almost as commonplace as the corner pub. There was no part of London that didn't have a Welsh dairy nearby. Eventually many shops began to sell more and more in the way of general groceries, got rid of the cows and got their milk from a central depot. And so the corner shop was born. From the corner shop came the general store.

 

One of the biggest of all was Jones Brothers on the Holloway Road. At one time the top three floors housed 250 of its five hundred employees, many of them Welsh. Today only one corner of the original building remains and now houses a supermarket.  A hundred years ago it sold everything from a hatpin to a grand piano. It distributed a catalogue with two thousand illustrations and delivered goods free, horse drawn of course, to any part of London. For the staff there were libraries and concerts so the men and women recently up from Wales could better themselves.

 

The stores both big and small have seen mixed fortunes, but the dairies have all but disappeared. Lloyds in Amwell Street to the south of Islington closed eight years ago. Its new owner is restoring it and, with the help of the Welsh Development Agency, is hoping to open it again as a Welsh dairy. Now only one original independent Welsh dairy, Morgan's, in Fulham survives - but for how long?

 

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