Growth on growth on growth

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (107) analyses the commercial profile of the area during its third period. The study draws from several directories, the latest published in 1880. In addition, the 1881 census contains important information. This shows that the largest economic sector, based on employees, consisted of domestic service. Directories, however, provide information on enterprise owners and employers.

Victorian Bournemouth (107):  overall trends

Size and growth

The directory lists almost a thousand commercial enterprises within Bournemouth and its hinterland for 1880. In 1871, the comparative number stood at just over three hundred. Thus, commercial enterprises during this decade increased at a rate above that of the population. Bournemouth contained around three quarters of the enterprises. Springbourne and Boscombe together included a fifth, the rest housed in the nascent Winton as well as the rural settlements of Greater Westover. The economy retained the structure existing in 1871. The main components consisted of tourist venues and hospitality, food and drink, textiles and footwear, building and decoration, professional. Together they accounted for almost three quarters of all enterprises listed in 1880. Sub-divisions of these overall categories experienced above average increase over this period. Thus, some of the core components of the local economy continued to flourish. Smaller sections, however, also grew well, suggesting that appetites for new products existed.

Analysis

The bedrock of Bournemouth’s economy, therefore, remained in place. Increasing numbers of visitors needed accommodation and sustenance. This required continuous property development comprised of those constructing the buildings and others seeking revenue by undertaking leases thereon. It also fostered the development of furniture companies ready to sell or rent fixtures and fittings with which to fill these properties. In turn, this drove the need for professional ancillary workers, most of whom consisted of solicitors, estate agents, and auctioneers. Traces of the site’s original appeal to convalescents remained evident within the rising numbers of physicians and chemists. The same need may also explain, in part, the growth in fruit and vegetable retailers. Surmounting this substantial foundation there flourished an appetite for personal display items: textiles and jewellery. The latter, although small in comparison to the former, nevertheless attracted several new companies. A rise in artistic enterprises also occurred. 

Victorian Bournemouth (107): changeable continuity

Continuing businesses: part 1

During Bournemouth’s early period, immigration and emigration of traders and business owners gave the economy a transient character. Later, as opportunities became more apparent, businesspeople showed a greater tendency to settle in the resort. Some also established families. This pattern of continuity appears to have remained in place during the 1870s as several directories show. Analysis, however, suggests some differences within this pattern may have occurred across the businesses. The two largest categories – accommodation venues and builders – show levels of continuity below that pertaining to all commerce as recorded by the directories. On the other hand, several categories containing fewer firms display high levels of continuity. Thus, many participants entered the two largest categories, but did not appear to stay long within them. The apparent ease of opening a lodging-house and the itinerant nature of building workers may have accounted for this.

Continuing businesses: part 2

In contrast to this pattern, the directories show an array of businesses having an apparent high level of continuity. As many as a third to a half recorded in each category consisted of businesses run by the same individuals over the decade. Professions accounted for some: physicians, architects, and solicitors. The others consisted of different types of retailers: chemists, jewellers, grocers, greengrocers. Tailoring, also, appeared to reside with a core of individuals or families which remained in place during the decade. In the case of some, a skill or craft may have kept the barriers to entry high enough to protect those in place. Work as chemists, jewellers, and tailors all involved an element of apprenticeship or training. The main skill for grocery perhaps lay in knowledge about source of supply, but otherwise the occupation seemed to require only sufficient capital for a lease and opening stock.

Victorian Bournemouth (107): hope and disappointment

Corporate hope

In parallel to the local businesses which operated as sole traders or family enterprises, corporate entities became more apparent at Bournemouth during this decade. The press carried announcements or advertising for businesses structured around shareholders and directors. Some of these saw a continuing opportunity within the town’s original core of tourism and hospitality. The Boscombe Spa Hotel, organised by a Christchurch MP, opened for business. It may have had the purpose of anchoring moves to establish a competitive resort to Bournemouth. After a long gestation, the Winter Gardens came into life as an organised corporation. As the Pier attracted an increasing arrival of ships bringing visitors to the resort, locals saw potential in the Bournemouth Steam Packet company. Other companies included the Bournemouth Town Hall and the Promenade Pier. The former featured often in the press, seeming to have extinguished the former incumbent: the Belle Vue’s assembly room. 

Trading disappointment

Media clamour accompanying the launch of such companies did not, however, guarantee success. Trouble dogged the Winter Gardens for much of the decade, at the end of which funding issues became pressing. In the second half of the 1870s, the Hampshire Advertiser published notices of liquidations, dissolutions, and even bankruptcies. On average these numbered less than ten a year but 1879 differed. During this year, the Advertiser listed over thirty. This stark contrast with the other years seems to indicate sudden economic difficulties. Most of the companies listed also appeared in one or more of the directories surviving from this decade. Thus, these enterprises had sufficient trading headway to receive enough recognition for inclusion in the guides. Builders formed the largest category, about a fifth of all listed. The others scattered across a wide range of industries. Thus, despite substantial growth, Bournemouth’s economy may have softened at the decade’s end.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (107) suggests that the size and growth of the resort’s economy lay in five areas: tourist venues and entertainment, food and drink, textiles and footwear, building and decoration, professional. By now, the town had acquired a mixed economy combining production, retailing, and services. The appearance of several corporations suggests that the economy had increased in complexity. Evidence of trading difficulties towards the end of the decade indicates local overheating or a reflection of wider liquidity problems suffered across the country.

References

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