Wider footprint. More businesses, choice, bankruptcies.

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (55) provides an overview of developments in the town’s business structure between 1856 and 1871. It explores the size of its commercial sector and its component parts. Inferences about the business climate but also the nature of consumer demand emerge. Significant changes appear to have occurred in the last part of this period.

Victorian Bournemouth (55): 1856-1865

Overview

A directory listed 54 businesses present in Bournemouth during the penultimate year of its early period (1855). This number grew to 120 within four years but stayed at this level according to a directory for 1865. This rate of increase parallels in rough terms the upward lift in population levels at the same time. Not all categories of businesses experienced the same increase rates. The number of hotels and pubs remained close to 1851 levels, perhaps a reflection of the local temperance movement. The numbers of clothing and haberdashery shops also remained flat. Foodstuffs’ suppliers did increase in similar terms to the population. More grocery shops, butchers and fishmongers opened for business in Bournemouth. The resort’s early focus on convalescence appears to have continued as ‘health’ suppliers increased. Bournemouth’s general growth in its built environment provided opportunities for more building firms. Hence, growth at the period’s beginning perhaps slowed.

Lodging-house and apartments

Commercial development appeared to have occurred in this sector to an enormous extent. The 1855 directory listed nine such businesses, but by 1859 the number had increased to 38. This suggests that the number of visitors Bournemouth received during the late 1850s experienced significant growth. Westover Villas, built large enough to house single families and their servants, featured several lodging-house keepers in 1861. In addition, Richmond Terrace, another part of the town’s original development, also had several lodging-houses by 1861. A different type of visitor had started coming to the resort, the buildings perhaps modified for this purpose. Purpose-built lodging-houses seem now to have appeared. The apparent huge increase in capacity indicates that entrepreneurs – investors and developers – saw large opportunities by taking leases and financing construction. The flurry of bankruptcies occurring in the late 1860s, however, suggests that too many people jumped in too late. 

Victorian Bournemouth (55): 1866-1871

Overview

By 1871, the area’s settled footprint had advanced to include Winton, Moordown, Springbourne, and, further east, Boscombe and Pokesdown. Building continued in the resort as well. The directory for this year listed 254 businesses here, about double the level only six years earlier. Unlike the previous period, commercial development appears to have occurred across most business categories. Building firms continued, once again doubling to over twenty. More grocers, butchers, and fishmongers appeared. Temperance supporters may have lost influence, since the number of shops selling wines, spirits, and beer grew. Hotels and pubs tripled in number. In complete contrast, however, the number of lodging-houses remained similar. Hence, this category together with hotels dropped from around a third of all businesses in 1865 to about a sixth within six years. The apparent boom in visits may have levelled while the economy became more varied, suggesting widening types of expenditure occurred.

Bankruptcies

Changes in legislation over the century had reduced the criminal nature of bankruptcy. Legislation passed in 1869 may have encouraged Bournemouth’s sudden flurry of bankruptcies around then. Deeper analysis of this event will show that most of the bankrupts had operated in the building business. Some bankruptcies had involved professional builders who had experienced sudden and unforeseen cash-flow restrictions. Others occurred when individuals outside this category became involved in property investment. As mentioned earlier, the huge increase in lodging-houses that had occurred around the beginning of the decade may have given the impression of easy returns. Finance appeared somewhat easy to obtain, both from institutions and individuals, but perhaps in response to bank squeezes, they felt it necessary to call in loans they may have thought doubtful. Hence, men, whose main business consisted of grocery or carriage building, found that dabbling in real estate proved more expensive than envisaged.

Victorian Bournemouth (55): greater sophistication: more choice

Wider discretionary spending

Commercial development during the latter part of Bournemouth’s second period appears to have reflected consumer interest in discretionary items, in particular adornment. By 1871, the number of clothing and haberdashery businesses had quadrupled compared to six years earlier. More jewellers, more watchmakers opened for business. The number of fancy shops increased. Greater opportunities for furniture shops occurred. More hairdressers arrived as did confectioners. This pattern of change may reflect the different types of visitor, hypothesised earlier, but it also suggests that residential demand had altered. The residential base, therefore, would have more wealth in it than before. In part, this may reflect enrichment amongst successful traders, but it perhaps also shows that affluent people came to live rather than just visit. This pattern whereby Bournemouth’s retail offering had become more varied or more fragmented had occurred in other watering places which had developed much earlier, for example, Brighton and Bath. 

Haberdashery and apparel suppliers

According to the Post Office directory 1864-1865, the haberdashery and apparel category for Bath and neighbourhood separated into seventeen sub-divisions. People specialised in lace, linen, or silk. Some just cleaned lace. Others cleaned gloves but did not supply them. Headwear separated into hatters, milliners, and straw-bonnet makers. In other words, the complexity of demand signified a developed preference for choice amongst residents and visitors to this watering-place. This category during Bournemouth’s early period divided into drapers and tailors. By 1871, however, the directory listed 25 businesses operating in this category, about the same number of all suppliers for the town in 1849. Although not as fragmented as Bath, this category in 1871 consisted of nine sub-divisions. Just under half still consisted of drapers and tailors, but the rest included milliners, a hosier-glover, a hatter, outfitters, and silk mercers. Thus, Bournemouth had progressed but had yet to reach Bath’s consumerist level.

Victorian Bournemouth (55): takeaway

Bournemouth’s economy appeared to increase by a significant amount during this period, the number and complexity of its retail offering suggesting similar levels of sophistication to longer-established watering places. The economy may also have had sufficient dynamism for it to pass through a possible boom-bust phase.

References

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Entry point for trade directories found here.