| Date | 16 March 2012 |
|---|---|
| Source | Slough Observer |
| Reference | VP-0023 |
| Volume | Views of the Past |
| Collection | Views of the Past |
Transcript
An Isaacs family affair
Views of the past by Elias Kupfermann
MANY people will remember Isaacs, the furniture store at the eastern end of Slough High Street. The Isaacs family had been Slough residents since 1865 and were the founders of a small Jewish community in the town.
The first Isaacs family member to come to Slough was Nathaniel Samuel Isaacs, born in London around 1831.
He started his working life as a cigar maker in London and by the mid-1860s, Nathaniel’s father-in-law, Lawrence Lazarus, had started a pawn broking business in Slough High Street. In 1865, Nathaniel was taken on as its manager and later became the owner.
The pawnshop was known as ‘The Beehive‘ and stood adjacent to the old Floral Arms Public House on the corner of Alpha Street and the High Street. Adjacent to the shop was an alleyway, known as ‘Isaacs Passage‘, which gave access to the side door of the pawn shop.
Joseph Isaacs, Nathaniel’s son, went to school in Slough and in his teens was apprenticed to a pawnbroker in the north of England before working in various pawnbrokers in the country.
He later started pawnbrokers in Halesowen in Worcestershire and in 1904 returned to Slough and took over his father’s business. He expanded it by building on a piece of land between the shop and the Floral Arms, and could now sell furniture, clothing and jewellery.
The furniture business grew and by 1939 the shop employed 15 people.
During the war, new furniture was rationed and was only available to newly-married couples and people who had lost all their furniture in bombing raids. Also on sale were government surplus parachutes which were quickly snapped up by office girls and made into underwear or nightdresses.
In 1967, the Slough store was extended, and a toy department was opened. Above ground, swimming pools were sold and displayed in the warehouse yard.
Shops were opened in Maidenhead and Windsor on the sites of two major breweries.
In 1987, the Isaacs family furniture shop empire came to an end when all of its branches were closed down to concentrate on redeveloping and renting out the sites.
Images
