by Joy Horn // Main Photo: John Graham’s shop in its early days (courtesy of Michael Miller)
The recent sad closing of One Forty, with its stock of beautiful goods, has added to the number of vacant shops in the High Street and has highlighted the plight of retail shops in general. It is not a problem for Cranleigh alone. Many shops stand empty in Guildford High Street and people in nearby villages need to campaign and struggle to keep a last-remaining village store.
One Forty is the last of Cranleigh’s large stores to close.
It began as a shop in front of two large semi-detached family houses in the High Street next to the railway station forecourt. In 1901, Miss Annie Street was running a private school in ‘Corndale’, with four boarders (one from the Isle of Wight): she moved later to ‘Burleigh’ in Knowle Lane, where her school flourished for several decades. Harry Weller, the principal local land agent and auctioneer, lived next door in ‘Clovelly’. He was succeeded by his business partner, Harry Grinstead, who must have been a forward-thinking man, as in 1913 he had both some stables and a ‘motor garage’ here. He was still here up to the Second World War.
In the 1950s, Mrs Dorothy Eagles opened a shop called ‘Jack and Jill’ in front of ‘Clovelly’, selling wools and children’s clothes. Dorothy was one of the Nightingale family, brought up at the family furniture store (where the hospital extension now is). Her brother Don had a cycle shop and his wife Lena a china shop (High Street nos. 206, 210), so shop-keeping ran in the family.
In 1959 ‘Jack and Jill’ was taken over by John Graham, a few years later it changed to his name, using the ground floor of ‘Clovelly’ and with a shop extension built in front of it. Next, it expanded into ‘Corndale’ next door and became a department store with an extensive range of goods. Its advert in 1972 was simple and factual, but the next year it introduced pictures and humour. An assortment of old adverts is given here as a nostalgic reminder of John Graham’s development and its stock.
In November 1988 – as a prelude to Christmas – Graham’s opened a coffee shop on the first floor, in place of the former materials department. It offered morning coffee, light lunches, afternoon teas and snacks. Homemade scones, cakes, biscuits and meringues were available at prices ranging from 30 to 75 pence.
At the turn of the century the store underwent a complete transformation, and exchanged the workaday items of its stock for more luxurious ones. The name of the store was changed to ‘One Forty’. Unfortunately, with the rise of internet shopping and the Covid19 crisis, it was a difficult time for large department stores. Despite reducing the size of the shopping area by closing the shop in front of Corndale and opening a popular pavement café, One Forty was forced to close in autumn 2024. It seems we are unlikely ever again to see large department stores like this.
Thank you, One Forty and Graham family, for your contribution to Cranleigh since 1959 and for bringing beautiful items into our lives. We are already missing you.
The Cranleigh History Society meets on the second Thursday of each month at 8pm in the Band Room. The next meeting is on Thursday January 9th, when after the AGM at 7.30pm Joy Horn will speak on ‘Edwardian Cranleigh’.
