Fore Street Textile Warehouse | WW2 Photos

How Fore Street Textile Warehouse Survived WW2. Fore Street Textile Warehouse was one of the oldest and largest textile businesses in London. Founded in 1799, it occupied a vast site that extended from Fore Street to City Greenyard, covering nearly an acre of ground. It supplied fabrics and garments to retailers and wholesalers across the country and abroad.

Textile Warehouse – Fore Street London

Fore Street Textile Warehouse
Fore Street Textile Warehouse

However, during WW2, Fore Street Textile Warehouse faced a series of challenges that threatened its survival. The war brought material shortages, rationing, bombing raids and firestorms that devastated many parts of London.

The Utility Scheme

One of the first impacts of WW2 on Fore Street Textile Warehouse was the introduction of the Utility Scheme in 1941. This was a government initiative that aimed to ensure fair distribution and quality control of consumer goods during wartime austerity.

The Utility Scheme regulated the design, production and price of textiles and clothing. It imposed strict limits on fabric types, colours, patterns and sizes. It also required manufacturers to use a special mark on their products to indicate compliance with the scheme.

Fore Street Textile Warehouse had to adapt to these new rules and produce fabrics that met the Utility standards. One of its designers was Enid Marx, who created abstract geometric patterns with small-scale repeating motifs such as Spot and Stripe, Honeycomb, Ring and Chevron.

These designs were simple but stylish, suitable for both furnishing and clothing fabrics. They were also economical to produce and easy to match with other items. However, Marx was not happy with some of the colour choices imposed by the scheme, especially rust which she considered “most deplorable”.

The Blitz

Another major challenge for Fore Street Textile Warehouse was surviving the Blitz – a series of intense bombing raids by Nazi Germany that targeted London from 1940 to 1941.

The Blitz caused widespread damage and destruction across London’s industrial areas, commercial centres and residential districts. Many buildings were hit by high-explosive bombs or incendiary devices that ignited fires.

Fore Street Textile Warehouse
Fore Street Textile Warehouse

Fore Street Textile Warehouse was located in one of the most vulnerable areas – the City of London – which suffered heavy attacks during the Blitz. On December 29th-30th 1940, one of the worst nights of bombing occurred when more than 1000 fires broke out across London.

Fore Street Textile Warehouse was among those buildings that caught fire that night. The fire-watchers on duty were powerless against Hitler’s rain of fire-bombs as they ran out of water supply. The warehouse burned down completely leaving only cellar walls and parts of four pillars along Fore Street front.

The Festival Of Britain: How Fore Street Textile Warehouse Showcased Atomic Patterns

If you are interested in the history of British textiles and design, you may have heard of Fore Street Textile Warehouse. This company was founded in 1929 by Arthur and Edith Silverman, who imported fabrics from all over the world and sold them to fashion houses, theatres and interior decorators. They also had a reputation for supporting young and emerging designers, such as Lucienne Day and Jacqueline Groag.

However, you may not know that Fore Street Textile Warehouse played a significant role in one of the most memorable events of post-war Britain: the Festival Of Britain. In this blog post, we will explore how this company contributed to this national celebration with its unique and innovative fabrics based on atomic patterns.

The Festival Of Britain was a summer-long exhibition that took place in 1951 across various venues in London and other cities. It aimed to showcase British science, technology, art and design after the devastation of World War II. It also wanted to inspire the public with a vision of a better future for Britain and the world.

One of the themes of the Festival Of Britain was atomic energy and its potential applications for peaceful purposes. A group of manufacturers formed the Festival Pattern Group to create designs based on crystal structures of different substances. They used X-ray crystallography – a technique that reveals the arrangement of atoms within a crystal – to generate intricate patterns for wallpapers, fabrics, ceramics and other products.

Fore Street Textile Warehouse joined this group and produced fabrics using patterns derived from substances such as boric acid, insulin, aluminium hydroxide, haemoglobin and afwillite. These fabrics were modern, scientific and colourful, reflecting a new optimism and enthusiasm for innovation.

These fabrics were displayed at various locations during the Festival Of Britain, such as the Dome of Discovery – a large geodesic structure that housed exhibits on science and technology – and the Regatta Restaurant – a floating pavilion that served food from different regions of Britain. They also attracted attention from international buyers and media outlets.

Fore Street Textile Warehouse continued to produce atomic fabrics until 1953 when it moved back to its original premises in Fore Street. The company closed down in 1978 due to financial difficulties. However, its legacy lives on through its remarkable fabrics that captured the spirit of an era.

Conclusion

In Fore Street one of the largest wholesale textile warehouses in the City went up in flames between December 29th / 30th, 1940. Fire-watchers on duty were powerless against Hitler’s rain of fire-bombs, for that grim night the water supply ran out.

Founded in 1799, Fore Street warehouse had grown till it extended east to Elephant Yard, west of Milton Street and in-depth to City Greenyard. It covered nearly an acre of ground. Only cellar walls and parts of four pillars along the Fore Street front remained. The Company sought temporary premises in new Bond Street.

Of City Greenyard, where, until WW2 began, the Lord Mayor’s coach and the horses of the City of London Police were stabled, nothing is left except the house in which Mr. George Grainger, the Lord Mayor’s famous coachman, used to live.

Images from East London showing the destruction from German bombs during World War Two. Images scanned from a genuine copy of The London Evening news magazine, handed down to me from my grandfather.

2 thoughts on “Fore Street Textile Warehouse | WW2 Photos”

  1. My Gt Grandmother owned an eatery in Fore Street, nr Barbican….the name attached Mehew…and my grandmother, Florence Edith Mehew, maiden name Langley.was christened in St. SEPULCHER, Holborn.

    Reply
  2. My mother worked in the Fore Street Warehouse ? In the 1920’s. I have a photograph which may or may not have been taken inside.

    Reply

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