A Short History

It all began with Henry Williams. The youngest of 7 siblings, Henry worked on his Father Charles’ farm at Court Farm, West Woodlands, from a young age, before taking it over himself when he was old enough. This was a mixed farm, producing not only meat, but other products too, from eggs to even butter. In 1922, Henry opened his first shop to sell his produce direct from the farm at 8 Baker Street, Frome, where it remains to this day.

In those early days, they would make and sell direct from the farm, using a pony and trap to deliver produce from the farm to the shop. This was a couple of decades before supermarkets opened, so the local butcher was a staple in the community and often busy - especially on Saturdays! A delivery service in the form of boys on their bike was also used; in fact, on busy Saturday evenings, up to 5 of these delivery boys would rush around the town to make their deliveries.

Being a farmer would have been a busy life for Henry, especially once he also had his shop. Luckily, though, his 7 children could help out; he had three sons, Cecil, Gilbert and Geoffrey, and four daughters, Olive, Mildred, Philice and Joyce. Geoffrey was the Father of Nigel, who runs the shop today.

Like his father before him, from a young age, Geoffrey was brought into the family business. His duties included going out on Saturday evenings, where the town would be filled as shopkeepers paraded the streets in their finest clothes, with a basket of goods to show potential customers. His older brother Cecil, Nigel’s uncle, took over the farm, whilst Gilbert opened a further shop in Catherine Street, Frome in 1948. Unfortunately, Henry passed away the same year.

In 1953 Gilbert opened a further shop in Bath Street, and began running this new shop as well as the one in Catherine Street as a separate Business. Geoffrey took over our Baker Street store, until he passed away age 42 in 1970 when Nigel was just 12. Nigel’s Mum Marion and his Uncle Ed then took over, with Nigel and his sister Jennifer helping out when they could.

Over time, Nigel assumed the running of the business from Ed and his Mother. The shop continued to go from strength to strength, in 2007 winning the Small Shop Award from the Local Taste Awards and of course, we cannot forget Nigel’s Frome Person of the Year award in 2012.

More recently, the shop has had to overcome one of its biggest challenges yet; on 14th February 2020, tragedy struck when an arson attack on a car outside the building sent a fireball through the premises. The resulting damage was worth over £100k, completely destroying the front of the shop. Luckily, nobody was injured as a result, though for Nigel this has been devastating.

Since the fire, the shop has been closed and undergoing major works to get it back up and running. Our customers have been patiently waiting all this time and have provided some much-needed support for the family. Now back open, we can finally start a new chapter for H.E Williams & Son.