Hanging in our Fleet Street practice is an original etching which featured in the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1906. The illustration is of George Court, Strand. Over a flight of stone steps a shop sign can clearly be seen; it reads ‘Gregory Opticians, 51 Strand’. I came across this etching by chance many years ago. It was a lucky find because it was part of our history; it was at 51 Strand that Gregory & Seeley came into being. It was here, in May 1910, that Wilfred Gregory, optician, and my grandfather, Oliver Seeley, jeweller, established the optical partnership of Gregory & Seeley. Sadly, Wilfred was killed during the Great War, but Oliver survived and worked hard to rebuild the optical business following his demob. He opened the second shop in 1925 at 71 Fleet Street. Immediately opposite was the grandly impressive 'Daily Telegraph’ building, now occupied by Goldman Sachs. My mother, who helped in the shop as a teenager, remembered this building being erected and the subsequent development of Fleet Street as the centre of all the British newspapers. Even now, in our new spacious home at number 63 we are in a location that used to form a small part of the offices and printing works of The Sun.

In those far-off days we mainly saw people from the newspaper world, and lawyers from the nearby Inns of Court. Barristers remain a significant proportion of our customers, and although we still see many journalists who like the continuity of service we offer, their place has been taken for the most part by those from the international finance and legal companies that are now in the area.

Those outside central London think we must have a very transient clientele, and are often surprised that we will serve people from their twenties into their middle age and not infrequently well into their retirement; but it is hardly surprising. The majority of barristers will remain in the area for many years, and even if people move jobs within the business world they will often be in the same geographical location.

For the greater part of the last century the Strand and Fleet Street were our only outlets. Any thoughts of expansion were hampered by the ill-health of Oliver’s eldest son who finally succumbed to leaukaemia in a Swiss clinic. It was left to his two daughters to assist him during the 1930s and the war years when the gritty determination of all Londoners to make it ‘business as usual’ kept them going, although the Strand shop was a casualty during this difficult period and was closed in 1943. The introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 to a society weary but disciplined by war, and accustomed to austerity, brought affordable eye-care to everyone and gave opticians a huge increase in the amount of business within a structure of controlled costs and clinical standards.

Grandfather Oliver Seeley died in 1952 and it was left to his daughters to manage the business between them whilst raising their own families. It wasn’t until my eldest brother Christopher, joined the business in the 1960’s, and myself in the mid 70s, that there was a shift of gear and practices in Farnborough, Windsor, Twickenham and Cranleigh came and went; they were either started anew or bought and improved. Subsequent sales were opportune at various times but the three outlets of Fleet Street, Cranleigh in Surrey, and Windsor have formed the core for many years now.

Fleet Street has seen many changes over the last 100 years and our continued presence as a small independent optician in such an area has been more and more of a challenge in an increasingly competitive world. As with all businesses we have to adapt and change with the times, which is what we have done and will continue to do.

Our practice in Surrey has a particular resonance within the company because although its purchase was a matter of chance, it is at Cranleigh that I was brought up, attending the village school, before going to Guildford Grammar school some ten miles away. It has retained its sense of charm as a village and I am proud that Gregory & Seeley, situated in part of what I remember as Tyler’s the grocers, adds to this because we are not just one outlet of a multiple chain found in every high street in England; we are a small independent family optician serving the local community.

Our original Windsor practice was opened in 1979 and in 2005 we moved into larger premises at 9, High Street. Being a Grade II listed building which had been brutalised over the years, the move involved much sympathetic restoration work. The result is a relaxed space with two showrooms and comfortable consulting rooms.

Having myself run the Fleet Street practice for many years, when the opportunity came in 1991 to take responsibility for the whole company I did not hesitate. I was happy to recruit Felix Gonnier into the company in 2005. His background as IT and Operations Manager of a private hospital, and subsequently Deputy Manager in a small chain of exclusive country house hotels gave him the right understanding and experience of delivering superlative customer care and service within a small company such as Gregory & Seeley.

As I write at the beginning of our centenary year the country is experiencing the most severe economic recession I have known, so it is good opportunity to publicly acknowledge the hard work and loyalty of all employees within Gregory & Seeley through these particularly testing times. Felix and myself are looking to the future for the company and have a number of exciting changes planned for our healthy growth as we start on our next hundred years. But our whole focus remains on delivering the highest level of clinical eye-care and the best value quality products with a professional friendliness in a relaxed and modern environment. That has always been and will always be the goal for all of us at Gregory & Seeley.

Here’s to the next 100 years!

 

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