Family owned opticians celebrates centenary

OPTICIANS Gregory & Seeley celebrates its centenary during May and a number of events are planned around its Cranleigh branch.

Although the company was founded in London, its connections with the village go back longer than the history of its local shop.

The opticians has been owned by the same family since its launch in The Strand in 1910 and the current chairman, Peter Hall, grew up in Cranleigh.

"My grandfather started the business 100 years ago in May and it's remained in the family, which is quite an achievements," said Mr. Hall during a visit to the High Street branch this week.

"I am the third generation of my family to run the business," he said, explaining that it was his maternal grandfather, Oliver Seeley, who joined forces with a man named Gregory to open a shop in The Strand.

The business moved to Fleet Street, opposite the Daily Telegraph building, in 1925.

"My mother was involved in the business from a teenager," said Mr. Hall, who was born in 1952, the year his grandfather died.

His mother and aunt, although not opticians, took over the business - Gregory had died many years earlier - and continued to run it.

The family moved to Cranleigh in the mid 1950s, where Mr. Hall was brought up with his two brothers. He attended school in the village, before moving on to the Royal Grammar School in Guildford.

While his eldest brother, Christopher, took over the business, he went to London to study optics and then worked for an optician in Hammersmith. Eventually he was persuaded to join the family business, initially being reluctant to move from the job he was doing and only doing so after his brother placed an advert in the trade press. He started at the Fleet Street branch in the 1970s.

"It was all newspapers, pubs and a few wine bars then," said Mr. Hall, pointing out that it was very different now.

"In the early 1980s we saw a local opticians here up for sale so there was an immediate link to look at Cranleigh," said Mr. Hall, who by that time had moved out of the village. The shop was further along the High Street, but three years laters, in 1989, the company took over its current premises, which had previously been occupied by the upmarket grocery shop, Tylers.

"Part of the charm of Cranleigh is its individuality - it's not like any other High Street," said Mr Hall, who is supporting efforts to resist the influx of too many national chains into the village.

In many ways Cranleigh High Street had changed little since he was a boy in the village, he said.

"The main difference is losing the station and having the Stocklund Square development."

Mr. Hall took over as chairman from his brother, who is now no longer involved in the company, in 1996.

At one stage there were several branches, but now there are just three - Cranleigh, Windsor and the flagship shop in Fleet Street. "I am quite happy with things as they are at the moment," said Mr. Hall, paying tribute to the people working at the Cranleigh branch: "Having staff who are loyal to me and the company makes a huge difference."

Gregory & Seeley came into existence on May 14, 1910, and, although there have been a number of high-tech developments over the intervening 100 years, Mr. Hall said an optician from that time would still recognise what is happening today.

"They would be amazed by some of the equipment, though," he added.

Gregory & Seeley marketing manager, Nick Coppack, said: "We are planning some events which we hope will be appropriate to different age groups.

"We may not have been here 100 years, but we are an old established company which sits very well in the village."

 

Surrey Advertiser - 30th April, 2010

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