Romer Parrish Toy Shop

The History

The Parrish family owned a department store in Newcastle before Romer Parrish started his own business in Middlesbrough, first as a mobile lending library and then expanding to open his shop in 1949. Initially the shop started as a newsagent and then expanded to selling toys.

Many people have shared memories of visiting the Romer Parrish toy shop on Linthorpe Road and the dolls’ hospital on Newport Road, including stories of how the shop looked in the 1950s.

The exhibit at Beamish tells the history of toy shops and shows the development of new materials and toys in the 1950s, in particular the introduction of plastic toys and the wider variety of toys available as Britain moved out of post-war austerity. The North East had the highest number of toy shops outside London and was where manufacturers would test new toys before their official launch at toy fairs across the country.

Another key story is the dolls’ hospital element of the toy shop; lots of visitors and community members remember bringing their dolls to be repaired.

Beamish staff and volunteers visited community groups across Middlesbrough, taking objects from the museum’s collection, including Muffin the Mule, Dinky cars, Pelham Puppets, dolls, Meccano and Tiddlywinks. These have sparked lots of conversations with people who remember them from their own childhood, or seeing toys on the packed shelves of Romer Parrish’s. These memories have informed the development of our own toy shop.

We held a community celebration in November 2016 at the Community Hub at Newport Settlement, in Middlesbrough, to celebrate the shop being built at the museum. The event featured 1950s objects, including toys, from Beamish’s collection, plus images of Middlesbrough past, and children’s activities.

Beamish has also been contacted by former employees of Romer Parrish’s from the 1950s, whose memories, ranging from staff uniforms to the types of toys on sale, were invaluable in the creation of our toy shop.

The former site of Romer Parrish’s is now part of Recovery Connections, a peer-led substance abuse recovery organisation based in Middlesbrough. The Remaking Beamish Team has worked with people recovering from addiction to explore the history of the toy shop in its original setting.

Among the other groups the museum has worked with are Nunthorpe Brownies, Streets Ahead Friendship Group, Age UK Teesside Social Memories, Cleveland Miniaturists, Age UK Teesside Craft Club, Acklam Memory Lane, Acklam Crafters, Acklam Knit and Natter, Newport Ladies, Middlesbrough Parkinson’s Support Group, Ageing Better Middlesbrough, Central Library Lego Club and Central Library Dementia Café.