The Spread Eagle, Epsom

and the Centenary of Lester Bowden

The text on this page has been selected from the Special Centenary newspaper produced by Lester Bowden to mark their centenary in 1998. The front cover was a reproduction of the Epsom Journal of Tuesday April 5 1898, which consisted entirely of small advertisements, as was the custom then and for fifty years afterwards. We are most grateful to Lester Bowden for permission to reproduce this text.

This page is sponsored by

Lester Bowden

Epsom's own country house department store

The Old Spread Eagle, High Street, Epsom, KT19 8DN
Tel: 01 372 742 411 . . . Fax: 01 372 742 416

AN EYRIE HOME

The imposing Old Spread Eagle site on the corner of High Street and Ashley Road has fulfilled Richard Bowden's ambition to develop a country house department store, providing elegant but practical surroundings for discerning customers to shop in comfort. It is also an important landmark that artists, writers and photographers have been including in records of Epsom since the seventeenth century, a building of character and charm that has witnessed the passing of time and more than three centuries of the town's history.

The basic character of the building has remained essentially unaltered since about the year 1680 when it is thought Isaac Hawkins, a grocer from London, built it. The next mention of the building is in a record showing that it was owned between 1710 and 1717 by Elizabeth and Henry North who made it a going concern as the Black Spread Eagle Tavern.

By the early nineteenth century The Old Spread Eagle was prominent among the inns of Epsom, with horse coaches arriving and departing from it daily for London. On Derby Day the taproom was the centre of activities for the racing fraternity and the last staging post for racegoers travelling from the Elephant and Castle via The Swan at Clapham and The Cock at Sutton, or for those enjoying the pleasant, but longer, journey through Wimbledon Common and Worcester Park. Travellers could be sure of finding the

latest odds at The Old Spread Eagle and a copy of Dorling's correct card, an innovation which first appeared in time for the 1827 Derby. It was an entirely unofficial enterprise, but at that period was the only race-card available.

The arrival of the railway to Epsom in 1848 can only have enhanced the inn's reputation, which at this point in its history is described as a family and commercial hotel with ample accommodation, a spacious assembly room for meetings and occupying a good central position in the town.

In an 1860 advertisement the then proprietor, Cornelius Hunt, describes the hotel as being both a 'posting house' and 'near the railway'. One of The Spread Eagle's most famous visitors, the artist Aubrey Beardsley, wrote in glowing terms of the inn and Epsom in a series of letters written to Leonard Smithers during July and August 1896, describing 'Two palatial rooms and the additional comfort of being able to feed in a pretty little restaurantish dining room........The air is lovely and view from my sitting room quite sweet'.

After standing empty for some considerable time in the early 1990s, Lester Bowden took over the premises in 1994 - the ideal location for one of the town's oldest and most respected family firms - and a new chapter began in the history of one of Epsom's oldest and most famous buildings.

THE TAILORING BOWDEN BOYS

Initially door to door by horse and cart and then from his own shop, Arthur Bowden established the tailoring business that today celebrates 100 years.

It was a very different town in 1898. Epsom had a chip on its shoulder - many people still thought of the town as a sleepy hollow. But all that was about to change. Beyond the station new roads and houses were being built to accommmodate staff from the huge asylums being built at Horton.

In to this hustle and bustle came Arthur, a journeyman tailor, whose genial personality, together with an eye for style and excellent craftmanship immediately found favour with the owners of the stables, country houses and livery yards of Epsom and the surrounding countryside.

By the turn of the century he had his own shop in Grand Parade and it was over the shop in 1907 that Lester was born. The youngster spent his early years with Arthur, visiting many of the local fine houses and holding the horse while his father measured and fitted the uniforms and liveries that were Bowden's main trade at the time.

These visits, together with many hours spent in the basement workshops of the shop, talking and passing time with tailors and seamstresses, gave Lester a deep understanding and affection for the business that he used to good effect to keep the business afloat during the recession of the late 1920s.

With windows stacked high with empty boxes to create an illusion of stability and new credit terms negotiated with suppliers, Lester set about rebuilding the business from 109 High Street, the premises which Lester Bowden occupied for 70 years. Indeed, the business quietly developed from the small tailor's shop that Lester took over in 1927 to quite a substantial premises, encompassing large equestrian, school outfitting, livery, tailoring, hosiery, childrens clothing and shoe departments.

Throughout this period of growth Lester was true to his father's craft and in the basement workshops the cloth cutters, tailors and sewing hands still made to measure the liveries and uniforms for staff of all the surrounding estates, from gamekeepers to footmen, and in later years made to measure suits.

During the war, Lester held a distinguished service record in the Queen's Own Regiment, while his family continued to run the business for him. After the war the shop expanded rapidly, taking over the dentist surgery above the baby shop next door and, in the mid-sixties, the United Dairies premises. When the store finally acquired an adjacent shoe shop in 1979 it provided the family with an imposing corner-to-corner site.

But then two events took place which were to fundamentally change the very traditional world of Lester Bowden. In February 1980 Lester died and shortly afterwards Epsom and Ewell Borough Council made the shock decision to place a 90 per cent compulsory purchase order on Lester Bowden to make way for the Ashley Centre.

The family had two options - take the money and run or protect the future of the business by committing Bowden's to a massive ?750,000 rebuilding programme. Unwilling to let a business built up by three generations of Bowdens simply disappear overnight Lester's sons, Richard and Warwick, decided to redevelop.

It was a truly daunting task. The brothers had just one year to re-build their premises behind the listed buildings of 109-113 High Street and vacate 105 and 107, which was to become a tower type development spanning the main entrance to the Ashley Centre. Completing the work on schedule (October 1981) the builders began on Phase Two - a further 6,000 sq ft of space leased from Ashley Avenue Development and a new shop window that stretched 50 yards down the new Mall and into the High Street.

The work was finally completed in May 1984. But 10 years later the Bowden boys were on the move again.

Faced with the council's compulsory purchase order in 1980 the family had looked seriously at the Old Spread Eagle coaching inn as a possible site for their new store. But the property boom of the 80's put the building out of their reach. By the 1990s the bubble had burst and the Spread Eagle stood vacant. The family jumped at the chance and the rest, as they say, is history.

As for the future, Lester Bowden will continue to concentrate on its personal service, interpreting the needs of the market and providing its customers with choice, style and value that only a specialist store can offer.

A COLOURFUL TRADITION

The world of horse racing would literally be a duller place if it weren't for Lester Bowden.

Since the turn of the century the firm has been producing the colourful racing silks that the jockeys wear to indicate who owns the horse they are riding.

The brightly coloured patterns act as a unique signature, a personal statement that sets every racehorse owner apart. According to one of Britain's most talented young trainers choosing the right racing silks is just as important to a new owner as buying a horse, training it and entering it for its first race.

At his stables, just yards from the famous Epsom racecourse, Simon Dow explained how important the silks - consisting of a jacket, breeches and a cap - are to the owners and, on a practical level, to the race stewards and media commentators who can recognise the horses by the jockeys' colours.

"I currently have 70 to 80 horses on my books which means I have almost as many sets of colours," explained Simon, who orders most of his silks from Lester Bowden.

"Obviously with a racecourse that is home to one of the world's greatest racing classics on your doorstep it is not surprising that Lester Bowden supplies many of the Epsom based trainers and riders with riding equipment. With silks it's a different matter. To the Bowdens it is a family tradition, an art form as unique as the silks they produce."

Made in pure silk, jockey nylon, slipper satin or knitted National Hunt jersey, many of Lester Bowden's racing colours have found their way into winning enclosures all over the world. Customers include Guy Harwood, Michael Haynes, John Sutcliffe, Brian Swift, Arthur Pitt and Geoff Lewis, who is best remembered for his memorable win on Mill Reef in the 1971 Derby. Josh Gifford is another trainer who uses the store which provided the colours for Bob Champion when he won the Grand National on Aldaniti in 1981.

But neither trainers like Simon Dow, the owners or Lester Bowden, can design a set of colours - except for the breeches which are normally white. The whole process is closely controlled by Weatherby's, which oversees racing in this country, from certifying breeding and administering races to registering everything from names and licenses to owners and colours.

Weatherby's started their colours ledgers in 1780, but it was not until 107 years later that registration become compulsory. Then in 1971 the Jockey Club standardised patterns and colourings.

There are 22 jacket designs including quarters, checks and single diamonds, eight for sleeves and seven for caps, which can appear in 18 basic colourings and 159 tints - giving more than three million permutations. At present there are more than 12,000 colours filed at Weatherby's Wellingborough headquarters in Northamptonshire.

"An owner's colours are very personal and more often than not the whole family is involved in choosing them," added Simon Dow, who took a break from training on the Downs to show us some of the colours.

"My job is to match the horses that I buy with the right owner, look after those horses and train them to race on behalf of their owner. But you'll often find that it's the colours that the owners look to as a source of superstition and good luck when it comes to winning or losing."

Providing the professional horse racing world with a dash of colour is just one of many products and services offered by Lester Bowden's specialist riding department. From top jockeys to pony club enthusiasts and weekend pleasure riders the department stocks one of the largest ranges of equipment for men, women and children in the South of England.

1898 AND ALL THAT

Journeyman tailor Arthur Bowden arrives in Epsom as:

• JEDDAH (By Janissary out of Pilgrimage) is the first 100-1 outsider to win the Derby. Owned by Mr J.W. Larnach , ridden by Otto Madden and trained by Richard March the horse won the prestigious race by three quarters of a length.
• WILLIAM GLADSTONE, four times Prime Minister as Leader of the Liberal Party, dies of cancer and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
• WAR OF THE WORLDS by sci-fi author and political philosopher H.G. WELLS is published.
• The TREATY OF PARIS is signed to end the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
• American aviator AMELIA EARHART, noted for her flights across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and her attempt to fly around the world, is born.
• Prusso-German statesman OTTO VON BISMARCK, architect and first Chancellor of the German Empire, dies.
• HARRY VARDON won the second of his six British Open golf championships.
• The FIRST TAPE RECORDER, called a telegraphone, was invented by the Danish electrical engineer VALDEMAR POULSEN, who used a magnetised steel tape to carry messages.

Nottingham Forest F.C. beat Derby County F.C. 3 - 1 to win the F.A. Cup Final.

The top London store Harrods draws crowds when it introduces a moving staircase

Zepplin builds his first airship

The Palace Gardens at Kew are opened to the public

Marconi establishes wireless communications between Bournmouth and the Isle of Wight

Renault unveils its first motor car in Paris.

TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE

"The Russian driver rubbed his eyes with tiredness. His arduous journey from Moscow was at an end. The lights of the towns had dazzled him but now in the countryside the darkness closed in on him. It was difficult to see or understand the enthusiastic English couple as the stallions were led from the lorry and into nearby stables. In their place boxes of tartan rugs were carefully and quietly loaded on to the lorry. He smiled. He'd been told there was very little food in England but tucked under his seat was a bag of potatoes. At least he would not go hungry on his first trip outside Russia."

No this is not an extract from an Alistair MacLean novel . It merely describes the early days of The Russian Horse Society which like so many true stories is far more fascinating that any fiction writer could have ever dreamt up.

In December 1989 Ron and Reggie Lansley left their country house hotel in Somerset for a hunting holiday on the Steppes of southern Russia. They returned in awe of the Russian horses they had ridden and decided to buy four - two for themselves and two others to sell. But Ron reckoned without the magical allure of the horses he discovered. He returned to England having bought 38.

Selling their country house hotel the couple moved to Priam Lodge Stables in Epsom and set up The Russian Horse Society - importing top quality stallions from Russia to sell as showjumpers, competition dressage horses and general purpose horses. In the early 1990s many of the horses were Arab race horses, imported to race as amateurs, and in 1992 the Lansley's sold the most expensive Arab racehorse in history.

"In the early days it was actually very easy to get the horses from Russia but the transport drivers were initially very nervous about coming to England because they had been told it was a very poor country and that there would be no food.," explained Reggie. "They would literally stuff bags of potatoes under their seat to boil.

"Payment for the horses was not always money. Goods were far more valuable and we often used Lester Bowden to source what would be sent back on the transporter, such as riding equipment, suits and of course the tartan blankets which were manufactured to Russian specifications to be used instead of duvets on Russian beds."

During their frequent visits to buy horses from the Russian stud farms - often home to up to 1,000 horses - the Lansley's identified a complete lack of veterinary care, equipment or medicines and hatched a new project - EuroVet International. Again with Lester Bowden's assistance to supply drugs and equipment the couple opened a horse hospital and small animal clinic in Moscow and set-up an exchange scheme involving Russian and British vets.

"The Russians were probably 50 years behind the rest of Europe in terms of veterinary medicine and we set about helping them catch up," explained Reggie. "Russian vets now come here to learn and British vets go to Russia to teach.

"There was such a demand for veterinary drugs, riding equipment and clothing that it seemed natural to us to open a retail showroom, which we did just 4km from Red Square. I know Richard Bowden is very proud of the fact that many of our design, layout and

buying decisions have been heavily influenced by the Lester Bowden shop.

"The shop is staffed and managed by Russians but Ron goes out for a few days at least twice a month. It's very hard work running a business in Russia from Epsom and there certainly isn't enough room in this article or indeed this centenary paper to talk about the bureacracy and corruption that surrounds our every move."

The one thing that does keep the couple sane is their love of horses which continues to thrive through The Russian Horse Society - now importing between 150 and 200 horses a year. Their Priam Lodge Stables bustles with activity as horses are brought in now on the Lansley's own transport lorries - and goods for the Moscow shop are sent back.

Indeed, so unique is their experience and understanding of Russian horses that The Russian Horse Society was requested to oversee getting two horses back to the UK and France - gifts from Turkenstein to the then Prime Minister John Major and President Mitterand.

Back in Epsom Reggie and Ron have time to reflect on their Russian adventures. But they do acknowledge Lester Bowden, Epsom's 'jewel in the crown', and the help that Richard Bowden gave in sourcing merchandise for their fledgling company.

"I am very aware of the extraordinary lengths that Lester Bowden must havgone to to fulfill what at the time must have seemed completely bizarre requests," said Ron. "I am equally aware that the service they gave us was no more or no less than they give everybody who shops there. Epsom is very lucky to have such a shop."

The Russian Horse Society and EuroVet International can be contacted on Epsom (01372) 722080.

EPSOM - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Known around the world for the Derby horse race, the therapeutic qualities of water from the famous Wells and of course The Spread Eagle, the Borough of Epsom & Ewell is rich in history.

As early as 70 AD a Roman Road, Stane Street, changed direction at Ewell and by 150 AD this junction had become the largest village in Surrey. The Old English word 'Aewiell' means spring at the head of a river. By 1618 markets were being held for livestock and produce and the community became affluent. The River Hogsmill provided a great location for paper mills, a brewery and gunpowder mills, generating wealth and attracting some of the very first commuters when the railway arrived in 1847. Today Ewell is the smaller of the two communities. After two disastrous explosions in the late 1800s the gunpowder mills finally closed and the village came to rely more and more on its urban neighbour Epsom for services and civic facilities until the two

communities were united in 1933.

Ebbi's hamlet, recorded in the Domesday Book as Ebbesham, was named after a Saxon landowner in the ninth or tenth century AD and gradually became known as Epsom.

However, it was not until the 1600s that awareness of the town began to increase outside the borough. The Well on Epsom Common attracted visitors from far and wide, keen to take advantage of the famous Epsom Salts and reputed healing qualities of the water. Local entrepreneurs began to cater for visitors to the spa and the town flourished with bookshops, gambling houses and tailors all keen to exploit the health conscious tourists.

As fashions changed visitors to the spa diminished. By the 1700s locals once again earned their living from agriculture and cattle grazed in the High Street. Prosperity returned with the stagecoach as 15 different services stopped in Epsom, using The Albion, Kings Head and of course The Spread Eagle to feed and water weary travellers.

But it is the Derby, arguably the most famous horse race in the world, on which much of Epsom's rich heritage is based. The Epsom Derby has been run for 200 years, although the racing tradition on the Downs goes back much further. A film of the Derby in 1895, recently restored by the British Film Institute, was discovered to be the oldest moving film in the UK.

Today Epsom & Ewell is one of 11 districts and boroughs in Surrey with a population of approximately 70,000. It lies 17 miles south west of Central London - much of which can be seen from the famous racecourse which sits high above the town. Despite its close proximity to London, approximately 50% of the borough is open space, either private or public land, with 42% being protected green belt.

Epsom is twinned with Chantilly in France, another town with a strong racing heritage.

A THOROUGHBRED AMONGST RACECOURSES

When races were first held on Epsom Downs is impossible to say, but in 1648, during the Civil War, the Earl of Clarendon recorded that a party of Royalists met on the Downs 'under the pretence of a horse race, intending to cause a diversion on the king's behalf'.

This certainly suggests that race meetings were not an unusual feature then, although the first recorded race meeting on the Downs took place on March 7th 1661 and King Charles II himself was present.

Regular spring and summer meetings were established by 1730, but the real turning point for Epsom came in 1773 when the 12th Earl of Derby, then aged twenty-one, acquired a country house on the outskirts of Epsom called The Oaks. The Earl invariably actedas a steward at the race meetings and he and his friends were pioneers of the 'new thinking' of racing horses younger and over shorter distances than the usual two miles plus.

In 1779, a race for three year old fillies, named The Oaks, was created (and appropriately won by Lord Derby's entry, Bridget). The following year the meeting included another race, for colts and fillies over one mile, and the Derby was born - the distance was changed to one and a half miles in 1784 and has remained so ever since.

By 1830 the Derby had reached its classic status. Helped by betting and improved travel facilities, particularly the railway, the race was the number one attraction of the turf's calendar. Crowds thronged to the Downs to see the races and enjoy the other attractions which included the famous Barnum's show.

Conditions for spectators were fairly primitive until the first permanent stand was erected in 1830 by a shady speculator called Charles Bluck. He was subsequently bought out by a group who formed themselves into the Epsom Grandstand Association.

The group started off by running the stand and ended up controlling and managing the racing as well. In 1890 the association obtained a lease on the whole Downs including the course.

A number of involved land deals affecting the Downs were carried out and in 1927 a new grandstand was completed at a cost of a quarter of a million pounds. Efforts over the next decade were directed at trying to solve the complex problems of administering the Downs and its racing. The Downs were still designated as common land and technically there was no way of denying the public access to the racecourse even during meetings.

Lengthy deliberations were held between all parties concerned and the Epsom and Walton Downs Regulation Act of 1936 was passed. A new group, the Epsom and Walton Downs Conservators, was set up to administer the Downs and look after the interests of the public and the Grandstand Association.

Until 1992 excited crowds had thronged to Epsom Downs in early June for more than two centuries to experience the most famous horse race in the world.

But since the opening of the Queen's Stand in 1992 the Derby is not the only reason that people flock to the Downs. Conferences, business meetings, product launches, training courses, exhibitions, dinner dances, weddings and wedding receptions are now everyday happenings.

Its superb location, just a few minutes drive from the M25 and M23 motorways and only half an hour from Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, made the racecourse a natural choice for the site of one of Europe's most exciting and versatile conference and banqueting venues.

What could be more original than the Royal Box in which to take your wedding vows - indeed more than 75 ceremonies have taken place there since 1995, while well over 300 couples have chosen the Queen's Stand for their receptions.

For local businesses there are many ways the racecourse's versatile facilities can be used. The conference and meeting rooms can accommodate 200 to 300 delegates while the purpose built 60 seater cinema comes complete with audio visual equipment. The Training School in the Grandstand offers facilities to accommodate personal PC's at each of 60 workstations with individual telephone points - making it ideal for computer training and research agencies.

With its panoramic views and regal setting the racecourse has also become a popular choice for filming and photoshoots. In the James Bond movie 'Goldeneye' the Queen's Stand was transformed into St Petersburg Airport, while Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, She and Marie Claire have used it as a stunning backdrop for various fashion shoots.