Feature
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | COUNTY DURHAM | | |
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Capturing a time of transition for a real family business
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| FILMING FUN: the BBC4 documentary film crew and David Milner at the Leyburn store's spring charity fashion show |
THE unique relationship between Milner's of Leyburn
and dales folk, along with
the trauma of handing
over to the next generation, has
been captured in great detail by
three BBC4 TV crews.
David Milner was 65 on Wednesday
and few retirements can have
been documented so carefully.
For the past few months, the TV
crews, led by producer Richard
Macer, have been filming almost
every detail of the handover from
Mr Milner to his daughter, Leonie,
and her husband, Keith Garrard.
Mr Macer explained that, for a
mini-series about the few remaining
independent department
stores in the country, they had
searched for three which illustrated
clearly the transitional stage
these shops are experiencing as
they try to survive in the 21st century.
The department store in Leyburn
is much smaller than the other
two chosen and this meant that
little escaped the prying eye of the
cameras.
Mr Macer said: "What we have
had is a strong sense of how it is
for David to be facing up to the
fact that he will be shortly stepping
down.
"It is difficult to hand on to someone
else something that you have
nurtured and loved and has taken
up a large part of your life.
"There is a really a unique relationship
between David, this shop
and the people around here."
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| THREE GENERATIONS: from left, Keith Garrard, his daughters Annabel and Eleanor, and David Milner |
He felt that Mr Milner was loved
by the older customers and that
some didn't even mind his eccentric
time-keeping.
Mr Milner explained that, for
years, he had gone to visit dales
folk in their homes with clothes
for all the family - just like his
great-grandfather Christopher
had done when he started the
business in Hawes in the 1880s.
He said: "It was a great way to do
business, but I never used my
watch to any degree because I
knew I was out from nine in the
morning to six at night. I didn't
look at my watch - I just carried
on all day."
He joined his father, Raymond, as
a partner in the business in 1966
when there were two shops, one
in Leyburn and the other in Middleham.
His pattern of work began to
change in the 1970s when more
dales people got cars and could
drive into Leyburn and other
shopping centres.
At that time of transition, it was
decided to extend the Leyburn
shop and sell the one in Middleham,
and that Mr Milner would
develop the carpet-fitting side of
the business while his father took
care of the clothing section.
Mr Milner said: "As soon as I started
doing carpets, sales shot up".
As he visited homes in the dales to
take measurements and discuss
carpets, he often met friends who
were building up their own businesses
locally, like Rodney Tennant
and Ian Leithley.
Mr Leithley later bought the
premises in Leyburn where Cyril
Milner (Christopher's son) had
run a department store until the
Second World War.
Those premises became part of
Mr Leithley's successful supermarket
chain until he sold it to the
Co-op.
Mr Milner did consider selling his
business four years ago as he was
approaching retirement age.
Thankfully, his daughter and sonin-
law decided to take it on. But
this transition has proved traumatic
for all the family, including
Mr Milner's wife, Linda.
She had never been too involved
with the business until she retired
from teaching seven years ago.
Since then, she has occasionally
worked in the shop and is now assisting
her daughter, not only by
caring for the young grandchildren,
Eleanor and Annabel, but
also with buying clothes for the
store.
"It's been harder for Eleanor," said
Mrs Garrard. "Before, I was a fulltime
mum and always took her to
school and picked her up afterwards.
"This move has completely
changed my whole way of life. For
me, it is a juggling act as I have my
family to think about.
"But I have enjoyed it. It is completely
different to what I expected.
"There is so much to do and so
few people to do it. It is constantly
moving. I always keep our customers
in mind when I am buying.
"We are not like M&S - our customers
have names and faces. We
have loyal customers and they
have been coming for years.
"If someone comes looking for a
specific item, I know whether we
have got it or not, or if we can
order it."
Her husband said: "Family values
are important to Milner's and we
want to maintain its good reputation.
We enjoy serving the community."
He is taking over the carpet and
soft furnishings department from
Mr Milner.
"There is a demand locally for a
quality service where nothing is
too much.
"We bring the products to them
and so take the hassle out of it," he
added.
Mr Milner's retirement, however,
does not look as if it is going to be
as clear-cut as they expected.
After the recent very successful
spring charity fashion show at the
store, Mr Milner said: "Maybe this
is the climax of my little empire.
"But I can't see them letting me
walk away because they don't
have a replacement for me.
"Keith can't look after the shop
and go out to fit blinds and curtains.
"It is keeping me fit. If I go on until
90 I will have another 25 years," he
chuckled.
But he doesn't really want to do
that as he and his wife are looking
forward to doing some of those
things that they haven't had time
for over the years.
"When he does retire, he will be
sorely missed," said Mr Macer. "I
think he is unique person and a
fantastic character. Everyone here
is a great character. It's been great
fun filming here."
That was obvious during the fashion
show, when even one of the
producers, Zoe Thorman, enjoyed
modelling some of the clothes.
Which gave Mr Macer an opportunity
to film her in pyjamas.
Yet, however much the Milner
family made the film crews welcome,
even Mr Milner finally admitted
after the fashion show that
he would be grateful when he and
the staff were no longer having so
many aspects of their lives filmed.
The documentary will be shown
on BBC4 in the autumn. The other
two stores being filmed are P J
Morgan in Swansea and Peters of
Huddersfield.
1:02pm Friday 25th April 2008
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