Menswear shop celebrates 100 years of trading

A menswear shop in Taunton is marking its 100th anniversary.

Gurds on Station Road opened in 1924 and has been owned and run by the same family since 1934.

The shop, which was originally a pharmacy, still has many of the original fixtures and fittings, as well as a grade II listed storefront.

"I don't think that great-grandpa would have thought that four generations later we would still be here," said Gurds owner Sarah Farnfield.

"We have a lot of long-standing customers who have come since they were kids."

Many of the fixtures and fittings have stayed the same for a century

Ms Farnfield added: "It's been in my family for 90 years now.

"My great-grandfather bought it off of George Gurd in 1934."

The old pharmacy's historic clock was knocked off by a lorry in about 1975.

But because the building is listed, everything else has stayed the same.

"We never throw anything out," Ms Farnfield said.

"We have an archive of retail and family history within the shop."

The shop tries to "stay updated with current trends", but is a "classic men's outfitters", Ms Farnfields said

Ms Farnfield took over running the shop - which has about 3,000 pairs of trousers - when her father retired last year.

"It's quite a responsibility to take it on," Ms Farnfield said.

"I'm the fourth generation and we'll see where it goes. We haven't really changed things in those four generations.

"We are seeing younger generations, wedding parties. We're quite unique, we have a lot of stock.

"We try to stay updated with current trends but we are a classic men's outfitters. It's worked for 100 years."