THIS year a traditional ironmongers in Pershore celebrates its 100th anniversary after its opening went off like a bull in a china shop.

W.L. Brown has stood in the town’s High Street since 1913 and has been kept in the family ever since.

The hardware shop is now run by Nick Green, who will be marking the store’s centenary with a special garden party and hog roast on Sunday, August 4. It will be held between 1pm and 5pm in a grand marquee set up in the grounds and riverside of the Angel Hotel in Pershore.

Although the business does not have an official opening date it first appeared in the Journal in May 1913 when a bull entered the shop, knocked over a few saucepans and left. Nick Green said: “There was never a date for when they opened but there was an article in the paper in early 1913.” The shop was first opened by William Lyon Brown, who took over the store and began trading under his own name. He began as an agricultural ironmonger and paid just £35 a year rent.

His son Graham Brown worked alongside his father and in the shop for 40 years and bought the store. Mr Green, who worked with Mr Brown, and now owns the shop alongside his nephew Simon Barette, said: “In Graham Brown’s days the shop was a complete mess but he knew where everything was. They always had the reputation that we would have something that other shops didn’t.

“I once visited the Black Country museum and went to the hardware store, which when they first opened we provided a lot of props for them. I went in and told the man who I was and he knew of the shop and had nothing but praise. “One hundred years in business is a very long time these days, especially in the same family.”

During the celebration weekend the Brown family and friends will also be at Deer Park Hall near Eckington to see Zander Barette, Simon’s son, marry Polly Conoboy.