Heal's facts for kids
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| Industry | Retail |
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| Founded | 1810 |
| Founders | John Harris Heal and son |
| Headquarters |
London
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UK
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Number of locations
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7 |
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Key people
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Hamish Mansbridge (CEO) Sir Ambrose Heal Sir Terence Conran |
| Products | Home furnishings |
| Parent | Wittington Investments Limited |
Heal's, originally known as Heal & Son, is a well-known British company that sells furniture and items for your home. It has seven stores and is famous for its furniture, lighting, and other home accessories. The business started way back in 1810 with John Harris Heal and his son. Since 1818, its main store has been on Tottenham Court Road in London.
Over the years, Heal's became known for bringing modern design to everyday homes. A guide from the Victoria and Albert Museum even said that for more than 200 years, Heal's has been great at finding and promoting new designs and working with talented young designers. Since 2001, the company has been owned by Wittington Investments, which is part of the Weston family's businesses.
Contents
A Look Back: Heal's History
Heal's began in 1810 as a small business that prepared feathers, started by John Harris Heal and his son.
In 1818, the company moved to Tottenham Court Road in London. Here, it grew to include making and selling beds, bedsteads, and other furniture. By the end of the 1800s, Heal's was one of the most famous furniture shops in London.
In the early 1900s, Heal's was one of the first stores in Britain to sell electric lighting. During World War II, their factory on Tottenham Court Road even made parachutes! Heal's also showed off its designs at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Later, in 1977, they helped restore the huge banqueting table at Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.
Sir Ambrose Heal's Impact
A big reason why Heal's became so famous is because of Sir Ambrose Heal. He worked at the company for 60 years, from 1893 to 1953, first as a craftsman and designer, and then as the Chairman.
Ambrose Heal had a special idea: he wanted to combine the beauty and usefulness of the Arts and Crafts movement with the way things were made in factories. This meant that well-designed, high-quality furniture could be made using machines and sold at prices that regular families could afford. This was a new idea at the time, as the Arts and Crafts movement usually focused on handmade items.
In 1915, Ambrose Heal helped start the Design and Industries Association. Their motto was "Nothing Need Be Ugly." He wanted to make sure that everyday items were both useful and beautiful.
Heal's Main Store: Tottenham Court Road
Heal's has been on Tottenham Court Road since 1818, and at its current spot since 1840. The first building made just for the store was finished in 1854. It was one of the biggest shops in London then!
The main part of the building you see today was designed by Ambrose Heal's cousin, Cecil Claude Brewer. It was finished in 1917 and was seen as a very modern and important building for shops. It has been made bigger in different stages over the years. One of the cool things Brewer added was a spiral staircase that is still there today, connecting all three shopping floors.
A bronze cat statue sits watching over the spiral staircase. This cat is like the store's mascot. A fun story is that Dodie Smith, who wrote 101 Dalmatians, once tried to buy it when she worked at Heal's as a sales assistant. But Sir Ambrose Heal wrote to the customer, saying the cat was "Heal's mascot. Not for sale."
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The Mansard Gallery
The new Tottenham Court Road store also had an art gallery called the Mansard Gallery. This gallery hosted many important art shows. It was a popular place for artists and writers in London between the two World Wars. Famous people like Aldous Huxley and Virginia Woolf even met there.
Famous Art Shows
One of the most important shows at the Mansard Gallery was the Exhibition of French Art 1914-1919, held in 1919. This show was put together by art critic Sacheverell Sitwell. It was the first time many British people saw art by famous artists like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Amedeo Modigliani.
The art critics who liked modern art really enjoyed the exhibition. Newspapers like The Times and The Guardian also gave it good reviews. The Mansard Gallery closed in the 1980s, but in 2010, an online version opened on Heal's website.
Heal's Stores Today
Heal's opened a second store in Guildford in 1972. The company did very well until the mid-1970s. In May 2015, the Guildford store closed.
After being a family business for a long time, Heal's was bought by Terence Conran's company in 1983. Later, in 2001, Wittington Investments Limited bought Heal's, making it a private company again.
Since then, Heal's has grown and focused on selling things online. Besides the main Tottenham Court Road store, you can find Heal's at:
- Redbrick Mill in Batley near Leeds (opened in 2005)
- Westfield London shopping centre.
They also have smaller sections inside Fenwicks stores in Newcastle, York, and Canterbury.
Some other Heal's stores have closed over the years, like those in Manchester, Brighton, and the Mailbox Birmingham shopping centre. The Kings Road store in London was replaced by one in Notting Hill, which then moved to the Westfield centre in 2018.
In 2018, the main Tottenham Court Road store celebrated its 200th birthday! To mark this special occasion, they put back up the famous 'Sign of the Four Poster' on the building. This sign was recreated using old pictures from the company's history. In 2023, the store was updated, and its showrooms were changed to include the northern part of the store again, which used to be a Habitat store.
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