When William Hamley first opened a toy shop in
London, Westminster Bridge had just opened to
traffic - horses and carts. Even gas lights
would not illuminate the city's streets for
another half a century. The year was 1760, but
William Hamley, a Cornishman from Bodmin, was
not put off.
He filled his cramped Holborn
shop with every toy he could find; rag dolls and
tin soldiers, hoops and wooden horses, because
he wanted the finest toy shop in the world. He
even called it the 'Noah's Ark'.
So when Henry Charles Harrod opened a small
grocer's in Knightsbridge in 1849, Hamleys was
already a vastly successful 'Joy Emporium'. To
celebrate, in 1881, William Hamley's grandsons
opened a new branch in Regent Street, not far
from Piccadilly Circus. Hamleys was here 11
years before Eros.
By the end of Queen Victoria's reign, croquet
sets, cricket bats and 'footballs for playing on
the sands', jostled with marionettes, magic
lanterns and model sailing boats on the shop's
packed shelves.
So great had the shop's reputation now become
that Jean Jacques and Sons asked if they could
launch their new 'Gossima' exclusively through
Hamleys.
The public immediately took to the game which
they christened 'ping pong' after the noise made
by the bouncing of its hollow white celluloid
ball. Not until 1921 did it officially become
Table Tennis.
In the same year, Hamleys reopened on six
floors. Now toy theatres, Punch and Judy
puppets, pedal cars and miniature railway trains
helped to fill what was 'the largest toy shop in
the world'.
Ironically, this desire to provide the
world's best selection of toys and games finally
threatened to close Hamleys altogether. Its
fleet of horse drawn delivery vans were still at
work each day when the economic depression
across Europe forced the shop into liquidation
in 1931.
Hamleys was saved by a man who had ridden on
the delivery vans as a boy, Walter Lines
chairman of the Tri-Ang company, who bought it
and rebuilt its reputation.
In 1938 he was rewarded with the Royal
Warrant from Queen Mary. Her granddaughters, the
young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose,
both had Hamleys toys in their nursery.
Even being bombed five times in the blitz did
not stop Hamleys. The staff wearing tin hats
served at the front door, rushing in to collect
the toys, and hand them over at the door. After
the War it was business as usual; the Festival
of Britain in 1951 brought a Grand Doll’s Salon
as well as a vast model railway to hypnotise
children of any age.
The new Queen Elizabeth II had not forgotten
her own childhood companions. Both Prince
Charles and Princess Anne received toys from
Hamleys and, in 1955, her Majesty honoured
Walter Lines with his second Royal Warrant as a
‘Toys and Sports Merchant’.
Hamleys became as much a London attraction as
Buckingham Palace or The British Museum. Nowhere
was the magic of childhood so precisely
captured. And as toys changed, so did Hamleys;
in 1981 it moved to 188 -196 Regent Street,
still the biggest toy shop in the world.
In 1994 Hamleys of London Ltd was listed on
the London Stock Exchange and became Hamleys
plc. It remained a public company for 9 years
until 2003 when, with the support of Baugur, the
Iceland based retail group, Hamleys management
team took the company private.
Over the years Hamleys has developed an
international reputation for choice, quality and
innovation. The magical flagship store on Regent
Street has over 7 floors packed full of toys and
games, with live and interactive demonstrations.
Today, Hamleys is an internationally
recognised toy retailer with ambitious plans to
further grow the brand. The Hamleys Own
collection, a branded range of toys and games
will continue the tradition of the “finest toys
in the world”. With plans for international
stores and the launch of an exciting, new user
friendly website will enable Hamleys magic to be
delivered throughout the world.