Popular Harborough business celebrates 125 years in the town

A talismanic Market Harborough business is celebrating powering past 125 years.

Tens of thousands of people all over South Leicestershire and Northamptonshire have gone to H Monk & Sons to turn their houses into beautiful homes since 1895.

The much-loved Victorian stalwart is still as busy as ever furnishing, decorating and improving properties throughout the East Midlands.

But it’s not standing still, either, as it charges through the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic into the 2020s.

Oliver Monk, 41, now runs the company alongside his wife Kelly, 39, and co-director Jez West.

“I’m now the fifth generation of Monks to run this fantastic business of ours and I’m very proud to say that.

“How many companies these days can claim that they have been around for 125 years?

“They are very few and far between,” Oliver told the Harborough Mail.

“I am very proud to have picked up the Monk baton and to be running with it.

“We are reaping the rewards for all the hard work, superb dedication and outstanding service to customers over many decades.

“It’s obviously not been easy through the coronavirus crisis.

“But people are starting to come back into the town centre now and we are gradually seeing more people come through the doors.

“It’s a case of staying on our toes and moving forward and as the world changes we will change with it.”

Oliver looks after their benchmark Northampton Road store, selling carpets, rugs and beds among a dazzling range of home furnishings.

And Kelly looks after the equally-popular Fabric Workshop on Goward Street.

“We are still totally committed to upholding the supremely high standards that Horatio Monk set when he started up our business back in 1895.

“Queen Victoria was our monarch back then and it was a very different country,” said Oliver, who lives in Market Harborough.

“We strive to keep our magnificent tradition of high quality workmanship and customer service alive while being relentlessly dynamic.

“We are now setting up a new transactional website – and that should be ready to go in the next few weeks.

“Customers will be able to order their linen, towels or what ever online.

“We’ll be launching a click and collect service before quickly beginning to offer deliveries too.

“We are determined to carry on the huge success of the Monk family trading right here in the heart of Market Harborough.

“And we love being such a big part of the local community – seeing our customers day in day out and doing such a good job for them,” said the dad-of-two.

Horatio Monk and his wife Anna Martha got the ball rolling when they opened their shop in Nelson Street, Market Harborough, in 1895.

Inspired Horatio, a tallow chandler, used a wooden barrel on a cart to deliver domestic burning oil around the town and its surrounding villages.

The driven entrepreneur moved into bigger premises in Goward Street, where he also sold hardware and furnishings, in 1906.

His burning oil round was extended to cover most villages within a 10-mile radius of Market Harborough.

Mr Monk’s sons, Horatio junior and William, began to help their father with the firm.

In 1912 ambitious Horatio also took over a business in St Mary’s Road.

But in 1923 he was forced by a road-widening scheme to move to their current home in Northampton Road.

They also branched out into the growing removals business as Horatio junior and William were taken into partnership.

The two brothers ran the booming business after their dad died in 1932.

The Second World War broke out in 1939.

Always ready to spot an opportunity, Monk’s started supplying fuel for agricultural customers in nearby villages as wartime farm production surged.

In 1951 Monk’s won a plum role as they were appointed area oil distributors for Shellmex and BP.

That side of the business flourished until William retired in 1963.

Monk’s has since focused on furniture, furnishings, carpets and removals under the guiding hand of Miss Kitty Monk, grand-daughter of founder Horatio.

In the late 1960s the Goward Street shop was re-opened as a toy and nursery store.

It later moved to the corner of Northampton Road and The Square, where it proved a massive hit until being sold in 1988.

Following the retirement of key staff, the removals business was closed in 1989 - ending a sterling service the firm had offered for 60 years.

Miss Monk herself retired in 1991, leaving the family firm in the capable hands of Brian Monk, great-grandson of the founder, and his co-director Roy Carter.

They have now long since retired themselves – as Oliver, Kelly and Jez continue to keep the proud Monk’s colours flying high.

You can check out what Monk’s are selling now at: https://hmonks.co.uk/