Bonds of Norwich

[2] Robert was the son of a farmer, but first started working as a grocer in London, before learning the drapery trade with his brother James in Chelmsford.

To get noticed Robert Bond advertised on the front of the Norwich Mercury newspaper a Grand Sale, selling the stock of the previous owners at heavily discounted prices.

Then owner, Ernest Bond, was in business again within three days of the bombing, selling what he could salvage from his damaged stock.

They were put in the store's car park where they also set up a makeshift restaurant in an old corrugated iron building.

Chief Executive, Nicholas Hinde, left the business in 1979, taking the East Dereham store.

A modernisation project and the addition of a further 14,000 square feet of selling space was completed in the same year in an attempt to turn the business around.