[7] The centre was opened by the Queen on 16 August 1950, where she was presented with a silver spoon for her granddaughter, designed and made by Francis Cooper.
A significant benefit for craftspeople who were members of the Craft Centre of Great Britain was that they were exempted from purchase tax, which in 1948 was 66.66%.
[22] In 1970 Viscount Weymouth, heir to the Marquess of Bath, converted a “pin-table saloon” at Longleat House, Wiltshire, into a shop for the Craft Centre of Great Britain.
It didn't include steel engraving, saddlery or gun making, which instead formed part of the Rural Industries Bureau.
Supported by a grant of £40,000 from the government's Crafts Advisory Committee (CAC), which had been established the previous year, the new organisation's offices were at Waterloo Place, London.
[119] The Crafts Centre's Earlham Street gallery location was retained for “one-man shows and other special displays”.