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Does anyone remember Harris Carpets when they were around? They were more or less before my time, but YouTube clips of ad breaks from around 1976 seem to make them a huge company back then, probably almost giving Allied Carpets a run for its money, using very loud 1970s "sale of the century"-alike music in their adverts and quick close ups, very much a parody in later years. The slogan seemed to be: "is there a Harris Carpets in your High Street?" One advert, seen during the ad break of that forgotten Reg Varney sitcom, Down the 'Gate showed one with a Dolls' House and a Jack in a Box on it - on VT.
A few years ago I saw a local picture published in the Nottingham Evening Post which was taken from the footbridge which connects both parts of Victoria Centre on Lower Parliament Street - it was taken in around 1980, and showed the Nottingham branch of Harris Carpets around the corner of Upper Parliament Street and Milton Street (sadly the scene of a stabbing which made the news today). The building became a Wimpy by 1990 (had my 12th birthday there), and then a Burger King where it still is now, but it had previously been a Hopewells back in 1974, which moved to Huntingdon Street where it still is today, I think.
I believe that one of the founders were Lord Harris who was also in charge of Westward Television and the franchise loss in 1980 was something that he seemed to be responsible for - I believe that the carpet company bit the dust (no pun intended) not long after Westward did, probably no coincidence there - at least TSW saved a lot of their stock.
It is nice that even post-Allied Carpets, Carpetright and other companies are more lowkey with advertising - my old home had half the floors kitted out from Carpetright (and it was just the Tottenham store had been destroyed in the 2011 Riots, along with the flats that were above it). At least Allied Carpets were alluded to a lot by celebrities (in order words, according to Wikipedia, it had such a huge "cultural currency" back in the day), in the same way that British Rail was back in the 1980s.
A few years ago I saw a local picture published in the Nottingham Evening Post which was taken from the footbridge which connects both parts of Victoria Centre on Lower Parliament Street - it was taken in around 1980, and showed the Nottingham branch of Harris Carpets around the corner of Upper Parliament Street and Milton Street (sadly the scene of a stabbing which made the news today). The building became a Wimpy by 1990 (had my 12th birthday there), and then a Burger King where it still is now, but it had previously been a Hopewells back in 1974, which moved to Huntingdon Street where it still is today, I think.
I believe that one of the founders were Lord Harris who was also in charge of Westward Television and the franchise loss in 1980 was something that he seemed to be responsible for - I believe that the carpet company bit the dust (no pun intended) not long after Westward did, probably no coincidence there - at least TSW saved a lot of their stock.
It is nice that even post-Allied Carpets, Carpetright and other companies are more lowkey with advertising - my old home had half the floors kitted out from Carpetright (and it was just the Tottenham store had been destroyed in the 2011 Riots, along with the flats that were above it). At least Allied Carpets were alluded to a lot by celebrities (in order words, according to Wikipedia, it had such a huge "cultural currency" back in the day), in the same way that British Rail was back in the 1980s.
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