IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/091
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: G STREET AND COMPANY LIMITED
Date(s): 1825-1854
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 73 production units comprising 17 volumes and 56 files/bundles/envelopes.
Name of creator(s): G Street and Co Ltd | bookseller, newsagent and stationer
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The date of the foundation of the company is uncertain. Unpublished company histories (Ms 33950) refer to George Street being in business as a bookseller, newsagent and stationer at 5 Serle Street in 1818. However, he does not appear in the London trade and street directories until 1833 when he is listed as G[eorge] H[oratio] Street, stationers, 15 Carey Street. It has been suggested that the foundation date may have come about because of a confusion between George Street and Charles Barker, founder of Charles Barker and Sons.
In 1842 George Horatio Street is listed as a newsagent at 11 Serle Street and from 1854 the name of the firm changes to Street Brothers with the first mention of advertising appearing in 1861, when George Street is also first mentioned at 30 Cornhill.
The firm is listed as Street Brothers of 5 Serle Street from 1868-99. In 1900 the firm became a limited company, G Street and Company Limited with offices at 5 Serle Street (8 Serle Street from 1906) and 30 Cornhill. (There were two unrelated limited companies in existence called Street Brothers Limited). The company has always been known, colloquially, as Streets.
The city office moved in 1924 to 6 Gracechurch Street and in 1944 the whole firm moved to 110 Broad Street. A new west end office was established in 1958 at 11 Berkeley Street.
The company was principally known for commercial and financial advertising and for newspaper subscriptions. Its clientele included banks, issuing houses, insurance companies, industrial and manufacturing concerns, publishers and retailers, although it also had some business with small firms and individuals.
Streets itself was taken over in 1970 by Conduit Holdings Limited and went into receivership in 1992.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of G Street and Company Limited, bookseller, newsagent and stationer. The earliest records of the firm date from 1865. There are some earlier share certificates, 1825-54, but these appear to have belonged to John Leathwait, presumably a predecessor of Leathwait and Simmons, an advertising agency and newspaper supply firm, which Streets took over in 1918.
There are also a few records of subsidiary companies : EC Advertising Company Limited/G. Street and Co. (Provinces) Limited (Ms 33953); Streets Public Relations Limited (Ms 33954); Lionel Jackson and Partners (Ms 33955) and W Hopwood and Company (Ms 33956).
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
CLC/B/091-01: G Street and Company Ltd; CLC/B/091-02: G Street and Company (Provinces); CLC/B/091-03: Streets Public Relations Ltd; CLC/B/091-04: W Hopwood and Co.
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to this collection rests with the City of London.
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The records of the firm were given to Guildhall Library in 2001 by a director of the company who had been given them as part of the final financial settlement. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: November 2010 to January 2011.