Duke Street, Barrow-in-Furness, was once graced by a retail giant – Pass and Company. This wasn’t your corner shop; Pass and Company was a department store, a one-stop destination for Barrow residents seeking everything under the sun. Imagine stepping through its grand oak doors, their brass handles gleaming in the sunlight. Inside, gaslight chandeliers cast a warm glow upon polished wooden counters and towering shelves, their surfaces stacked high with a tempting array of merchandise.
Our story begins in 1900, with a trade directory listing Pass and Company as a general merchant at 100 Duke Street. Their reach extended beyond the single storefront, with a warehouse on Clifford Street and a dedicated sweet shop at 70 Duke Street, where the air was thick with the sweet aroma of sugary treats, tantalising the taste buds of children and adults alike.
Pass and Company thrived, becoming a pillar of Barrow’s commercial landscape. Imagine a place where you could buy a pin to mend a garment, its sharp point glinting under the gaslight, or a brand new piano to grace your living room, its polished keys awaiting the touch of a musician. The store hummed with the symphony of commerce: the rustle of fabrics, the clink of coins, the chatter of shoppers mingling with the creak of floorboards beneath their feet. They likely boasted clothing, its textures inviting shoppers to run their fingers over smooth silks and soft wools; homewares, their scents filling the air with the comforting aroma of beeswax candles and the polish of fine wood; stationery, its crisp paper promising the pleasure of elegant correspondence; and toys, their bright colours captivating the eyes of children.
Sadly, the exact date of Pass and Company’s closure remains a mystery. However, historic photos show the store standing tall in 1907. Newspaper articles from the 1920s mention a vacant space on Duke Street, hinting at the store’s eventual closure, the grand space falling
silent.
Today, Pass and Company is a memory, a testament to a bygone era of grand department stores. The space it occupied on Duke Street now stands empty, a silent echo of the bustling commerce that once took place there. Only the creaking floorboards and the lingering scent of beeswax and old paper remain as a reminder of the vibrant life that once filled its walls.