Description:A shoe factory or warehouse once occupied this building at 25 Browning Street, on the corner with Marston Road. The house to the right is 1, Marston Road.
The building at 25 Browning Street’s origins are obscure, but it may have been built by George Filkings Munton, shoe manufacturer, around 1870 as a small factory or warehouse filling in a small triangular site on the corner of Browning Street and Marston Road. In 1871 he was living at 1, Marston Road. By 1881 Munton had moved his business to more extensive premises at nearby Wogan Street. In the meantime, the Browning Street factory had been taken over by Alexander R. Arkell, leather merchant, who appears to have used it as a leather warehouse between about 1876 and 1889.
In the years up to the Second World War the building had a variety of owners and occupiers. In June 1947 it was purchased by Newco Cabinet Makers. Newco was a partnership between R. Newett, J. Mayes and G. Taylor and remained here until May 1953, when they moved to larger premises on Crooked Bridge Road. It was then used as storage by Goodwin’s removals (as seen in this photograph) until the early 1970s. A room on the first floor was used by the Salvation Army as a band room.
In 1976 the warehouse was converted for retail use by Stewart and Jean Galloway for their upholstery business, J.S. Galloway, which operated until 1998. An ironing, dry cleaning and alterations business then occupied it for a few years, before it was taken over by Princess Brides, an appointment-only shop selling wedding dresses and photographic services between 2008 and 2018. Since 2023 to the present day (May 2026) it has been occupied by Srida Thai Spa Massage.
J. W. Rose ran funeral parlour and taxi service from the building on the left during the 1920s and 1930s.