Blacks Menswear can be traced back to 1825, when a tailoring business was established on its first site in High Street, Newcastle, where Clarks shoe shop is now. The name Blacks came from Mr. James Lindsay Black who traded under his name from the 1880's. His son took over until the early 1940's, and in 1949 it was bought by John & Gladys Kirkham, and has remained in the family to date. It is one of Staffordshire's oldest retail businesses. (see a copy of the original 'Blacks Bulletin' dated 1929)

While the company today still prides itself on the same quality of service and products as it boasted more than a century ago, it has now enjoyed something of a revolution in terms of image.

The old store in High Street was nearing the end of its 25-year lease as part of The Roebuck Centre, and had become cramped and a touch staid. We identified the need for larger premises, and tried without success for a number of properties that became available in the Town. Unfortunately, everything that would have been big enough was also ideal for the pubs and clubs and we were frequently out-bid.

It is therefore ironic that the new shop is in the former Bar X, Room 101 premises, and has a long history as a bar and nightclub. Many may remember it as "Hudsons", and prior to that "Sid's Bar". It's a nice change that a former licenced premises should be converted into a retail outlet.

Building work commenced in mid June, and although the project over-ran slightly, J.& S. Seddon (Building) Ltd. did a tremendous job to complete as soon as they did. The building is in fact two adjoining constructions, one dating from the early 1840's and a more modern addition from 1986. The older building was almost derelict, requiring a complete rebuild. Every time a job was started on the older section it revealed yet another problem. Eventually it worked in our favour, remarked Malcolm, as where on the original brief we had shied away from removing some internal load bearing walls because of cost, the state of those walls on detailed examination meant they had to come down anyway.

Above photograph shows the new porthole windows in place. The photograph on the left shows building work in progress. You may notice the new customer desk area and stairs to the left leading up to the second floor. You can see the finished work on our 'about us' page, where you will see our receptionist at work.

Work can be seen here on the outside of the building. To the left and in the background is the historic 'St. Giles's Church' Newcastle-Under-Lyme. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------The finished project we feel is certainly well worth the hassle. The new shop still trades from two floors, but our architects allowed for a huge open staircase and high ceilings to give a feeling of airiness and accessibility. The inclusion of a lift means that access is not a problem for anyone.