Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

In 1880, Richard’s young brother-in-law, Butler Parr junior, came of age and was entitled to his half-share of his father’s estate, which included the brewery at Radcliffe. Instead of becoming a partner in a small local brewery, young Parr joined the Home Brewery Company, of which he eventually rose to be chairman, and was associated in other undertakings controlled by the famous industrialist, Sir John Robinson of Newark. Meanwhile, he wanted his share of his father’s assets: the brewery was sold by auction, which took place at the beginning of July 1880. It was sold to Richard for £4,050, the equivalent of £240,000 today. At a price, he was now his own man and not just the brewery agent, although there was still a rival brewery in Radcliffe. Richard had now been in business at Lister Gate for fourteen years. Later in the decade, he moved his British Sports Warehouse to St. Peter’s Square, Nottingham, where there was an immense stock for every sport. By the following year, he had added portmanteaus, bags and cases for the increasing band of holiday-makers. Around 1881, Richard became licensee of the Cliff Inn at Radcliffe for a ten year term, although a Mr Bampton may have run the pub for him. He also had an interest in the Chesterfield Arms at Bingham, as well as the Trent Bridge Inn. The loan which Richard had to raise was a great handicap to him in the years to come, and the eventual decline in his business career was at least partly due to the resulting high payments of interest. Another reason, surmises Peter Wynne-Thomas, was Richard’s lack of attention to his emporium: a third was the increasing competition in Nottingham after not only Shaw and Shrewsbury, but also William Gunn, opened rival businesses. Gunn set up on his own in 1885 at 14 Carrington Street, Nottingham – midway between Richard’s premises and those of Shaw and Shrewsbury. Gunn had, as noted, worked originally for Richard. Thomas Moore, who left Richard’s business where Many Preoccupations 107 Richard Daft, as a confident businessman, in the 1880s.