Jam packed full of surprises, perhaps the most surprising thing about Jeyes of Earls Barton is still the number of people who say they don’t know anything about it.
What began as a pharmacy has been at the heart of village life in Earls Barton for more than 40 years. When it opened, David Jeyes handled the pharmacy side of the business, more than ably assisted by his wife, Georgina, who saw the shop’s potential.
A businesswoman who never wrote a business plan in her life, she set about building the pharmacy into what it is today – first adding tables and chairs to serve teas and coffees, before expanding in a variety of ways, from the practical to the almost unimaginable, to create what today is very much a family business with a difference.
At last year’s Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards, Georgina was announced as the winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Food and Drink in Northamptonshire award.
Georgina’s reaction to the announcement was a resounding “Me?” and it took some time to get over the shock.
“I couldn’t believe it when it was announced,” she said. “We’d been invited along by the organisers, even though we weren’t up for any awards this time, and we just thought it was because of the ones we’ve won over the years. I was stunned when I realised what they’d said.”
Georgina was joined on stage at the ceremony by her daughters, Philippa and Anna, who are also at the heart of the business. They grew up watching their parents build the business, although for Georgina, the idea of women working hard in a family company goes back much further.
Her own mother, Marie Taylor, founded Taylors Coaches in Long Buckby in the Fifties and taught Georgina the importance of hard work. It was Marie that first entertained visitors to Jeyes of Earls Barton with talks on John and Philadelphus Jeyes, the brothers who started a pharmacy business on The Drapery in Northampton that saw the invention of the famous Jeyes Fluid, the cleaning product that first appeared in 1870 and which still holds Royal patronage today.
It is thought there has been a pharmacist in the Jeyes family for 376 years, but few could have diversified quite as much as the most recent, the one who founded his shop in Earls Barton.
Georgina said:
“When we started the pharmacy, David was happy with that, he would be the first to admit he’s never been much of a businessman and running his own pharmacy was enough, but I could see that we could do more. The teas and coffees were just the start of it, and it’s evolved over the years. I’ve never gone to the bank with a business plan, I wouldn’t have known where to start, but ideas just come to you.
“The Apothocoffee Shop name came out of a conversation with friends after a couple of bottles of red wine – someone suggested a combination of apothecary and a pot of coffee, and there it was, we had the perfect name.
“Next door to the pharmacy was a bank and when that building came up for sale we were beaten to it by another buyer. Unfortunately for them, there was a flying freehold and some structural issues that put them off, so we jumped at the chance. That gave us all the space on the floors above and a lovely garden and it all grew from there.
“It wasn’t long after that, when the village museum lost its home, we moved everything here and suddenly had a Museum of Village Life. Princess Diana, who was from Northamptonshire, of course, was very popular at that time, and that was how our Royal collection started; then when Kinky Boots came to prominence, with its Earls Barton links, we ended up putting together a lot of memorabilia from that, which is still there now.”
And it didn’t stop there. Philippa and Anna vividly remember watching a item on the local television news about a man who had a working model of a funfair that he’d built himself but for which he no longer had room. The following day they were busy helping install the funfair in one of the upstairs rooms after Georgina had put in a phone call and dashed off in her car to collect it.
“It was too good to miss. That’s how we got the Rupert Bear collection, too, someone needing to downsize and looking for a home for it all. I don’t really plan things in that sense, I just get an idea, or get asked to do something, and I go for it.”
Behind the conservatory that houses the Apothocoffee Shop is the Moongate Garden, perfect for afternoon tea on a sunny day, but also, thanks to the work of Anna and Philippa, is an increasingly popular as a relaxed, intimate and tranquil setting for wedding receptions.
The outdoor area also houses the John Clare Contemplative Garden, the new home for elements of the Contemplative Trail that was created for the Ferry Meadows Wildlife Garden a few years ago, complete with images that can be scanned to hear poems and songs inspired by Northamptonshire’s most famous poet.
“The girls have worked hard on our new weddings brochure and we’re hoping more couples will come and have their receptions in this beautiful space. That’s their thing, they’ve taken charge of all that and we’re very proud of what we can offer.
“We’ve also done poetry and music events out there, particularly about John Clare and his work and it’s very atmospheric, particularly at night when the lights are on.”
Jeyes of Earls Barton stages a number of events, including regular Valuation Days with the likes of antiques experts Charles Hanson and Eric Knowles, inviting people to bring along their treasures, antiques and collectibles to find out what they’re worth.
The Apothocoffee Shop also hosts WI groups and the Northamptonshire Heritage Forum and, while they’re on site, visitors can also browse the gift, card and toy shops, view the exhibits, enjoy an ice cream from Jeylato’s or pick up some local produce – particularly Jeyes’s Northamptonshire Sauce, recreated a few years back, from a recipe dating back to Philadelphus Jeyes, and with help from Steve Reid from Friars Farm in Northampton. Georgina said:
“There’s always all kinds of things going on here. When the last bank in the village closed, we invited the Market Harborough Building Society to open a branch in here because it was the only way some people could get money out back then.
“We also tried to do what we could during the pandemic. We were allowed to remain open because we were a pharmacy, so we set up Jeykaways, delivering food to people in lockdown. I remember the anniversary of VE Day and I had this batch of Union Jacks I’d bought from a shop in Wales years earlier because they couldn’t shift them, they had their own flag. So, we dug those out and made Union Jack aprons and masks and did VE Day teas that we delivered all around the village.
“I’ve always wanted it to be a part of the community and the village history and heritage.”
So, today, at Jeyes of Earls Barton, the pharmacy without a business plan, you can find everything from a birthday card to celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee; pick up a jar of local chutney or spend a moment of contemplation with John Clare; or find out more about Earls Barton through the years, then enjoy scones in the Moongate Garden. And, after all that, there’s still a pharmacy where you can pick up your prescription.
Find out more about Jeyes of Earls Barton at the website
