Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Cakebread Robey & Co Ltd, Stoke Newington

Cakebread Robey & Co Ltd, of Stoke Newington, a firm that used to supply materials to the building trade, was founded in 1882 by George H. Cakebread and Arthur E. Robey. In recent times the firm, which is now trading under the name Neville Lumb (part of French multinational St Gobain since 2001), has been known essentially for its sanitary, plumbing and heating equipment. However as the sign below reminds us, for several decades, Cakebread Robey & Co was also relatively well-known for its glass products. Many of their etched, engraved or embossed glass and mirrors as well as their stained glass windows can still be found around the country in pubs, hotels and churches.

In London, some of Cakebread Robey & Co's best glass can still be admired at The Queens, 26 Tottenham Lane, and The Salisbury on Green Lanes at the junction with St Ann's Road. As for their stained glass windows, the largest concentrations can be seen at St. Andrew's, Whitehall Park, in Holloway, or at St. Andrew's, Chase Side, in Southgate.
A look at the index pages of the Building of England series by Nikolaus Pevsner and online reveals Cakebread Robey & Co glass and windows can also be found in other counties, including Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, and Suffolk.

The company had this wall painted twice. The range of products changed slightly in the process. The most recent layer reads:
Cakebread Robey & Co. Ltd.
Builders Merchants & Ironmongers
Stained Glass Windows,
Leaded Lights,
Glass, Lead,
Oils, Colours,
Varnishes.		Stoves, Baths,
Lavatories,
Saintary Fittings,
Locks & Fastenings
Also at Wood Green, Ilford, Tottenham, Harrow & Dalston

The products previously avertised, on the same part of the wall as above, were:
Lead Glass,
Oil Colours
& Varnishes		Stove Ranges,
Baths, Closets
& Lavatories

Location: Tyssen Road / Picture taken on: 01/04/2008
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7 comments:

  1. RoyalTW3 January 2013 at 23:15

    Close to my birthplace, and relations worked for them up to the 1960s.

    Now close to me in Groombridge, near Tunbridge Wells, by the railway station is a newly restored wall advert for a bakers

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  2. Anonymous7 September 2014 at 18:22

    Proud of my great granddad George Henry Cakebread who started the business.

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  3. Anonymous7 September 2014 at 18:22

    Proud of my great granddad George Henry Cakebread who started the business.

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  4. Anonymous16 April 2015 at 17:34

    My dad, Aaron Alexander worked at Cakebread & Robey from around 1945 until 1952 when 60 lbs of glass shattered on his left arm (no gauntlets were used then). He helped design beautiful stained glass for the churches.

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  5. Unknown5 November 2015 at 17:02

    My uncle Edward Spall spent the whole of his working life with the company working on stained glass windows.

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  6. Unknown1 December 2016 at 12:49

    Hello Terry can you tell me when you uncle Edward worked for cakebread,robey and wear David Pinches

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown1 December 2016 at 12:52

    Hello Terry can you tell me when your uncle Edward worked for cakebread robey.and were here worked thanks

    ReplyDelete