Building    From 1851 

Pollock's toy theatre shop

Categories: Children, Commerce, Theatre

This was started by John Redington, selling printed sheets of characters and scenery for toy theatres. He ran it until his death when his family took over. 1877 his daughter Eliza married Benjamin Pollock (1856–1937) and they ran the shop, changing its name to Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop and selling the theatres as well as the sheets, until 1944 when the stock was sold and the business reopened as Benjamin Pollock Limited under new management at 1 John Adam Street in the Adelphi Building.

1950 it moved to smaller premises at 16 Little Russell Street but the business failed in 1951. 1955 it restarted at 44 Monmouth Street, and here in 1956 it also opened Pollock's Toy Museum. 1969 it moved to 1 Scala Street where the Museum remains (2019). 1980 a shop was opened at 44 The Market, Covent Garden.

Spitalfield's Life has a good post about this business.

January 2023: Ian Visits reported "Pollock’s Toy Museum forced to close", that's the Scala Street operation.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Pollock's toy theatre shop

Commemorated ati

Pollock's toy theatre shop

The business had just moved out when the building was destroyed by a WW2 bomb.

Read More

Other Subjects

Peggy Jones

Peggy Jones

One of the 11 "children of England" present on 7th July 1933 when The Princess Royal laid a foundation stone for a nurses home for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Person, Children

1 memorial
Olave Baden-Powell

Olave Baden-Powell

Born Olave Soames in Derbyshire. 1912 met Robert Baden-Powell on a trans-Atlantic ocean liner. They discovered that they shared a birthday, even if they were 32 years apart. This didn’t stop them m...

Person, Children, Community / Clubs, Kenya

1 memorial
Hamleys of London

Hamleys of London

Established by William Hamley as 'Noah's Ark' at 231 High Holborn. Branch at 200 Regent Street opened in 1881. The original shop was destroyed by fire in 1901 and moved down the road to 86-87 High ...

Group, Children, Commerce

1 memorial
Moses Jethro James

Moses Jethro James

Drowned in the 1898 HMS Albion disaster, aged 14. Buried in grave 2 at the memorial in East London Cemetery.

Person, Children, Tragedy

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Nicaraguan House

Nicaraguan House

SE11, Tyers Street

We can find no information about this house.

1 subject commemorated
Emily Young

Emily Young

Sculptor. Born London, grand-daughter of Kathleen Scott. Possibly the inspiration for the song 'See Emily Play', written by Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett. Her most visible work in London is the series o...

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II

Our picture shows Queen Elizabeth II in the River Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant which took place in the cold and pouring rain on 3 June. Diamond represents 60 years.

Event, Royalty

20 memorials
Westfield College

Westfield College

Founded in 1882 by Constance Louisa Maynard and Ann Dudin Brown, as a residential women's college modelled on women's colleges already established in Oxford and Cambridge. The name probably came fr...

Group, Education, Gender Issues

3 memorials
Queen Victoria statue - Kensington Palace

Queen Victoria statue - Kensington Palace

W8, Broad Walk, Kensington Palace

Oh, dear, her maj seems to be melting away. The statue was a gift from the Kensington Golden Jubilee Memorial Executive Committee. We tho...

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators