T J Hughes
T J Hughes is the best known name in London Road. Indeed, the company itself, T J Hughes, is one of the most famous retailers in Liverpool and was a major name in shopping centres and towns throughout England and Wales.
It was perhaps inevitable, from the day he was born on 21st March 1888, that the company’s founder, T J Hughes would eventually choose to set up in business as a retailer in his home town, the city of Liverpool. Thomas J Hughes’ father, James Hughes came from the Corwen area of North Wales and was also in the retail industry. Consequently Thomas, a Welsh Liverpudlian, grew up surrounded by all aspects of the trade. The Hughes family dynasty had in fact, originally begun when James married his wife, Anne. Previously, James had worked for Edward Morris and Anne had gathered vital experience working in a shop. Together however, the couple bought their own shop in Old Hall Street and along with this, purchased 11/13 Country Road in Walton. When they opened the shop in 1889, it became the first, though not the most famous, Hughes store.
