Perks and Llewellyn Chemist Shop

Perks and Llewellyn stood in the High Street of Hitchin until the 1960s, on the site now occupied by Woolworth’s. John Perks started the chemist business in 1790. It passed through the family until 1878, when the then owner Samuel Perks went into partnership with Charles Llewellyn. Samuel died in 1878 and Charles 1893, the last two family links for the business name. The shop was taken over by Richard Lewis the then Shop Manager in 1906. The last shop owner was his daughter, Violet Lewis, a trained pharmacist who ran the business from 1930 to 1961.

Violet sold the shop site to developers; she however saved the historic interior of the chemist shop which dated back to 1790, re-housing it in a special annex built onto her home. She opened the chemist shop to local schools and groups.

By the 1980s Violet was quite elderly. The Hertfordshire Medical and Pharmaceutical Trust was formed from a group of local people to raise funds to find a permanent home for the chemist shop, here at Hitchin Museum. The saving of the chemist shop was a community effort, and in May 1990 when the Chemist Shop officially opened at Hitchin Museum, a private view was held to thank all those involved. The Towns Women’s Guild made 780 cups of tea that day.