W & F Easter’s radio shop opened here on 19th March 1934. two brothers, Walter and Frederick Easter, they ran their business from No 3 High Street for about 16 months before moving to No. 9 High Street.
The announcement of the business opening at No. 3 was placed in the Lynn Advertiser on 16th March 1934 and read:-
‘MR. FRED EASTER has pleasure in announcing that he is commencing business as a RADIO SPECIALIST at No. 3, High Street, King’s Lynn. The premises will be opened on the 19th inst. There will be a stock of the best of Modern Receivers, accessories and components. Personal and prompt attention assured. Enquiries respectfully solicited. No matter what your Radio difficulty, Mr. Easter will be pleased to hear of it and offer his practical experience to your satisfaction. Accumulators charged in accordance with Manufacturers’ Instructions.’
Easters, 9 High Street, King’s Lynn.
1935 t0 1961
W & F Easters moved into no 9 from no 3 High Street.
In their advertisement following the move to No. 9, in the Lynn Advertiser on 23rd August 1935, Easters announced:
‘We are about to open the largest display of Radiolympia Models ever shown in the town. We have taken over the establishment recently occupied by Millers, at No. 9, High Street, where everything that is best in Radio will be housed. You cannot be up-to-date unless you have seen and heard these ‘wonder instruments’ straight from the National Exhibition. Please accept our invitation to inspect at your leisure, also to hear under ideal conditions the really wonderful improvements which have been made since last year. The exhibition will include a full range of HMV ‘Pedigree’ Models, from £7 19s. 6d. to £54 12s. 0d. ‘ULTRA’ will also be well represented, and we feel sure you will be interested in the 27 guinea Radio-Gram with auto record-changing. It’s wonderful! Then there will be the new ‘EKCO’ sets; these certainly are an improvement although we thought last year it couldn’t be possible. If you have a soft spot in your heart for ‘PHILIPS’, you will be impressed with their new machines. What about a universal model for 9½gns? The ‘FERRANTI’ dials are a rage; so very easy to tune in that the simple operation is a pleasure to those not ‘radio-minded’. As your local ‘MARCONI-MEN’ we shall be able to offer these high-class instruments as usual – further description of these is totally unnecessary. ‘EVER-READY’ radio is well to the fore again this year, and you will like the nice selection offered. You will be able also to see and hear the 1936 ‘PHILCO’, ‘REGENTONE’, ‘AERODYNE’ and GEC models. Your present set will be taken in part payment for any you may choose, and we arrange easy payments for the balance. Don’t delay; Now is the time’.
King George V had made the first Christmas broadcast by a reigning monarch on Christmas Day 1932 from a room in Sandringham House. This became an annual event that caught the public’s imagination and thousands tuned in to listen. The advertisement placed by Easters in the Lynn Advertiser on 20th December 1935 took advantage of this public interest to promote the sale of their radio receiver sets (‘wirelesses’): Hear H.M. THE KING Perfectly on a MODERN SET . You cannot realise the strides radio has made until you hear a new set against your old. What a difference! We Can Show You the Newest Models for Immediate Delivery. EASTERS. 9, HIGH STREET, KING’S LYNN. Phone 2566
In the event, this proved to be the last broadcast to be made by King George V, who died less than a month later. His voice was much weaker than it had been and he spoke of his people’s joys and sorrows. Two months later, on 28th February 1936, Easters placed another advertisement again promoting the sale of radio sets to receive a message from the King. On 1st March 1936 King Edward VIII gave his first and only broadcast as reigning monarch, from Broadcasting House, London. His next broadcast was to be the historic one that he gave after his abdication on 11th December 1936 from Windsor Castle.
Servicing was a big part of Easters business and they advertised:
‘WHAT WE SELL, SO WE CAN SERVICE. We have the finest Servicing Dept. in the town. The best equipment and service engineers are sat your command. We will undertake any type of servicing of Radio Receivers in any part of the district, and you will not find it expensive.’
In addition to their sales and servicing of radios, gramophones and televisions, Easters provided public address systems and relayed broadcasts for local events. One of their regular bookings was the relaying of the Christmas services attended by the royal Family at the church of St. Mary Magdalene Sandringham to the crowds outside.
The business had closed by June 1961 when the property was demolished, along with the former ‘Cheshire Cheese’ public house next door at No. 8. Two new shop units were built on the site.
All images and inforamtion Tony Langford (2024)
