All you need is Loves

CHRIS ROBINSON CHARTS THE HISTORY OF A FAMOUS CITY STORE

- CHRIS ROBINSON

IT would appear that Joseph Boyd Love came to Devon from the Midlands some time in the late 1870s or early 1880s. Certainly, he had established his drapery business at Number 30 Catherine Street, Devonport, by 1882. Joseph Love, or Jimmy, as he was popularly known, took over the premises which had previously housed Lacy's furniture business.

Catherine Street at that time was one of Devonport's older thoroughfares, and many of its buildings were old and cramped; as Jimmy settled in, so he would have seen most of the block to the south of him in Catherine Street being completely rebuilt. From Francis Alley to Bragg's Alley, everything was cleared and once the dust had settled and the new structures had been completed and decorated, so this part of Devonport took on a whole new appearance... and, to go with this new image, new names. Francis Alley became Northbrook Street and Bragg's Alley became Willes Street.