Community Hub/Norringtons

If you would like to share or you have different memories of The Community Hub / Norringtons you can complete our 'Your Memories of Chard' form here, message us on the Museum Facebook page or visit us at the Museum.

9 Fore Street

Many people remember this shop being occupied by Norringtons the Ironmongers. It appears that the business was established by Arthur Edwin Norringtons in the 1890s, as the family were recorded as being in residence in No. 9 in the 1901 census. Arthur’s sons Francis and Arthur Herriot continued to run the shop, after their father, for the next sixty years. The business left Fore Street and moved to the Lidl site in 1971 and then to Millfield and finally was sold to Walter Dani’s, an American company.

Gribble, Booth & Taylor, estate agents took the site over in the early 1970s and remained until 1994. Some people may remember a local character called Frank Huddy who ran the Double H entertainment and theatre agency from the first floor of the building. He had been a member of the Tony Graham Combo, a well known band, both locally and further afield. He also co-authored a number of books on local history.

The premises were empty before it became Dovetails in 2019 and now the Community Hub, a space for local people to drop in, meet up, join in activities and be given help to access local services.