It was originally built in the late 1800's by Lambert and Ernest Stanley as an extension to the previously completed Stanley Terrace, a row of eight 2 bed roomed terraced houses. This extension comprised of two dwellings now known as numbers. 120 and 118. 120 was bought by the Pries family in 1906 and for the next sixty five years two generations ran a successful and well remembered business.

Malling Road circa 1955

After many years of running the shop Christian Pries handed over the reins to his two sons Adolph (known to all as Oddy) & Albert and his daughter Nellie Beadle, who continued the family tradition until retirement in 1971.

It was then that the change from sweets, ice cream and groceries, over to timber, paint and hardware took place. The shop and accommodation was bought by Mia and Ron Lynch and it was they who started Home and Hobby in the September of 1971. Nellie Beadle continued to live at 118 until just shortly before her death in 1983. Oddy lived locally in the village until he died in 1995. His main hobby in later life was his allotment which he ran at the rear of 120 and 118, where he not only grew vegetables but also kept bees.

The name HOME & HOBBY came from the time when D.I.Y. in the home was still considered a hobby for most people. Nowadays of course many consider it an evil necessity. However in the last 35 plus years there have been many innovations in the D.I.Y. market place enabling even the less gifted to turn their hands to jobs around the house.

Malling Road 1998

In 1973 Mia married Roy Totham and they continued developing the business until they retired in January 1994. Ownership then changed to myself (Alan Totham, son of Roy) and my wife Penny. We have tried in the to develop the business even further gradually updating and increasing stock (especially gardening items) and revamping the shop interior. Perhaps one of our sons, Andrew or Philip may become a third generation running HOME & HOBBY in the future.

To those of you who are reading this and already know and use our shop we say thank you and hope you continue to do so. To those of you new to us we say "try us" and be pleasantly surprised at what we stock, how we sell it and how competitive our prices are.

We try not to sell everything pre-packed, therefore you can buy exactly the quantity you want without wastage or left overs, i.e. timber and boards cut to size, screws, washers, brackets, hinges and most other ironmongery items all sold singly.

No shop can stock absolutely everything, but with our network of suppliers we can possibly locate most items that you want if it's not already in stock.
If you want to enquire about the availability of any particular product then you can email, enquiries@homeandhobby.co.uk, phone or write to us. Details on our Contact Us page.