46/48 St. Anne Street

E. A. Clare & Son Ltd. building in Liverpool

Whilst having major building work carried out on the 46/48 St. Anne Street premises, the building was surrounded in scaffold for many months. During the work old Lamb & Watts items turned up and a rainwater hopper with initials and a date, which made us interested in the history of the building.

A Liverpool Map of 1807 showing a building roughly where the E.A. Clare & Son building now stands.

We haven’t been able to discover the association with, we believe, 48 St. Anne Street and the Water Hopper head with the initials J A and dated 1809. We will continue to research and have had the Hopper refurbished and replaced it on the building.

At one time there must have been two dwelling houses as shown by the entry in the 1857 Gores of Liverpool.

A article in an old Liverpool publication called “Liverpool Today” had the above article and further research indicates that Lamb & Watts was established in 1847. It is not recorded when they moved to St. Anne Street.

The Kelly’s Liverpool directory of 1894 lists Lamb & Watts at 46/48 St. Anne Street.

We know that Lamb & Watts had their premises at 46/48 St. Anne Street in the late 1880’s, as we have a copy of an invoice showing their address as 48 St. Anne Street in April 1888.

We have a couple of pictures of the Lamb & Watts building. The earliest still shows houses on Queen Anne Street at the back of the building. We think this must be pre 1939 as we believe that after 1945, they extended their factory replacing those houses.

This second picture shows the extended building.

In the late 1960’s E.A. Clare & Son Ltd. bought the site and converted it into the factory and retail outlet.

Picture dated 1969 before St. Anne Street was split into two levels. You can just see the Derby Arms pub on the right of the picture which was on the corner of St. Anne Street & Queen Anne Street.

Another view circa 1970. Before redevelopment of the area.

Over the years since there have been some changes, even the trading name to Thurston

Then in 2025, serious faults were found with the brickwork on the second floor which required significant building work to be carried out. The building was then wrapped in scaffolding.

During the clean up, after the outer building work was completed, some items relating to Lamb & Watts were discovered under the floorboards. A couple of their bottle labels and a returns notice on a postcard dated 1938 for some Octaves.

Now the outside of the building is complete and the scaffolding removed.

The ‘new’ signage reverts to the original 1969 name of

E.A. Clare & Son

Proudly trading in Liverpool since 1912

Please do not hesitate to ask should need any advice on snooker, billiards or pool or wish to make a purchase. Thurston has the most comprehensive range accessories available.

Visit our e-shop – www.thurston.co.uk

email – thurston@eaclare.co.uk

Phone – 0151 482 2700