Our Story
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLMAN’S
On 9 November 2025 Holman’s is celebrating its 105th birthday. The history of Holman’s has now been recorded in a commemorative book – Holman’s – Whitby’s Time Travelling Bookshop. It is a compilation of writings, photographs and memories relating to the Holman’s buildings, its people, products, work environment and neighbours. It has been published just in time for Whitby’s first Literary Festival which is taking place between 6 and 9 November 2025, which just happens to be Holman’s anniversary weekend!
From Grocer and Teacher to Booksellers
The Holman’s story began on 1 November 1920 when Ernest and Ada Holman, a grocer and a schoolteacher, bought an established newsagents and tobacconists’ business at 19 Skinner Street, a fashionable shopping street on Whitby’s West Cliff. On 9 November 1925 they bought the neighbouring property at number 21 and the Holman’s we know it today was born.
The business has had seven sets of owners over its lifetime and many employees. After the Holmans there followed owners by the names of Whitaker, Little, Brown, Hill, Richardson and now O’Connor. Remarkably three ladies’ employment at Holman’s have spanned the decades – Lily Pybus (45 years), Olive Poulter (30 years), and Lynn Brunskill (48 years).
Buildings with a longer history
But the buildings that the shop occupies had already been in existence for 152 years before Ernest and Ada Holman came along! They were built in 1768 by brothers John and William Skinner. This is the same year that Captain James Cook commenced his expedition to New Zealand and Australia aboard HMS Endeavour. They have had a variety of occupants from coaching housekeeper to surgeon, jet manufacturer to greengrocer, hairdresser to sub-postmaster and many more in between.
A Wide Range of Products
Holman’s is often described as a TARDIS – bigger on the inside than on the outside – as it has three floors to explore. Over the years the business has expanded its range of products from news and tobacco to include stationery, greetings cards, books, toys, jigsaws and gifts. But some products and services have come and gone.
For example, throughout the 1920s and 30s, Holman’s had a business relationship with the Spa Pavilion. Holman’s was a theatre ticket office and supplied the Spa with cigarettes, newspapers, books and tennis balls! The Spa had a Reading Room and tennis courts formed part of the complex. Holman’s offered a tennis racquet re-stringing service until the 1940s.
Whitby did not have a free public library until 1944 and so Holman’s operated a successful subscription library on its first floor between 1928 and 1960. Subscribers paid 3d per volume per week. The bookselling aspect of the business has been a constant due to the success of Whitby inspired books and local authors.
And in the 1980s, Holman’s had a Record Department in its basement, which had previously been Ernest Holman’s office and is now our award winning Card Department.
Photograph of Ernest Holman in his office in 1948 taken by John Tindale, chemist and photographer for the Whitby Gazette (source: John McCormack)
Holman’s Record Department circa 1986 (source: Don Abbott)
Holman’s Card Department was the 2016 winner of the RETAS Award for Best Independent Bookstore Retailer of Greetings Cards
Angela O’Connor receiving the RETAS award at the Dorchester Hotel, 26 August 2016
Holman’s – Whitby’s Time Travelling Bookshop
Authored by the current owner, Angela O’Connor, ‘Holman’s – Whitby’s Time Travelling Bookshop’ is a compilation of writings, photographs and memories relating to the Holman’s buildings, its people, products, work environment and neighbours. Angela’s research has been driven not only by the memories of customers, owners and staff both past and present, but by the town’s strong literary history in books and newspapers. Whitby Museum has been a great source of information for the book. Their library houses a large collection of Whitby Gazettes dating from the first issue in 1854. By 2024 every issue of the Gazette from 1854 to 2013 was digitised. The project was initiated and supported by the John Tindale Foundation. Angela was able to search the archive to find advertisements and articles about Holman’s that had appeared in the Gazette over the years. And the Museum’s photographic collections of two of Whitby’s most famous photographers - Frank Meadow Sutcliffe and John Tindale, who had their businesses on Skinner Street - all form part of the book.
New Memories
New memories will be created from 6th - 9th November as Holman’s will be taking part in Whitby’s inaugural Literature Festival. The Whitby Lit Fest exists to celebrate Whitby’s literary heritage; to connect readers with contemporary authors and poets; and to inspire residents and visitors alike. It is sure to start the next chapter in Holman’s history.