About Retail Trust
Retail Trust's aim is to support people working in, or retired from, the retail industry when they or their families need care or assistance.
Established for over 170 years, Retail Trust was originally set up to offer financial assistance to those in the haberdashery and drapery trades at a time when there was no welfare state. The charity has since developed a wide range of services for people in the retail industry, including:
- A confidential helpline (0845 766 0113) open seven days a week
- Access to free counselling
- Access to a free legal advice line
- Retirement accommodation in London, Derby, Glasgow, Liverpool and Salford
- Respite care
- Financial assistance
In order to provide these services, Retail Trust aims to raise £1 million every year from a variety of activities. This includes a full programme of social and sporting fundraising events, corporate donations, employee donations through payroll giving, as well as legacies and other forms of donation.
Our history
The charity was established by a group of linen-drapers, silk-mercers, haberdashers, hosiers and lacemen who met at the London Coffee House on January 3rd 1832. Originally the Linen and Woollen Drapers' Institution, as it was then known, was a membership organisation based on life or annual subscriptions from those in the trade. Members could apply for financial assistance when they suffered hardship or had a specific need.
In 1898 the Institution opened its first "Cottage Homes" at a site in Mill Hill. The central building was built by Mr James C. Marshall and family and continues to dominate the Marshall Estate today. Additional cottages, and later, flats were added and a Nursing Cottage was built in 1919, with more land being acquired in 1927.
Two further retirement estates were eventually built - in 1947 an estate called "Leylands" in Derby was acquired and in 1967 a further retirement estate, “Crookfur”, near Glasgow, was completed.
In 1948 Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth graciously agreed to give her Patronage to the charity and H.M. The Queen remains our Patron to this day.
The arrival of the welfare state after the war meant that subscriptions ceased but individuals from the trade could apply for financial assistance or retirement accommodation.
All of the estates had various additions made over the next 30 years and can now accommodate some 500 industry retirees. The charity eventually dropped the word Institution and became known simply as Cottage Homes.
In 1996 a new range of services was introduced including a confidential helpline (0845 766 0113), respite care, grant aid and free access to counselling and legal advice.
In 2001 Cottage Homes launched its new name, Retail Trust, and broadened its remit to include the whole of the retail industry. Also in 2001, the charity opened its first new development for over 30 years at Walton Village in Liverpool. Moores' House was a joint project between the Moores family and Retail Trust and offers 40 self-contained flats for industry retirees with supported living services.
Retail Trust plans to build more retirement complexes like Moores’ House across the U.K. with the next site planned for the northwest of England.