Why a Laundrette?
The first Laundrette to be opened in Britain was in 1949 by Bendix at 184 Queensway, London.
The idea was a success as washing machines were still too expensive to install at home. People used a particular laundrette regularly and they became a social space with a history of friends, marriages and the like.
" Many of the large houses occupied before the war (World War 2) by large middle class families who could afford servants were now being broken up into flats and bed sits, to cater for young people living on their own and people with young families not yet sufficiently settled to establish a permanent footing in London. These people found that the laundrette was an essential part of their way of life. Using the laundrette on the same evening, or roughly at the same time on a Saturday, the same peolpe met each other week after week, and associations and friuenships were formed."
The main distinction about the social life of a laundrette is that they are for everyone.
"Class distinctions did not seem to exist in these situations, and the laundrettes became a venue where people of all types would mix freely and get to know each other better."
As machines became cheaper and smaller they gradually became the norm in the majority of househoulds and the laundrette duly suffered. However it does evidently still exist today if not on the grandiose scale it once held.
The idea to introduce the Internet into a laundrette (brainchild of Ms Jane Kelly) came from the knowledge of how exciting the Internet is and how entertainment/activity is limited in Laundrettes. Combinig the 2 was a winning formula! People could surf while they waited and it wouldn't cost them anything!
Here's a piccy of the venue, Launderama, Frairgate, Derby...
Quotes from " The Laundrette: a history" by Stanley S. Bloom
published by Duckworth, The Old Piano Factory, 43 Gloucester Crescent, London.
