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Swiss Laundry Cherry Hinton Road, Cambridge

Swiss Laundry Cherry Hinton Road

History of the Swiss Laundry Cherry Hinton Road

This site was home to a tannery, a horticultural engineering works and a manufacturer of electric motors. Then the Swiss Laundry was founded in 1904 by Mr Chapman and Mr Goundry.  It offered a Swiss finish to table linen. Prices when it started included: dress 6d, apron, collar, pair of cuffs and cap strings, all 1d each, sheet 2 1/2d each, pillow cases 1 1/2d, table cloths 3d.

In the Cambridge News 1910 there is a report that local residents complained that if linen were hung out to dry in the garden smuts caused by smoke from the chimney of the Swiss laundry made it so dirty that it had to be taken in and washed again.

In 1911 William Chapman, laundry proprietor, was living at 41 Rock Road. Mr Goundry at 22 Blinco Grove,  and the company is listed as the Swiss Laundry, Carpet Cleaning and Shampooing Works.

Sources: Cambridge News (Cambridgeshire Collection), British Newspaper Archive, UK census

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