Extract from The Changing Face Of Warminster by Wilfred Middlebrook, published in 1971:
Currys’ premises [in the Market Place] were once used by some very select linen drapers, the Hurrell brothers. They were real old-time shopkeepers who wore tail coats and did no serving, merely supervising their assistants and making sure that true courtesy was extended to all customers, however small the order. Mrs. Hatton, who once kept the millinery business where Boots now flourish, recalls being sent as a little girl to buy cotton for her mother, and being lifted on to a high chair and served ceremoniously as though she were spending pounds rather than coppers.
There is an old link between this Victorian drapery business and the modern supermarkets and self-service stores of Warminster. Hurrells’ issued, not green or pink trading stamps but metal tokens that could be redeemed at the shop. These were quite heavy, of a coppery substance, and were the size of the long-defunct five-shilling piece. One side featured the words ‘Hurrell, Draper, Warminster,’ with a bee-hive pictured on the reverse side. The Hurrells were followed by Mr. J. H. Sly and Mr. J. G. Howes and later by Hepworth’s the tailors, who modernised the premises. For some years now it has been occupied by Currys, radio and television dealers.