A HISTORY of Booths supermarket exhibition is to be held at the Knutsford Heritage Centre over the next two months.

Started by Edwin Booth with his first shop in Blackpool in 1847 with a £80 loan, Booths now has 28 stores across the north west, with branches opening recently in Penrith, Cumbria, and Media City at Salford.

Booths have been in Knutsford since 1990, and the exhibition has pictures of the area before and during the building of the store.

Val Bryant, the curator of Knutsford Heritage Centre, said: “I have a Booths tea caddy spoon celebrating Booths centenary year that belonged to my grandma, who I used to go shopping with as a little girl in the Chorley shop.

“It made me think about the story behind the Booths name.

“After visiting their archive I was able to put together a fantastic exhibition which has links to Knutsford.”

The exhibition starts with Edwin Booth’s early childhood and how he started out in the retail food business, including his aptitude for marketing by offering branded china teapots to those who visited his stores on a Saturday.

Chairman Edwin Booth, who is the fifth generation to head Booths, said: “It’s a great pleasure to view the history of Booths in the context of social history.

“Our business has a fascinating history, and one which I am particularly proud of – the success of the original EH Booth is one that resonates with people.”

Connections between Knutsford and the Booth family existed well before the Knutsford store opened in 1980.

Around 1894 Margaret Emily Gaskell, one of Elizabeth Gaskell’s four daughters, wrote to Edwin Booth on several occasions, and these letters give touching detail and a lovely picture of society at that time.

Four letters will be on display.

Admission to the centre on King Street is free, and it is open all year round.

The Story of Booths exhibition runs from March 20 until May 27.