J.B. Banks& Son

John Banks set up as an ironmonger on Cockermouth's Market Place in 1836, his son joined to make the name, and the fourth generation runs it today — Chris Graham with his daughter Sarah King, in the shop since 2014. The deeds carry the signature of William Wordsworth's father, who was land agent to Lord Lowther; the 22-foot mahogany counter has survived the floods of 1966, 2009 and 2015; and the back room keeps a small museum of antique locks and keys collected by Jack Jackson, the long-time owner who also helped found the town's mountain rescue team. A working ironmonger with its own museum is not nostalgia — it is a shop that never threw anything useful away, including itself.