A beloved shop, which has been run for decades by the family of the man who created children\u2019s character Bagpuss, has gone up for sale.<\/p>\n
The Firmin family opened the Cosmo China store in Canterbury in 1992 but closed it down earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Cosmo China in Canterbury closed in March and is now up for sale<\/p>\n
It dealt in bespoke handmade and painted china, with four out of six of Peter Firmin\u2019s children – Josie, Charlotte, Emily and Katy – contributing to the day-to-day running.<\/p>\n
A legend of Canterbury, Mr Firmin was best known for creating hit children\u2019s TV shows Bagpuss and The Clangers, with fellow city man Oliver Postgate.<\/p>\n
Emily Firmin, an artist who would often paint for the shop, even featured in a series of Victorian-style photographs played in the opening sequence of Bagpuss.<\/p>\n
However, it was announced the venue would shut for good at the end of March, when sister Charlotte decided to retire from running it.<\/p>\n
Founder Josie Firmin told KentOnline: \u201cI\u2019m getting old, that\u2019s the bottom line of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt worked when it was family-run, but when you have to pay front-of-house staff, it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Emily Firmin, one of four sisters involved with Cosmo China, starred in the opening sequence of Bagpuss as a Victorian child
Charlotte Firmin at work on painting china in the Cosmo China shop, pictured in 2004<\/p>\n
\u201cFinancially, it doesn\u2019t make any sense; it\u2019s not that busy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very sad to see it go, but it\u2019s a part of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now the premises in Palace Street have been listed for sale by Charles Bainbridge estate agents for \u00a3425,000.<\/p>\n
The property is described as \u201ca most attractive Grade II-listed period building set in the colourful King’s Mile area of the city\u201d.<\/p>\n
Charlotte Firmin previously said how Palace Street, The Borough and Northgate are \u201cfascinating multi-cultural areas now compared with when we first opened\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are plenty of places on the King\u2019s Mile with pavement seating where you can watch the world go by,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The Firmin family has run Cosmo China in Canterbury since 1992<\/p>\n
Speaking to Canterbury BID when celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2022, Charlotte also revealed how the death of Pope John Paul II led to the creation of one of their most famous pieces \u2013 a mug.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Charles and Camilla\u2019s wedding was postponed in 2005, the original date was crossed out and the new one added,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got so much publicity in the press and on TV that there was a queue outside the shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mug featured as \u2018an antique of the future’ in Miller\u2019s Antique guide that year.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as retail space, the building benefits from storage space in the basement, a garden, and a two-bedroom home spread across its top two floors.<\/p>\n
Cosmo China\u2019s original branch in London, which is run by Josie and is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, will remain open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A beloved shop, which has been run for decades by the family of the man who created children\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,606,393,4884,609,495,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-371593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-canterbury","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-kent","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115087855128865331","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}