Tributes have been paid to Bryan Haylock, a much-loved husband, father and grandfather who ran The Idler bookshop in Hadleigh for over 40 years.
Generations of Hadleigh children will remember Bryan from his bookshop on the high street. Indeed, many of them grew up and would visit the shop with their own children, said Bryan’s wife of more than 60 years, Jane.
“It had always been Bryan’s ambition to open a bookshop,” she said, explaining that he had dreamed of spending his days surrounded by books.
However, Bryan had many talents, being a gifted artist as well as a writer, and he had worn many hats by the time the couple opened The Idler in 1981.
Bryan was born in Enfield on November 9, 1931, the younger of two sons born to Joe and Kathleen Haylock.
He and his wife both attended grammar schools in Enfield in north London, but did not meet until after they had finished school, when they were both part of their local amateur dramatics society. Jane was 18 while Bryan was 21, and had recently completed his National Service as part of the Royal Air Force.
Bryan then started work as a commercial artist for a show card and sign company. It was his job to design and create cardboard cards and signs for companies to advertise their products.
“Bryan could make anything out of cardboard,” said Jane.
Bryan then started began working freelance, opening his own studio in Charing Cross Road in London. For several years, he designed the posters and flyers for many West End shows, something which appealed to his love of theatre.
It was Bryan who designed the poster for the 1971 comedy farce, No Sex Please, We’re British.
Bryan and Jane had married in 1961 and set up home in the village of Anstey in Hertfordshire. They welcomed their first daughter, Jenny, in 1967, before Kate arrived in 1971, completing the family of four.
In 1979, Bryan decided that he needed a change of career.
“He was fed up with commuting to London,” explained Jane. “His ambition had always been to open a bookshop.
“So, we started looking at different parts of the country, and happened to come across Hadleigh.
“We had been up to Woodbridge to look at a property, and coming back, we had to drive through the Hadleigh high street.”
The couple were very taken with the small Suffolk town, and in 1981, the doors of The Idler were opened.
The inspiration for the shop’s name came from the former magazine, which was edited by Three Men in a Boat author, Jerome K Jerome.
Bryan had come across an issue whose front cover showed a picture of a man reclining in a hammock, reading a book.
“Bryan said, that’s what I’d like to do,” remembered Jane. “He said, I could lie in a hammock and read a book and be quite happy.”
The Idler became known as a Hadleigh institution, specialising in artistic and humorous books.
Bryan continued to pursue his passion art and theatre throughout this second career. He and Jane had joined the Hadleigh amateur dramatics society, and Bryan acted, produced and painted scenery for the group, as well as writing plays.
He also wrote humorous stories and poems, and was invited to join the Untapped Writers group in Colchester.
The group would perform a show each year, bringing to life Bryan’s sketches, which Jane said were always “very amusing”.
Bryan was also never without a paper and pencil.
“If we were out together and I wanted to do something he wasn’t particularly interested in, that was fine, because I knew that I could leave him sitting happily on a seat somewhere, and he would be drawing all the people passing by,” said Jane.
“With just a few strokes, he could capture someone. The records of our holidays are in Bryan’s notebooks. He didn’t go in for painting landscapes, it was cartoons he was known for.”
However, there was one ambition Bryan was not able to fulfil.
“When Bryan was younger, he collected all the Just William books,” said Jane. “He always regretted the fact that he swapped his collection for a typewriter.
“He always hoped that one day, he would find a copy of a Just William book that would have his name in, but he never did.”
Bryan Haylock died on January 15, 2023, aged 91. He is survived by his wife, Jane, his daughters, Jenny and Kate, and his granddaughters, Charlotte and Harriet.
A celebration of his life will take place at St Mary’s Church in Hadleigh at 2:30pm on Tuesday, February 21.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here