Milners of Leyburn, also known as C Milner & Sons, is a small family run department store

Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...

 in the market town

Market town

Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

 of Leyburn

Leyburn

Leyburn is a busy market town and civil parish in the borough of Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England sitting above the northern bank of the River Ure in Wensleydale. Historically within the North Riding of Yorkshire, the name was derived from 'Ley' or 'Le' , and 'burn' , meaning clearing by the...

, Wensleydale

Wensleydale

Wensleydale is the valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England.Wensleydale lies in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – one of only a few valleys in the Dales not currently named after its principal river , but the older name, "Yoredale", can still be seen...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Spread over three floors, the shop sells men's and women's fashions on the ground floor and carpets, beds, furniture, soft furnishings and blinds on the first floor.

The business was started in 1882 by Christopher Milner, hence the C in the name, with a shop in Hawes

Hawes

Hawes is a small market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, being granted its market charter in 1699...

, and is now in its fifth generation in the family following the retirement of David Milner in March 2008.

The BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 made a television documentary

Television documentary

Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....

 series of three programmes, entitled 'The Department Store'. Produced by Richard Macer, it was about independent department stores and how they are surviving in the modern world in the face of stiff competition from chain stores. The first programme in the series, on Milners, was filmed by the BBC from September 2007 to April 2008. It was initially shown on BBC Four

BBC Four

BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....

 on 17 November 2008 and subsequently on BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

on 7 April 2009.

David Milner, who was featured in the programme, has retired and even assisted with a charity expedition to the Gambia in January 2010 His daughter, Leonie, with her husband, Keith Garrard, are now in charge of the store.