Roll back to 1972 when Sue spent a year living in Norway whilst Philip had a scholarship to study ceramics. Meanwhile, Sue taught herself to machine knit and weave. With her entrepreneurial mindset she already had a plan that this would not just be a mere hobby but a business venture. By 1982 Sue had created her own knitwear brand ‘Sue Cutting’ and, with business thriving, she had built a team of knitters supplying shops across the UK and overseas. One of Sue’s largest accounts was Penny Plain and her eponymous mail-order company – with whom she can be seen standing side-by-side. She opened her first shop in 1982 on Lion St, Hay-on-Wye, to showcase her knitwear. Freya was captivated by her mother’s wool room, particularly the lurex yarn, and could often be found playing with wool cones!

Sue missed Hay and her friends, so the family returned and closed the Bristol store and Jonty had coincidingly decided to have a career change and became a kitchen designer. One day, Philip spotted Tommy’s sweet shop looking low on stock and told Sue to pop in. He was retiring, allowing Sue to relocate to number two, the pavement, Hay: hence the new business name ‘Number Two’. Freya dipped her toe into retail life, becoming a Sunday girl before going to university. Sue made the decision to end the knitwear business in the 90s and concentrate on retail. Her love of knitting is still evident, though, as we still support and sell knitwear from various UK designers.

After beginning a PhD, and a later role in business analysis for a multinational company, Freya, feeling that her creative flare was supressed, left to join the family business, launching ‘Shoes@NumberTwo’ on Lion St, opposite Sue’s very first shop! Freya had a business plan to create a complimentary clothing, footwear and accessories store.

Many a conversation over the past 20 years went along the lines of ‘wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could have all of our brands under one roof, like a mini department store’. But, alas, the right property never came up at the right time (until now). The HSBC bank was vacated and became available as a new and exciting opportunity that we could not ignore: this time to fulfil our ultimate business ambition. The bank building at 12 High Town was secured and the renovations began. Phase one was realised with ‘Number Two Collection’ relocating in 2020 (two weeks before the first lockdown) but we were in!