The story of Merrythought began in 1930, when Gordon Holmes, owner of a mohair spinning mill in Yorkshire, recognised an opportunity to make beautiful soft toys from this special Angora fleece. His wish was to create the very finest teddy bears that would be cherished by children and adults for years to come. Gordon discovered a beautiful brick foundry building in the heart of Shropshire, and with the help of a small team of skilled local seamstresses, Merrythought was born. The original workshop remains our home to this day; an enchanting place where each soft toy is expertly brought to life using luxury materials and traditional craftsmanship that has been handed down the four generations of our family business.
Only soft toys of the highest quality are allowed to carry the trusted Merrythought label. We therefore ensure the utmost care and attention to detail in everything that we do, right down to the hand-embroidered nose and delightful smile that makes each teddy bear so unique.
A Merrythought is not just a teddy bear, but an exquisite piece of British heritage and a loyal companion through life.
The Merrythought Teddy Bear Shop and Museum is open seven days a week from 10am – 5pm. This unique shop is home to a huge range of traditional and limited edition teddy bears, Cheeky Bears, Punkie bears and unusual Merrythought soft toys from Humpty Dumpty’s to hippos. All of the current collection are in stock as well as a number of rare discontinued items and shop exclusives.
Within the shop is a small museum with some of the earliest Merrythought and Farnell teddy bears (dating back as far as 1909) as well as many other characters created by Merrythought over the years.
Of course all of the bears have been made onsite in Ironbridge. We offer free parking for our shop and museum and have other retailers within our Merrythought Village site.
Please visit the website for pricing.
Open 7 days a week, 10am to 5pm
