Ramsbottom Grant Arms Hotel in Market Place was the home of William and Daniel Grant, 19th century industrialists closely associated with the rise of the town and reputed to be the inspiration for the Cheeryble brothers in "Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens. The Grants' employees were paid in tokens that had to be redeemed at a public house owned by the company. The landlord converted the tokens into cash, but only after deducting threepence per person, which had to be spent on beer, a variation on the truck system. A network of roads and railways routed through Ramsbottom allowed for a
Shaun Dickens Shaun Dickens Shaun Dickens is a chef who owns the Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse restaurant in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Dickens trained at Westminster Kingsway College in London, during which time he was one of six students to appear on ITV's Yes Chef! His first position was at Raymond Blanc's two Michelin star restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons before he moved to New York to work for Thomas Keller at the three Michelin star Per Se. He returned to England two years later and worked at L'Ortolan in Reading, which also holds a Michelin star. During this time he came third