Our Story
Isle of Wight Pearl started with an idea – holidays are special, rare time with those we love that should be treasured accordingly. For more than thirty years our family business has travelled the world to find the very best pearls. We buy straight from pearl farmers, bringing the pearls home for you to celebrate precious moments.
Looking out over our island’s beautiful southern coast Isle of Wight Pearl and the Pearl Café have grown into our World of Wonderful where we love to get stuck into island life and tell all and sundry about the wonderful world of pearls.
Our founder, Fred Scragg, saw how people love to treat themselves on holiday, so he decided to build something extraordinary that had never been seen before. He set out to give holidaymakers a wonderful reminder of their time on the Isle of Wight.
Fred had travelled the world in his previous life as an inventor-slash-engineer and had fallen in love with pearls. He saw exciting possibilities for his idea and so set up a pearl specialist business here.
In 1988, we opened the doors of Isle of Wight Pearl, and on the first day the car park was full of coaches and a queue stretched from the front door, all the way out to the main road.
Fred’s vision had become reality, and it was clear early on that people loved it. Fred not only sought out and hand-picked the pearls he believed were truly special, but he also created a memorable place that helped people treasure holiday time together.
Steeped in History
During World War One the Isle of Wight Pearl premises were used to lodge officers when their original billet, ‘Sea Breeze’, was bombed. Then during the 1930s the building became a private residence for Lord Jeffery John Archer Amherst below, who was described as a pilot, businessman, journalist and author.
In June 1955, the house and land were sold to Alexander Robert Humphrey for £5,000. He converted it into Chilton Chine Holiday Camp which was the first holiday camp in the UK to offer self-catering chalets over summer. There were 74 small self-catering chalets, many along the side of the main building, and only one 6-bedroom chalet that had a toilet and a shower – the rest shared the communal block. In 1987 the premises was acquired again, this time by Isle of Wight Pearl.
Today...
More than 30 million people have visited our store since 1988, and around 10 million people can open their jewellery boxes, see our crown, and be reminded of a special time in their lives with their pearls.
