The Honiton and District Steam Laundry was a private company and founded in March 1925.

Curator of Honiton Museum, Margaret Lewis writes for the Herald.

The managing director was Thomas Trott who was also the Master of the Honiton Poor Law Union at Marlpits House. The other directors were Edgar McGowan, Alfred Redfern a sanitary inspector, William Burnard a poulterer, George Cox a plumber and water engineer and William Plumpton a water engineer. Their capital was £4,000 in £1 shares and their object was to acquire the Old Tannery in Streamers Meadows and to carry on the business of a steam and general laundry business. Miss M Craig was the manageress, and she was responsible for employing the staff.

In September 1926 members of the Honiton Workhouse Guardians visited the Basingstoke poor law institution to inspect the laundry plant there and they agreed that they would purchase reconditioned laundry machinery from Messrs Randall of Barnes.

In January 1927, the Workhouse Guardians had to deal with an alleged irregularity. The Castle View Steam Laundry in Sidbury was almost bankrupt and the Honiton and District Steam Laundry had purchased their machinery. Some of it had already been installed in the Workhouse premises but no payment had been made. It was thought to be an undesirable thing that public body should purchase from any concern in which their officials had a prominent interest and no advertisements inviting tenders had been issued. The matter was debated at great length and an enquiry was sent to the Ministry of Health. The reply was that the Minister had no authority to decide the question of the legality of a particular contract which might render a person liable. Eventually in March, the Chair, the Mayor, and the Master went to Barnes to purchase the laundry equipment from Messrs Randall.

In 1957 the first fully automated dry cleaning machine of its kind in the country was installed in the laundry. Each load of hundreds of articles was dry cleaned within twenty minutes. Two massive machines could wash over 700 sheets in seventy minutes and an ironing machine ironed them within an hour. They also offered, invisible mending, carpet cleaning, recovering eiderdowns, a tailor repair service, and a 24 hour service for shirts. In 1958 they also opened a shop in Broad Street, Lyme Regis.

By the mid 1960’s the Honiton and District Steam Laundry Vanity Fair was one of the biggest light industries in Honiton. They specialised in a fast service for hotels and the catering trade, cleaning tablecloths, bed linen, napkins, and waiter’s jackets. Around eighty people were employed and their fleet of sixteen blue and cream vans collected and delivered laundry throughout East Devon, Somerset, and Dorset.