At least two generations of the Loadman family ran a shop initially at 5 College Street, then at 37 Stonegate and at Minster Gates, York, as a dealer in antiques, old china, furniture, and curios.

The shop was started by Thomas Loadman between 1871 and 1881, and operated until at least the 1950s. Thomas Loadman was born in Helmsley in 1819 as the son of a brewer. He married Jane Sollitt in 1845 in York. Thomas Loadman worked as a gas inspector for most of his career and appears to have opened the shop as a dealer in old china alongside this role later in life with the support of his wife and children. Several of his children helped to run the shop and continued to run it after his death. This includes: Margaret Elizabeth Loadman, born 1847, who moved the shop to Stonegate after Thomas Loadman's death; Eugene Loadman, born c 1865; and Herbert Myers Loadman, born c 1873.