It is a historic Norwich store with a proud family history which has seen the Jarrold name flourish in this region for 240 years.

And it is this history and tradition which has been celebrated as part of a heritage wall which has been installed outside the store's pantry restaurant at its store in London Street.

The wall, which was unveiled for the first time yesterday, charts every significant step in the company's development, from its beginnings in the 1700s as a drapers and grocers in Woodbridge, Suffolk, to the present day as a department store in Norwich.

Shoppers at the store will be able to learn about the history of one of the region's most prominent family-run businesses.

Caroline Jarrold, the company's community affairs adviser, said: 'We've been doing a lot of work with our archives. We had a huge amount of material, but it hadn't been catalogued. Peter Mitchell [the company's managing director] said it would be really nice to use some of it as part of a heritage wall in store and we thought that was a great idea, so we started working on it three to four months ago.' The wall, which is 3.2metres wide, details how the Jarrold story began back in 1770 in the grocers and drapers store opened by John Jarrold in Suffolk.

The business expanded to printing in 1815 and in 1823 the family took over premises in Norwich, on the south side of what is now London Street, to sell books and stationery, with printing moving from Suffolk to the same site around 1830.

In 1840, Jarrold moved to parts of the present site facing Little London Street and over the next 164 years the company gradually acquired the rest of the current site. The present buildings facing London Street were built in 1902 and designed by well known local architect George Skipper.

Do you have a story about Norwich's heritage? Call reporter Peter Walsh on 01603 772436 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk