Our history

Richard C Arnold is a family run business that was first established in 1890. This page gives a brief glimpse of our recent history.

A family business

In 1928, Raymond W Arnold, himself the son of an Optician (Charles Arnold), leased one of the very original units of the historic Petersfield Corn Exchange that had become small retail units.

After 46 successful years, his son, Richard C Arnold, took ownership of the practice in 1974 when Raymond sadly died. Along with bringing up their young family, Richard and his wife Margaret worked enthusiastically to maintain Raymond's legacy of high quality service and to expand into two new branches at Midhurst and Cowplain.

The family ethos is still very strong with Richard's daughter Sarah and his son Charles both working in the business. Sarah currently works as an Optometrist, and Charles managed the Midhurst branch for many years before starting his own company (see Midhurst & Cowplain section below).

Petersfield branch

Between 1980 and 2001 the site at Petersfield, Hampshire was expanded by taking up more units in the Corn Exchange building, giving a spacious and clinically well equipped practice with three upstairs and one downstairs consulting room.

In addition, the Petersfield branch now has a Laboratory for 'in house' glazing facilities, an Optomap retinal imaging clinical area, OCT Scanning facilities and a large area for spectacle dispensing. The services have somewhat changed over the course of 80 years as advances in techniques and equipment have been introduced. For example, we no longer fit false eyes but do use one of the most sophisticated ocular imaging systems on the market (Optomap) as a part of the extended eye examination.

Midhurst & Cowplain branches

In 2010, ownership of the Midhurst and Cowplain practices was transferred to Charles Arnold who now trades as a separate company ("Arnold Opticians") continuing the family ethos of excellent service and quality

Our staff

Richard C Arnold's team of practitioners remains one of the best assets of the business; they bring unbridled enthusiasm for their specialist field, and as such give the type of advice their clientele have become accustomed to. We offer guidance on all aspects of Ocular Health, Spectacles, Contact Lenses, Orthokeratology and even Laser Refractive Surgery.

if Raymond Arnold was able to visit the practice today, much of what we do would be unfamiliar to him. However, we feel that he would be proud that the Arnold's ethos of quality and service, care for the individual and appropriate advice for their needs, remains at the core of our business.