In Pictures: London’s Lost Department Stores

By · December 27, 2012 at 10:32 am · 12 Comments · Miscellaneous · Report an error ·

In days of yore, before the Central line was propped up by a Westfield at either end, where did Londoners hit up for the post-Christmas sales? Click through the gallery above and take a trip into the capital’s retail history with a look at some long-lost department stores.

Photo of RACS Woolwich by kanshiketsu under Creative Commons 2.0 licence

Photo of Wickhams by David Sankey via the Londonist Flickrpool

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  • Peter Twist

    Worth remembering also were those departmental stores based on the co-operative model, the Army and Navy in Victoria Street and the Civil Service Store in the Strand.

  • Gary

    Lovely photos. A tiny correction – the Peckham store was Jones & Higgins. I used to go and see Father Christmas there!

    • http://londonist.com/ Dean Nicholas

      Thanks, corrected.

  • http://twitter.com/sillycasper Martin

    As soon as I saw this I wondered if Pratts would get a mention as my grandmother worked there. But I had no idea it was so old!
    Many thanks for this post!

  • BJD

    You missed Jones Brothers on the Holloway Road (sister to Pratt’s, closing on the same day in 1990) and Gorringe’s in Victoria; also let’s not forget Peter Robinson on Oxford Circus which had the outline of the old name lettering showing for decades after it closed.

  • http://twitter.com/JoeF_E17 Joe Fernando

    I grew up in 60′s Paddington and remember going to Whiteley’s in Queensway when it was a huge department store rather than the mall it is today. Must be worth an entry?

  • John Backwell

    Thanks Dean, great range of photos, brought back a few memories (especially J&H’s in Peckham!). Others from my youth are Cobb’s in Sydenham giving it’s name to Cobb’s Corner and Bon Marche in Brixton (also part of the John Lewis group).

  • http://www.facebook.com/chris.amies Chris Amies

    There was also Barber’s, on North End Road in Fulham, which closed down some time in the late 1980s.

  • http://www.facebook.com/charlesdickenslondon Chris West

    As Joe Fernando points out- Whiteleys in Queensway should also be mentioned- it became the first department store in London. The three staircases in today’s building are the same as the original, showing just how big was the original store.

  • http://londonist.com/ Dean Nicholas

    Thanks for the Whiteleys tips — I’ve added it to the gallery.

  • jamie

    Cobbs in Sydenham, Cobbs Corner. Opposite was Kirks Corner (camera shop). Both buildings still in use. Used to dread the yearly visit to Pratts in Streatham to get new uniform for the coming school year, it spelt the end of the summer holidays.

  • Jon

    I worked on the display team at Barkers of Kensington back in the mid 1970′s. It was a rabbit warren of ‘back stage’ corridors especially the mezzanine floor that housed the display store room, I found items going back to the 1940′s it was amazing -such a big big shame it’s now no more. The stories I could tell……….

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