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Lewis's Department Store

Maryd said:
In the photo on Muffin, the smaller present has got to be a John Bull printing set!
Mary
Click to expand...

Ah, the John Bull printing set !
Those little rubber letters that had to be jammed into a groove in a wooden block with a pair of tweezers, then dabbed on an ink pad.
I don't know what caused me to scream with frustration more, the printing set or flippin' Meccano !
 
and didn't you always manage to lose the vitally important screw for the meccano? I can remember more than a few tantrums from my brother, no doubt not helped by me showing off my french knitting, because I hadn't lost any parts!
Sue
 
I remember that John Bull printing set.

Z
john bull.jpg
 
Hi

Yep those black fingers and if I remember a lot of ink got on the Paper but it
gave us a little ones an insight of printing. I suppose in its day it was our Laptop

Mike Jenks
 
And all those black fingerprints over the table cloth, the door handles, ink on the soap - no liquid soap then - and if you had washed in haste, over the towel = big trouble!!
Sue
 
Great photos Colin, I take it you were a regular at Lewis's!!, is that a proud Dad in the trilby#431 photo 2.??
paul
 
great photos colin i used to love going on the roof at lewis,s and the toy floor, Happy memories, thanks for posting
 
nice pics' Colin, I remember being taken on the roof garden when I was a nipper, and walking over the little bridges that were over the stream. Later on when I worked there most of it had been dismantled circa 1958 / 60 there were odd benches left and my girlfriend and I used to go up there in our lunch hour for a kiss and canoodle, until we were spotted by some spoil sport in one of the offices on the floor below and they reported us to the personnell dept, we were summoned to report to the staff office and given a talking to, in other words don't do it again or your out, or something like that. They were good days though.
 
I used to go every year with mum to see Santa. I can still picture it now. I thought it was real.

Many years later I helped with the Round Table Santa sleigh in Rubery. It was wonderful to see the look in kids eyes as they sat on my lap telling me what they wanted for Christmas - eyes like saucers - they were convinced I was the real thing. Magical. I nearly choked on the artificial beard though.

I worked at Lewis's twice in my school holidays in 1972. Once in the DIY dept in the basement and next in menswear. I cannot watch "Are you being served" without casting my mind back to my time on shirts and ties...

Lewis's were a good employer too. The pay was OK, we had morning and afternoon rest breaks to put our feet up and a great subsidised canteen - I think I had fish & chips with mushy peas every day.
 
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I used to go up town most Saturdays with my mother,first port of call was Lewises,she used to buy her Linco Beer hair shampoo from there,then if I was good,it was up to the roof gardens for Knickerbocker Glory,I can still taste it.

Ps..Did you know that the original stone lions which were on the roof,now line a tree lined Avenue in Shard End.
 
The avenue of stone lions in Shard End was the entrance to the Boy Scouts camping ground in Yorks Wood.Having spent my childhood in Packington Avenue and being a member of Yorks Wood Scouts I spent many happy hours both camping and roaming around the woods with my mates.
 
I was looking at this thread and wondered where some of my previous posts had gone and then realised they were in a much larger Lewis's thread. An example of some of the many nice photos (not mine) in a post #353 here

ps. There is a photo of the real Father Christmas here
 
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Wonderful pictures.I notice in the view along Corporation Street that there was a Daimler DC 27 ambulance.There are now only about 6 left in this country.
 
Colin my husband has looked through your photo's with me and said thanks for posting them as they brought back lovely memories for him. Mine was not so pleasant when one of the monkeys scratched my eye and I ended up at the hospital. Pete always had a nickerbocker glory for a treat. Jean.
 
I grew up in Birmingham and fondly remembered going to Lewis's with my Grandmother for lunch.

I believe the building had a special importance for her because my Grandfather was a firewatcher during WWII and was killed in an air raid.
He was taken by ambulance to the hospital in the basement of Lewis's where he died, my Mother described viewing her deceased Father there.

Another sad story was a neighbor of my Mother who was seriously injured while waiting for a 65 bus in Bull St. A woman who had jumped from
Lewis's roof had landed on the poor lady. Sadly both died.

I was told that the road bricks in the Minories were made from rubber to keep down the traffic noise.
 
I remember going up on to the roof garden of Lewis's many times Fliermike when I was young, but they had to close it eventually because of the risk of people jumping off the building I believe. I think it happened a few times.

The same happened with the staircase that we used to queue on to see Father Christmas every year. I think a child climbed on the handrail while queuing and fell several floors through the centre of the staircase. The staircase was never used again for that purpose.

Judy

Judy
 
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