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Lewis's Department Store

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A few More Memories LEWIS'S LTD>
Just a quickie,

Mr French was the Manager of the HOUSE STATIONERY dep’t, and he and the lad who worked with him used to dish out all the bags and string etc, so down you went with your requisition and if you asked for 6 rolls of Sellotape he would give you 3, and this is how it went on with other requisites as well. so, to get what you actually wanted you asked for 12 rolls of Sellotape knowing full well he would cut it down to 6. Old Frenchie never did cotton on as far as I know, we used to say you would think he was paying for this stuff himself.


More meandering,

Mr Harry Fields was the House Superintendent in my day, a very tall smart man balding with grey hair and glasses, he was in charge of the porters, the cleaners, the lift drivers etc. One of the cleaners / porter was a nice chap named Hughie, very well spoken, a little bit eccentric, but a good worker, you would see him in his boiler suit with his big broom sweeping away in the sub-basement. Now Harry told me for a special occasion he had been saving to treat his wife to a meal out at an exclusive restaurant in Edgbaston, they had sat down for their meal waiting to be served when just across the room Harry heard this educated voice call out "Good Evening Mr Fields" and it was no other person than Hughie, apparently he went there regularly to dine as his people were well off and it turned out that Hughie had suffered a mental problem sometime previously, so to put it nicely the difference between genius and the other state is a thin line, and in fact Hughie was a very clever person who had gone slightly passed the limit.

A Merry Christmas To All......

It was Christmas Eve with last minutes presents being purchased and the store having its busiest period I was topping up the shelves when Mr Cashin the Merchandise Manager, who had been enjoying some hospitality with his colleagues on his travels around the store approached me and asked if I could do him a favour, he said he was travelling up to Manchester for the Christmas and he had intended to bring a parcel of extra cutlery etc from his flat in Sutton, so could I get on my motorbike and go to his flat pick up the parcel and bring it to the store, and here was ten shillings for my petrol. I said I would do that just as soon as I had finished filling up. So, I carried on with the job and about half an hour later and a few drinks more Mr Cashin approaches me yet again and we have the same conversation as previously, even to another ten shilling note being offered, but being the honest lad I was I refused the offer and told him that we had already got it sorted and I was in fact just going, so off I went and got the items for him, then back to the Store. I then went on to do my other job in the Store and operate the express lift from the Toy Fair to the Ground Floor, as the Gardening Dep’t wasn't very busy, everyone having already bought Dad a new pair of pruners or a fork and spade etc......... And To All A Good Night.
 
An emergency hospital was set up in the basement of Lewis's to take some of the strain off the General Hospital in 1941. This seems to have been a trial run. Not sure if it continued as it seems to have dealt with the overload of cases resulting from the bad weather. Viv.

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Asa Briggs' history of Lewis's ("Friends of the People) states that " a section of the basement was transformed into a hospital, complete with X-ray and operating rooms, and providing accommodation for 120 beds. After one severe blitz, it was the only hospital working in the centre of the city"
 
Then, luminous items, such as watches, and presumably these, were manufactured using minute additions of radium ! Not to be recommended
 
Lewis's seems to have regularly hosted exhibitions of all kinds. This photo of the "patents" exhibition shows two boys checking out the exhibits. Now are they intrigued, impressed or just plain confused I wonder ? Viv.

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There were other Lewis stores. Hanley, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester and a short lived one in Sheffield.
It would be good to have some photos or drawings to complement the three in post 545.
 
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In reply to Vivs post 539 and Mikejee 540

During the war and immediately after many aircraft instruments had there dials and numbers painted in luminous paint by the girls on the assembly lines. They used to lick the paint brushes to create a fine point to do the delicate work. Yes the paint had radium in it so they would ingest it, and of cause it built up internally. Very nasty indeed, but of course we didn't know the dangers then. Many later died of forms of cancer.
Even today old instruments from this period should be handled very carefully as the paint detreats and breaks down becoming brown in colour and forms into a dust. Never remove the glass and blow it.
Not all instruments from the period used this paint, but be on the safe side and get them checked out.
 
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That is a great set of photos Mike, it certainly completes the Lewis's gallery.
I have amended my post to read 'three'. :eek: It was rather late in the evening and I am suffering, quite rarely, from a heavy cold.
 
Just happened upon this thread after browsing through the forums and it brought back a few memories to say the least, as someone has already said the money wasn't great but the working atmosphere was good (unlike nowadays). I worked as a butcher in the basement there in the 70's, my gaffa was a guy called Reg (good angler), Mick Dolphin, Departmental Boss (Mr Harbage); other colleagues were Ivor & Albert (Bacon) Sheila (cooked meats) & Lester (Porter) good times.

Lozellian
 
A 'Big Bold Sale' at Lewis's in 1970 and everyone in the pic looks so serious but sales in those days were often for selling 'seconds' and folks had to see why the goods were 'seconds'.
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Interesting to see the lady head of her time on her mobile!!! Unusually don't see any famous faces there, although the dark haired chap looks a lot like John Challis from only Fools and Horses and the young bloke in the overcoat with the longer hair reminds me of someone, but cannot put the name there. See there are still a few who wear a hat. Sun is shining, but luckily ground to wet to do any gardening...have a good day all.
Bob
 
Does anyone know the name of this group? that were playing in Lewis,s there are four shots to see https://www.flickr.com/photos/dofar...86-dRrZrs-dRrZMd-dRnDA6-jgU3hb-jgSKZ4-jgX7K5/

I've seen that photo before - someone asking the same question, was it you on another thread?
Looks like it might be the late 60's - early 70's, I remember quite a few Birmingham bands from that era but you can't really see the faces.
The guitarist in the middle is left handed if that rings any bells with anyone.


Edit to add - I'm sorry Horsencart, just noticed the photo says it's in the 1980s! It does look earlier than that though - are you sure?
 
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While going through my late Uncle's things I found some postcards which link to Lewis's. He was Restaurant Manager at the Birmingham store for some time. The first is Condover House, Rhos on Sea which was give to the employees by one of the Cohens as a convalescent home. The other 2 are Selfridges London with their Coronation (George IV?) decorations.
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Lewis's certainly worked hard to bring in the customers. 'Britain's Got Talent' 1920s-style ......

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Lewis's certainly worked hard to bring in the customers. 'Britain's Got Talent' 1920s-style ......

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Which, Vivienne, surprising to many I suspect, is that a great many 'new' things have been done at least once before in the past.
I guess we could have a thread entitled "re-inventions of the wheel" (note the plural)
I am sure - especially when you read or hear present day columnists suddenly announcing new ways to cook or similar house keeping ideas. :D
 
While going through my late Uncle's things I found some postcards which link to Lewis's.........The other 2 are Selfridges London with their Coronation (George IV?) decorations.

It's just occurred to me that I used to buy clothes at Lewis's at their in store boutique Miss Selfridge. This would have been in the 1970s/80s. It was a favourite place to shop. The Selfridge connection must have given the boutique its name. Viv.
 
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