michaelwicks54
Aston bred & proud.
Going to Lewis's at christmas was so so special for many of us kids back then. I loved the animal corner, & used to go there instead of school.
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Chris B
master brummie
Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention. PART THREE.
Lewis's Gardening Dept comprised of 3 sections and the way we remembered them were as follows, Button 1 on the till M16 Anything that grows, Button 2 on the till M17 Anything that doesn't grow, Button 3 on the till M18 Garden Furniture. At the time I worked there out of town garden centres if any were few and far between, so we did a lot of business. Mr Reardon the buyer at Duke Street procured bulk purchases of capital goods, lawn mowers, sheds, garden furniture etc, local suppliers like Thomas Plant, F.W. Pimm, Joseph Walters and one or two others supplied us with small top ups weekly. If we were overbought Mr Smith would send me up to plead for a hundred pounds or what ever the figure was so that we could top up the shelves and I would have take the orders to be counter signed by the stores Merchandise Officer, I think his name was Mr Jones, he had an office next to the Assistant General Managers office Mr Freddie Andrews, who I must say was an absolute Gentleman. Obviously Spring, Summer and Autumn were the busiest seasons, the Summer brought the display of bowls of cut roses from Abraham and Walker in Ireland all varieties were available for the customers to order for delivery to their homes for Autumn planting, as Autumn approached crate loads of Daffodil, tulip, and Hyacinth bulbs and prepacked shrubs started arriving,
(I have still got 6 or 7 Copper Beech trees all growing as a hedge). Now some of the bulbs brought with them some problems of there own, Tulips would give you tulip finger, that is to say your finger nail mainly on your first two fingers and thumb started parting company with your actual finger which was very sore, the only answer was to ram barrier cream down your nails and try to remember to wear a glove, Hyacinths were dressed with something that if you touched your body after serving them it made you itch, no answer to that one only wash your hands or don't touch yourself. The best bulbs were the Daffodils, no problems with those, and we used to sell thousands of those King Alfreds at 2/11d a dozen, in fact it was a full time job fetching the crates up from the sub basement, the 3 tier metal trollies were useless you could only get 3 crates on, a sack truck was fair but you could only get 5 crates on, and you spent half your time looking round to borrow one from the receiving room so out of necessity I made a crude but effective trolly. I got hold of a bakers sturdy wooden tray, took the wheels off a wrecked 3 tier trolley, attached them to the base of the tray, locked the rear set so that you had front steering, got hold of a piece of very very thick rope and knotted it through the front handle of the tray and we were off. Frank Dwyer the porter and I could carry the trolley one handed down the stairs if there wasn't a lift coming, we could load up 10 crates or even 12 at a push onto the trolly, with Frank on the back and me on the front with the pulling / steering rope we were in the lift up to the basement and over to the counter shouting "gang way ladies mind your nylons" where Bill Carrington the part time fireman would be using his charm on the lady customers and bagging up the bulbs like fury, you couldn't take the money quick enough, Health & Safety eat your heart out, it was a grand life if you didn't weaken !!!!
TO BE CONTINUED.
Lewis's Gardening Dept comprised of 3 sections and the way we remembered them were as follows, Button 1 on the till M16 Anything that grows, Button 2 on the till M17 Anything that doesn't grow, Button 3 on the till M18 Garden Furniture. At the time I worked there out of town garden centres if any were few and far between, so we did a lot of business. Mr Reardon the buyer at Duke Street procured bulk purchases of capital goods, lawn mowers, sheds, garden furniture etc, local suppliers like Thomas Plant, F.W. Pimm, Joseph Walters and one or two others supplied us with small top ups weekly. If we were overbought Mr Smith would send me up to plead for a hundred pounds or what ever the figure was so that we could top up the shelves and I would have take the orders to be counter signed by the stores Merchandise Officer, I think his name was Mr Jones, he had an office next to the Assistant General Managers office Mr Freddie Andrews, who I must say was an absolute Gentleman. Obviously Spring, Summer and Autumn were the busiest seasons, the Summer brought the display of bowls of cut roses from Abraham and Walker in Ireland all varieties were available for the customers to order for delivery to their homes for Autumn planting, as Autumn approached crate loads of Daffodil, tulip, and Hyacinth bulbs and prepacked shrubs started arriving,
(I have still got 6 or 7 Copper Beech trees all growing as a hedge). Now some of the bulbs brought with them some problems of there own, Tulips would give you tulip finger, that is to say your finger nail mainly on your first two fingers and thumb started parting company with your actual finger which was very sore, the only answer was to ram barrier cream down your nails and try to remember to wear a glove, Hyacinths were dressed with something that if you touched your body after serving them it made you itch, no answer to that one only wash your hands or don't touch yourself. The best bulbs were the Daffodils, no problems with those, and we used to sell thousands of those King Alfreds at 2/11d a dozen, in fact it was a full time job fetching the crates up from the sub basement, the 3 tier metal trollies were useless you could only get 3 crates on, a sack truck was fair but you could only get 5 crates on, and you spent half your time looking round to borrow one from the receiving room so out of necessity I made a crude but effective trolly. I got hold of a bakers sturdy wooden tray, took the wheels off a wrecked 3 tier trolley, attached them to the base of the tray, locked the rear set so that you had front steering, got hold of a piece of very very thick rope and knotted it through the front handle of the tray and we were off. Frank Dwyer the porter and I could carry the trolley one handed down the stairs if there wasn't a lift coming, we could load up 10 crates or even 12 at a push onto the trolly, with Frank on the back and me on the front with the pulling / steering rope we were in the lift up to the basement and over to the counter shouting "gang way ladies mind your nylons" where Bill Carrington the part time fireman would be using his charm on the lady customers and bagging up the bulbs like fury, you couldn't take the money quick enough, Health & Safety eat your heart out, it was a grand life if you didn't weaken !!!!
TO BE CONTINUED.
Was just watching an episode of Salvage Hunters and it featured 4 column caps (I think Corinthiam style) which it claimed came from Lewis's Birmingham when it was bombed in WW2. I wan't aware that Lewis's had been damaged during WW2. Does anyone know ?
Maybe the programme researcher/antiques dealer got it confused with Liverpool Lewis's which I think was damaged by a WW2 bomb ?
Also the column caps looked like Corinthian in style. I don't think the caps at Birmingham Lewis's were of that style. Seem to think they were plainer, Doric caps. But could be wrong.
Maybe the programme researcher/antiques dealer got it confused with Liverpool Lewis's which I think was damaged by a WW2 bomb ?
Also the column caps looked like Corinthian in style. I don't think the caps at Birmingham Lewis's were of that style. Seem to think they were plainer, Doric caps. But could be wrong.
A new department opening in Lewis's.
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Lewis's staff in the 1930s. That's a whopper of a cake ! Perhaps these sorts of events indicate a caring employer ?
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Years ago employees were appreciated and bosses used to show their appreciation, it made you loyal to your employer because of this. These days employees are just a number that's if you are lucky enough to get a job.
Regarding soft ice cream the machines did not belong to Lewis's they were operated by two brothers one named Terry can't remember the other they used all fresh ingredients the girls who operated them were from the same family there were about five machines altogether