Lecture 08 June 2026 London's Lost Department Stores – A Vanished World of Dazzle and Dreams, by Tessa Boase

The Arts Society Horsham's June lecture takes us on a dazzling journey across London's lost department stores, immersing ourselves in the glamour of the "Hall of Temptation" and "Cathedrals of Consumption".

Shopping as an Edwardian lady alighting at Oxford Street on the tuppenny tram, one might saunter into Dickins & Jones for a fur coat or the perfumery department at Harrods for the latest scent at this "shrine of fashion", or even buy a full mourning outfit at Peter Robinson! An alternative destination might be Selfridges for the ladies' powder room or a browse in the library!

At its golden hey day, stores would devise stunts of fantasy involving elephants and chimpanzees for maximum publicity. Shopping became an immersive experience and a symbol of social identity. Bond Street shoppers would have regarded themselves a different class to the shoppers of Holdrons in Peckham. Hire purchase was introduced by Drages in 1929 where goods would be delivered in an unmarked van! Such was the temptation of consumerism that it grew gangs of shoplifters, the most famous being Alice Diamond and her Forty Elephants of Elephant & Castle.

However, behind the glamour in these towers of dreams were squalid attics where hordes of workers would be packing customers' orders or seamstresses working long hours in less than salubrious environment. Shop floor staff who were mostly female would be on their feet all day at half the pay of their male counterparts. Their unequal treatment led to organised strikes though it was forbidden by employers like Mr Whiteley. The Edwardian era witnessed huge social changes with the suffragette movement for women's rights.

Stores such as Arding & Hobbs which featured the first Santa's Grotto in 1926, Derry & Toms in Kensington with its Moorish roof garden of flamingos and DH Evans with its German Art Deco building and the famous escalator are all but vanished. Some of the glamour palaces have remained — Selfridges, Harrods, Liberty, to name the remaining few, but Oxford Street is not what it used to be! However, if one takes one's sightline above the vape and candy shops, one might still catch a glimpse of some of the architectural gems — from Arts & Crafts to modernist structures such as Simpsons (Now Waterstones) at Piccadilly. There is also a rediscovered Art Deco ceiling at Khan's Bargains at Peckham!

Sadly the demise of the British department stores has continued to our present day. We learnt that since 2016, Britain has lost 83% of its department stores. In our reverie, we reminisced closer to home Hanningtons of Brighton, Hills of Hove and Chart & Lawrence in Horsham, where many of us remember having Saturday jobs or having our uniforms measured. The lecture was a truly dazzling experience and even though the shoppers' dreams had long faded, we were comforted nonetheless with a good dose of nostalgia!