Lewis's Department Store, Hanley

Lewis's Department Store, Hanley

The first Lewis's was opened in 1856 in Liverpool as a men's and boys' clothing store, in 1864 they included women's clothing and in the 1870s’ the store expanded and added further departments.
In 1879, Lewis's opened one of the world's first Christmas grottoes it was called “Christmas Fairyland”
Further department stores were built in other towns and cities. The Hanley store opening in 1934.
The Hanley store was the largest department store in Stoke-on-Trent, built in the Art Deco style it had wooden escalators and lifts for access to the numerous floors.
1963/4 Lewis's built a new store on the opposite side of Lamb Street to the original store. The new store occupied the site of the Bishop and Stonier pottery works.
In 1988 the Lewis’s store was integrated into the £45 million Potteries Shopping Centre. Lewis’s chain of stores were taken over by Owen and Owen, the Hanley store closed in September 1998 and then reopened as Debenhams.

Lewis's Department Store, Lamb Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
advert from 1957 City of Stoke-on-Trent Handbook

Lewis's A Household Word
Lewis's - A Household Word

Lewis's advert in the Crewe Chronicle - June 1941

Christmas time at Lewis's.....

Lewis's Christmas advert
'What a Wonderful Place Lewis's is this Christmas'
'Father Christmas in his Fairy Tale Grotto'
'A Thousand and one Gifts in Lewis's Toy Fair'

Lewis’s Christmas window - 1967

A Christmas window display full of toys at Lewis’s department store, Hanley.
No electronic video games or Playstations, all low-tech toys such as dolls, books and jigsaws.

photo: © The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
Staffordshire Past Tracks

Alfred Pepper was Santa at Lewis’s in Hanley for many years
this photo probably late 1930's
Alfred died in 1946

photo: Nigel Pepper (Great grandson)

Mike Stanton's memories of Christmas in Hanley in 1949:

"Although I have many memories from this period there are some memories that seem to jump out at you with irritating regularity and one which I recall was the Christmas of 1949 when I was 4 years old. I was in Hanley accompanying my Mother doing some last minute shopping and remember walking through Lewis’s Arcade. The late afternoon was cold and dark but passing by Huntbach’s the light emanating from the windows shone like a beacon, warm and welcoming.
In the distance the remnants of a carol could be heard from the Salvation Army in the Market Square. As we approached they were huddled in a circle stamping their feet to get the circulation moving. Upon resuming with Hark the Herald Angels Sing I clutched my Mother’s hand tightly as we watched them call down Christmas from the cold dark sky. I didn’t know what this scene meant to me then but I think I do…..now."

Bounded by Market Square, Stafford Street, Fountain Square and Lamb Street was an "island" department store.

The first store was built in 1883 for McIlroy's - it fronted Stafford Street. In 1935 it was purchased by Lewis's who built a new store in the Art Deco style this store lasted until 1964 when Lewis's moved to their new purpose built department store further along Stafford Street on the site of the previous Bishop & Stonier's pottery works.

The original old McIlroy's / Lewis's site was cleared and an arcade built with small retail units and offices above.

McIlroy’s store set the standard until it was replaced by Lewis’s store

"Mcllroys, "The People Providers," mantle makers, costumiers, house furnishers,
drapers, curtain dealers, quilts, carpets, warehouse men , boot factors, &c."
- from a 1907 directory -

the same view in Sept 2011

in the distance is the pottery works of Bishop & Stonier's - this is where the second Lewis's store was built

Lewis's store, closest to the camera, was built in 1935 on the site of McIlroy’s

postcards: John Booth

Lewis's Art Deco style store on the corner of Lamb Street and Stafford Street, Hanley
'Lewis’s chrome and glass arcade is still remembered with affection'

Lewis’s was the first store in the Potteries to use an arcade, a very European Art-Deco innovation popularised in Paris in the first half of the 19th century. Arcades were indoor pedestrian shopping alleys that provided comfortable and stylish swish and a safe shopping environment away from the dirt and clutter of the street, away from adverse weather conditions.

The new Lewis's Department Store on Stafford Street in 1964
This photo was taken from the junction of Hope Street and New Hall Street.

photo of Debenham's store in Sept 2011

Rebuilding a shopping arcade on Lewis's old site..

View from Market Square looking towards Lamb Street.

View from Market Square looking towards Lamb Street.
At the bottom of Lamb Street (just below the crane jib) can be seen the new Lewis's department store.
By contrast the 1860's store of Huntbatch's can be seen to the centre right.

The left of the arcade housed Pidduck's the jewellers.

View from Market Square looking towards Lamb Street (on the right) and Fountain Square (on the left).
The left of the arcade (the facade of which is complete in the photo) housed Pidduck's the jewellers.

Photos: Peter Longshaw

"Fire is at the root of all things both visible and invisible"

The Man of Fire

Named by many as "Jack Frost" - the statue for the new Lewis's store was designed by the London sculptor David Wynne.

David Wynne spent some time in the Potteries looking for inspiration and he said "..it hit me that the sculpture must have something to do with the great fires which dominate the life of the Potteries...."

The statue is made of anodised aluminium. It is 35 feet high and 28 feet wide, it weighs 1.25 tons.

Hanley in the mid 1950's

many buildings are recognisable...

Green - the location of the first Lewis's store - built in 1934 on the site of Mcllroys department store

Red - originally the site of Bishop & Stoniers pottery works, at the time of this photo
the works had been replaced by shops, in 1963/4 Lewis's moved into a new store on this site.

Orange - St. John's Church - still standing.

Yellow- the building marked in yellow was the indoor market - now demolished and part of the Potteries Shopping Centre.

Blue - the blue building was Hunbatch's department store - again demolished and part of the Potteries Shopping Centre.

Purple - Bratt and Dyke's store - the building is still standing.

Light blue - Lloyds Bank, built on the site of Hanley's second town hall.

the same location in 2011 - the area is dominated by the Potteries Shopping Centre
which incorporated Lewis's second store and took over the location of Huntbach's and the indoor market.
St. John's Chruch, Bratt & Dyke's and Lloyds Bank are still identifiable.

Bing Maps

contents: 2011 adverts

Related pages

Hanley got there first in size and quality - Hanley got rid of its town centre factories when its civic fathers decided that retail and commerce were more fitting to fashionable success.

Rebuilding the old Lewis's site

Bishop & Stonier's Stafford Street Works

also see..

Photo of the Week
Potworks of the Week