Chesterfield
Introduction
Lipton’s headquarters of 1896
A self-made man, Sir Thomas J. Lipton (1848-1931) opened his first provision shop in Stobcross Street, Glasgow, in 1871. His shops multiplied, their openings trumpeted with stunts and fanfares, and Lipton quickly made his fortune. But it was his decision to grow, manufacture and sell tea – starting with the purchase of estates in Ceylon in 1889 – that made his name so famous around the world.
By 1889, Lipton had 150 shops, known as ‘markets’. When ‘Lipton’s Market’ opened in Cardiff in 1891 the façade was almost completely concealed by gigantic lettering proclaiming: ‘The Largest Tea and Provision Dealer in the World’. In 1896 Lipton’s new London headquarters, designed by Mark W. King, opened on City Road. This replaced older offices on nearby Bath Street. Illuminated throughout by electricity, the building accommodated 1,000 members of staff, including the architect’s department where the plans and specifications of shops were dealt with. It still stands next to Moorfields Eye Hospital, but has been modernised.
The grocery counter, Chesterfield
The Aberdeen Journal considered the new branch on Union Street worthy of description in 1908: ‘Magnificent oak fittings have been placed in the shop, while the artistic tiling and beautiful marblework complete a harmonious and pleasing scheme of adornment. A smart cash railway system has been introduced . . .’.
Lipton had 500 shops by 1919. In 1927 it was decided to close unprofitable branches and to update the look of the shops. The Cornishman reported: ‘It is understood that the green-tiled shop fronts which for many years have been a familiar feature to Cornish shoppers, and indeed to shoppers in almost every town in Great Britain, are to disappear. These fronts – the recognised mark of a Lipton’s shop – are to be replaced by new fittings, equally distinctive, but more in keeping with modern ideas’.
A few years later, in December 1932, the North Devon Journal reported that the Barnstaple shop had been modernised: ‘The entire shop has, in short, been gutted from floor to ceiling, all the old wooden fixtures, plaster, and paper, being superseded by polished marble and mahogany counters, marble shelving, and an ornamental tiled floor, with walls and ceilings to correspond. The new scheme may be described as a beautiful study in white, and the appearance of the handsome shop is greatly enhanced by a series of new electric lamps, with flood lighting in the windows’.
Chesterfield
In 1929 Lipton Ltd was one of a group of provision merchants (including Home & Colonial Stores [and its subsidiary, the Maypole Dairy Co.] and the Meadow Dairy Co.) which formed a central buying organisation called Allied Suppliers Ltd. Two years later, in 1931, Home & Colonial purchased Lipton. In 1960 the Home & Colonial group – distancing itself from associations of Empire – restyled itself Allied Suppliers.
Chesterfield
Lipton retained its separate identity and embraced self-service in the early 1950s: for example on Kirkgate, Leeds, in 1952. Most of its premises, however, remained small in comparison with contemporary Tesco or Sainsbury outlets. It never developed large superstores. In 1982 Allied Suppliers, including 600 Lipton shops, was sold to Argyll Foods. Gradually the shops were rebranded as Presto. The last 84 in the UK closed on 26 September 1986, though two branches remained open for a time in Gibraltar.
Spandrel of main entrance to Lipton’s offices on City Road (1896). The figure appears to be in Indian costume and is depicted against foliage – presumably tea leaves! (photo: R. Baxter)
Surviving Traces
The interior of Lipton’s, 16 Keptie Street, Arbroath, dating from c.1908. Courtesy of Lindsay Lennie.
Just one historic Lipton’s interior is known to survive in Scotland. This is 16 Keptie Street, Arbroath. From local newspapers it is clear that Lipton occupied this shop from 1908 until 1927, when the business relocated to 152 High Street. The tiled interior – probably dating from 1908 – has been attributed convincingly to the tile layer James Duncan by Lindsay Lennie. It incorporates thistles and shamrocks. Incidentally, Lipton’s yacht was named ‘Shamrock’.
A detail of the tiling at 16 Keptie Street, Arbroath, with the letter ‘L’ for Lipton. Courtesy of Lindsay Lennie.
Detail of tiling at 16 Keptie Street, Arbroath. Courtesy of Lindsay Lennie.
The best preserved Lipton’s shop in England is undoubtedly Jackson’s the Bakers, 7 Central Pavement, Chesterfield. A remarkable survival, probably from the 1910s or 1920s, this retains the shopfront and the interior, almost completely intact. Outside, there is a sash window to the left of the lobby entrance, and fixed glazing to the right, with mosaic tiles on the floor. The stall risers, tiled in dark green – perhaps the old style abandoned in 1927 (see above) – were damaged when the Lipton name was removed.
Jackson’s the Bakers, Chesterfield
Chesterfield
On the left-hand side, inside Jackson’s, is a long tiled counter, with marble slabs behind, for retailing fresh produce such as bacon, ham, eggs, cheese and butter. This is comparable with the counters in David Greig shops of the same vintage. On the right is a wooden counter, with wooden shelves behind, for the sale of groceries such as tea, coffee and preserves. Above this runs the slogan ‘THE BUSINESS ON WHICH THE SUN NEVER SETS’. The tiled walls are decorated with swags in green-tiled frames. According to the Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society these tiles were probably manufactured at Wade’s Flaxman Works in Burslem.
Lipton’s entrance lobby, Stornoway, c.1930
Lipton’s black and white chequer floor survives in Chesterfield. Identical tiles survive in the gated lobby of the former Stornoway branch, on the corner of Church Street and Cromwell Street. I have hazy childhood memories of the bright, hygienic interior of that shop, which truly was ‘a beautiful study in white’. The salesmen wore white shop coats and bustled about with pencils tucked behind their ears, cutting and weighing goods, wrapping them in white paper bags, and scribbling down the prices for the ‘girl’ at the cash booth to tot up. Memories of this shop flood back at the sight of the floor in Chesterfield.
Stornoway
Building Our Past 
Wonderful – always heard that Lipton’s shops were beautiful. However, the only ex-Lipton’s I know is on Church Street, Great Malvern. I guess it was a 60s supermarket which closed when a new International (another name from the past!) opened nearby in the very early 80s. The non-descript Lipton’s is now a Boots after being a Be-Wise! The International supermarket which is quite interesting architecturally is now a Wilkinsons.
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Just had a look – I would never have guessed. Fantastic Woolworths (Iceland) across the road. Thanks!
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See your from Malvern Phillip. Remember that store well (I used to work for Lipton) There was also a Lipton in The Shambles in Worcester, if I recall correctly it was where Millets is now….Also they had large Regional Offices next to Ebeneezer Bayliss on London Road (I think the office was bought by Metal Box),
In Ledbury the Lipton store is still a small supermarket (in the Homend), near the clock tower, and in Tewkesbury the Lipton Supermarket was next to the Britannia Public House….:)
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We had a Liptons in Kennington. I recall three shops adjacent to each other. I recall my grandmother still referred to them as Home and Colonial. I had assumed that Liptons bought out H&C, but now realise it was the other wY round. In the late 1960s a new Liptons Supermarket was built next door, but soon sold out to Wallis thanks for the interesting artical
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Interesting! I intend to write a post about Home & Colonial sometime soon.
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I believe the main Head Office at City Road was demolished some time back, however secondary offices that were used by the training department (on the opposite site of the road / the same side as the Eye Hospital) still stand.
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Just posted a couple of photos of the surviving offices, and it occurred to me the sculpture may include tea leaves. What do you think? Otherwise, no sign of corporate Lipton imagery on the building.
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It’s an remarkable piece of writing in support of all the
online viewers; they will take advantage from it I am sure.
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In the Carter and Co archived material in the Dorset History Centre there is a brief card which refers to the Liptons in Parkstone, Poole – dated 26th October 1920 to Messrs W E Jones and Son of Bournemouth – Dear Sirs – Liptons Parkstone – … note that you hope to start tiling at this branch in a fortnight’s time and we see no reason why there should be any difficulty about this. Yours truly, Carter and Co. ‘ I assume this is a note to the company responsible for tiling the premises and Carter and Co were supplying the tiles in this instance. I don’t know where the Liptons in Parkstone was unfortunately.
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That’s lovely, thanks!
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There was a Liptons supermarket on Humbleton Drive, Mackworth, Derby. I remember walking up there with my beloved Gran in the early 70’s as a wee boy and helping her carry the shopping home. She never had her reading glasses on her and I would read the price labels to her. My reward was usually a packet of Spangles. At least the return journey was downhill. It closed years ago I don’t know when (I lived away from Derby for many years as an adult). It has been a speciality lighting shop for at least 25 years maybe longer. The building is the same flat roofed structure probably 50’s or 60’s origin.
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My first job at 17 was working as a data control clerk for Lipton’s Head office, Allied Suppliers Ltd. 279_189 City Road.
Lyons Tea had the first business computer a Lyons Electric Office LEO lll. It was the 7th prototype to be builtin 1963.
Lipton’s were not far behind, 18months later they installed the 24th computer made by LEO.
1970 was an epic year that saw the birth of the UKs ICL, Allied Suppliers move from the LEO lll to a multiprogramming ICL System 4 model 50 and the unleashing of a 17 year old techno geeks 1st of 44 years in IT onto the unsuspecting City of London’s commerce.
My first day began with me walking through that ornate door on the corner of City road and Shepherdess Walk, turn right through the manually operated lift doors and ask the full time lift man to take me to the data processing department.
I caught the end of the bowler hats, people who’d never heard the word computer and lasted through immense technological developments from mainframes, servers, networks, virtualization, the internet and social media right upto children being given pocket computers roughly fifty thousand times more powerful than that first computer.
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I worked there in the early 70s down in the basement,in the postal department
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Hey Ann, You’ve got to say more than that!
I love to find people from this time. Wasn’t it great?
So you’d have worked for Mr Wood then (white hair). His son Frank Wood (I think they were both Frank, Senior(?) and Junior) and I were both very long haired hippy types and worked a long shift pattern in that computer room in the basement. There was an old guy (john?) who drove the lift and had a club foot.
I may have tried to chat you up in the canteen on the top floor (6th), where the dinner ladies asked if I wanted stuffing every Xmas. The place was full of offices with carpet pile getting thicker to match their pay rate. We didn’t have carpet in the basement. Or windows for that matter. In winter it was dark when I arrived and dark when I left.
There were walk in archive safes down in the basement and I walked in to find the beautiful blond girl and her manager, in the act. I was a little upset because I’d been saving and working up the courage to ask her out.
If you were there 70-74, it’s likely I got a kiss from you at Xmas as boys walking around with mistletoe was a great tradition (maybe just us and trad).
There wer LOADS of youngsters working as clerks on the “regions” (mostly 1st floor) and loads of pairing offs and breakups and gossip about who was going with who. I eventually married Maureen from C region but it was fun trying out the other regions and data prep (mini skirt heaven, ground floor) before she caught me. Maureen passed before getting to 50 but we’d raised 2 boys by then.
Xmas do was at Derry & Toms one year. Maybe I danced with you.
Bill
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I meant to say “the beautiful blond girl from the payroll/cashier window where I got my weekly wage packet….of £10.25”.
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