Bentalls is a British

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chain with a branch in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

. The well regarded 'county' department store began as a

drapery Drapery is a general word referring to cloths or textiles (Old French , from Late Latin ). It may refer to cloth used for decorative purposes – such as around windows – or to the trade of retailing cloth, originally mostly for clothin ...

shop Shop or shopping refers to: Business and commerce * A casual word for a commercial establishment or for a place of business * Machine shop, a workshop for machining *"In the shop", referring to a car being at an automotive repair shop *A wood ...

, founded by Frank Bentall in 1867. The company was formerly listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

, but since 2001 has been owned by the private Fenwick group.

History

Bentalls was established in 1867 by Frank Bentall who purchased a drapery shop in Kingston upon Thames. The principal buildings of the Kingston store were completed in 1935 to a design by architect Maurice Webb (son of Sir

Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in pa ...

) and inspired by Wren's design for

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. The fine stonework on the façade was the work of

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

. Between 1935 and 1976 it was the UK's largest department store outside central London. It became a Grade II listed building in 2011. The company was floated on the

in 1946, but the Bentall family retained a controlling interest. Bentalls established their first branch store in 1947 when the Worthing department store of Bentall & Sons was acquired from family cousins who had decided to retire. The Worthing business was significantly extended with the purchase of the Jordan & Cook furniture store in later years. The Ealing department store of Eldred Sayers & Son was acquired in 1950. Mary Lee of Tunbridge Wells was purchased a decade later. Under the association with Frank Bentall's grandson Rowan Bentall, who was Chairman between 1968-1978, the company expanded with a new purpose-built Bentalls department store opening in Bracknell in 1973. Further stores were opened in Chatham,

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...

and Lakeside. As a result, the group's turnover more than doubled from £14.5 million to £35.1 million. The company subsequently opened a store in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and closed the stores in Chatham and Tunbridge Wells.

Bentall Centre

In 1987, work began on a major shopping centre development in Kingston, in collaboration with

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva ...

. The new Bentalls department store opened in July 1990, with the main shopping centre opening two years later in November 1992. The facade of the original store was retained as part of the development.

Recent history

In 2000, the chain rejected a £27 million offer from its rival

Allders Allders was an independent department store operating in the United Kingdom. The original store was established in 1862 in Croydon by Joshua Allder. In the second half of the 20th century, this parent store was developed into a chain of depart ...

. In January 2001, Bentalls sold their loss-making Bristol store which had previously been occupied by

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

to rivals House of Fraser for £16.35 million. In June of that year, the family-owned rival department store chain Fenwick purchased Bentalls for £70.8 million. The Bentall family's shareholding at the time was 38%, with Frank Bentall's great-grandson Edward Bentall being the chairman. The company's turnover was £108.2 million. The chain then consisted of six stores: Bracknell, Ealing, Kingston upon Thames, Lakeside, Tonbridge and Worthing. Fenwick subsequently sold the Lakeside store to Allders and the leases of the Bentalls sites in Ealing, Tonbridge and Worthing to the Bournemouth based Beales group. The successful stores in Kingston upon Thames and Bracknell were retained. The Bracknell branch was replaced in September 2017 by a new Fenwick store as part of The Lexicon development.

Current operations

Kingston is one of the largest retail centres in the south-east and Bentalls itself is popular among many shoppers. In the days approaching

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

, Bentalls Kingston is said to take over £1 million per day.

Department store locations

* Bracknell (opened 1973; closed 2017 to coincide with the opening a new Fenwick store in the town) *

(opened 1998 in premises previously occupied by

; sold to House of Fraser in 2001) * Chatham (formerly

Edward Bates Edward Bates (September 4, 1793 – March 25, 1869) was a lawyer and politician. He represented Missouri in the US House of Representatives and served as the U.S. Attorney General under President Abraham Lincoln. A member of the influential ...

; acquired 1979; closed 1984) * Ealing (formerly Eldred Sayers & Son; acquired 1950; sold to Beales in 2001) *

(founded 1867, moved to present site in 1990, Bentall Centre opened 1992) * Lakeside (opened 1992 in premises previously occupied by

Lewis's Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...

; sold to

in 2001) *

(opened 1982; sold to Beales in 2001) *

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

(formerly Mary Lee; acquired 1960; closed 29 July 1995) *

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

(formerly Bentall & Sons; acquired 1947; sold to Beales in 2001)

In popular culture

Singer

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...

once worked at Bentalls in Ealing and singer

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

gave her first public performance as a child at Bentalls in

. Bentalls is mentioned by the character Chubb in the Anthony Blunt episode ( A Question of Attribution) of the stage play

Single Spies ''Single Spies'' is a 1988 double bill written by the English playwright Alan Bennett. It consists of ''An Englishman Abroad'' and '' A Question of Attribution'', the former an adaptation of a television play the author had written for the BBC i ...

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

. Bentalls features in the

Ladybird Books Ladybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books. It is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary o ...

People at Work series, appearing in ''In A Big Store'' Bentalls Wood Street entrance also features in the

People at Work series " The Police". A night time scene where two police constables are arresting what appears to be some burglars.

Gallery

File:Bentalls Delivery Lorry.jpg, A Bentalls delivery lorry in Kingston upon Thames File:Bentalls - geograph.org.uk - 819838.jpg, Bentalls' 1935 facade inspired by Hampton Court Palace

Arms

References

{{reflist

External links

Bentalls Department StoresFenwick Department Stores
Department stores of the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames History of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Tourist attractions in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames