Bentalls was a British

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

chain based in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

. The well regarded department store began as a

drapery Drapery is a general word referring to cloths or textiles (Old French , from Late Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Late Latin ). It ma ...

shop Shop or shopping may refer 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 * Reta ...

, founded by Frank Bentall in 1867. The business expanded significantly throughout the 20th century and operated a group of department stores in southern England. The company was formerly listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

, but in 2001 was purchased by the private Fenwick group. The Kingston upon Thames store remained as the only store to operate under the Bentalls name until 2023, when it was changed to Fenwick.

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 par ...

) and inspired by

Wren Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...

's design for

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

. 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-craftsma ...

. Between 1935 and 1976 it was the UK's largest department store outside central London. 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 Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

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 Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

department store of Eldred Sayers & Son was acquired in 1950. Mary Lee of

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly 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 ...

was purchased a decade later. Rowan Bentall, grandson of founder Frank Bentall, became chairman in 1968. Under his ten-year stewardship the group's turnover more than doubled from £14.5 million to £35.1 million. Developments during this time included the opening of a new purpose-built department store at

Bracknell Bracknell () is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Re ...

in 1973. Further profitable stores were later opened in

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') 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 Mall ...

(1982) and Lakeside (1995).

The 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 a ...

. The present Bentalls department store opened in July 1990, with the adjoining shopping centre completed in November 1992. The principal facade and main entrance vestibule of the 1935 building were retained as part of the development and listed at Grade II in 2011.

Bristol department store

The company made a substantial investment in 1998 to open a large department store in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, purchasing the recently vacated premises of

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

and completely refurbishing it. The group's first foray into the south-west of England was ill-fated, however, with the outlet failing to turn a profit and proving to be a financial drain on the wider business. It was closed within two years.

Recent history

In 2000, the chain rejected a £27 million offer from competitor Allders. In January 2001, the loss-making Bristol store was sold to

House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...

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, trading across six department stores. Fenwick subsequently sold the Lakeside store to Allders and the leases of the Bentalls sites in Ealing, Tonbridge and Worthing to the

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

-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.

Department store locations

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

(opened 1998 in premises previously occupied by John Lewis, originally by Lewis's; sold to House of Fraser in 2001) * Chatham (formerly Edward Bates, acquired 1979; closed 1984) *

(formerly Eldred Sayers & Son, acquired 1950; sold to Beales in 2002) *

(founded 1867; present department store building opened 1990, Bentall Centre completed 1992, renamed Fenwick, 2023) * Lakeside (opened 1992 in premises previously occupied by Lewis's; sold to Allders in 2001) *

(opened 1982; sold to Beales in 2002) *

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

(formerly Bentall & Sons, acquired 1947; sold to Beales in 2002)

In popular culture

Singer

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop mus ...

once worked at Bentalls in

and singer

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

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 by

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...

. Bentalls features in the Ladybird Books People at Work series, appearing in ''In A Big Store''. The Wood Street entrance is also illustrated in ''The Police'', as part of a night time scene where two police constables are arresting suspected 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 Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

Arms

References

External links

Bentalls
{{coords, 51.4111, -0.3053, display=title 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 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange