Cater Brothers was a supermarket chain based in the South East of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The business started out in the 19th century as a butchers, before progressing into the grocery business. The company opened their first self-service supermarket in 1958. Ownership changed hands twice during the 1970s, firstly being purchased by

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...

, before they sold the business in 1979 to Allied Suppliers, the grocery store concern of

Cavenham Foods Cavenham Foods (also known as Cavenham) was a retail and food processing conglomerate started by Sir James Goldsmith in 1964. The company started out as a group of struggling UK food brands, including Carr's and Hollands Toffee purchased and br ...

. The business was quickly integrated into Allied's chain of supermarkets, Presto.

History

Cater Brothers Supermarkets was a natural progression for a family of butchers and greengrocers. Henry Charles Cater (1818-1868) was a pork merchant and latterly a pork

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

in the East End of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Three of his four sons went on to become a cheesemonger, a grocer and a provisions merchant. Henry John Cater, one of Henry Charles's sons, is shown in the 1881 census as being a grocer in Bridge Street, Mile End. It was his five sons who took the business over after his death in 1919, with his son Erastus being appointed chairman of the board. By the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the business had around 30 stores. In 1956, Leslie Erastus, son of Erastus, had taken over the running of the business and was keen to move the company into the new self-service supermarket business. The first supermarket was opened in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

in 1958, with branches being added across the South East at a rate of around one a year. The new chain had stores as far away as Reading and Colchester, all supplied by a depot in Dagenham. In April 1972, Leslie Erastus was killed when a plane, piloted by rival supermarket owner Francis John Wallis of Wallis Supermarkets, crashed in the French Alps. Cater's estate was valued at £91,747. After his death, the Cater family decided to accept an offer of £7 million for the business from

, in 1973. Debenhams integrated the business with their 40 food halls, which were modernised and branded as Cater Food Halls and opened a further two new Cater supermarkets. However the business struggled in the competitive 1970s market, and was sold of in 1979, and had lost £975,000 in 1977 and £383,000 in 1978 on a turnover of £54 million. Debenhams sold the business and its 24 stores to

subsidiary Allied Suppliers for £9.5 million. Allied Suppliers integrated the new stores into their Presto chain and the Cater Brothers brand was no more. The Cater name, however, lived on longer in Chelmsford, with an office block that was built above the store carrying the Cater House name until it was converted into residential flats and renamed Canside in 2014.

Branches

* Altrincham * Basildon *Bath *Bedford * Bow * Bromley * Canning Town * Catford * Croydon * Chelmsford * Colchester * Edmonton * Eltham * Greenwich *Hitchin *Holloway *Kingston * Morden * Nuneaton * Putney * Reading * St Albans * Southend * Watford *Wood Green

References

{{Defunct UK grocers Defunct supermarkets of the United Kingdom Debenhams Retail companies disestablished in 1979