This website has been set up to capture memories and stories of Lewis’s Department Store in Liverpool – in particular the legendary Fifth Floor. Over the last year Neutral Spoon and Stephen King have been working with over 40 participants to collect and archive their memories of working on the floor as part of the Lewis’s project. Please see the ‘About’ section of this website for more information.
We would love to hear your memories or stories about the iconic space. We would also love to collect your images of the Fifth Floor. If you have any photographs you would like to add please contact admin@neutralspoon.co.uk or phone for further information 07772 264 874
We look forward to hearing from you,
Lewis’s Fifth Floor : A Department Story
“Lewis’s Reunited” website Please someone? would be good
i WORKED IN THE STAFF OFFICE FROM 1957-1961 AS A JUNIOR TYPIST
MY BOSS WAS MISS PRICHARD MR BEWLL WAS THE STORE MANAGER AND MR ROWE WAS THE ASST STORE MANAGER.THE STORE NURSE WAS MISS JAMES, YOU HAD TO REPORT TO AFTRE SICKNESS ETC. HAPPY MEMORIES,JUST LOVED MY JOB THERE. IM ALSO STILL IN CONTECT WITH JUDITH MARTINHO WHO WORKED IN THE LADIES HAIRDRESSING DEPT.
Stephen Picket asks, ‘does anyone remember Richard Crittenden?’. I remember him, he was my wife’s merchandise manager on the Ground Floor, my wife was the manager of the Jewellery department.
Each Monday morning there was a meeting of all senior managers in the General Manager’s office. The meeting was held to discuss the previous week’s performance and to plan the next week. I was at these meetings to outline advertising and promotional strategy for the coming week.
Each senior manager petitioned for advertising support based on their sales targets and the merchandise they felt would generate footfall. Each department had a sales target based on the previous year’s performance. So many factors can influence trade one of them being the weather!
Enter Richard Crittenden, ‘the human filing cabinet’ every pocket of his suit was full of documents that recorded every nuance of each day’s trade in the previous year. For instance, he could tell you that on Tuesday of this week, last year, it started to rain at 10.30 a.m. and the sun came out at 12.14 p.m.. which meant that Pacamacs and umbrellas were put on the Round Island (a sales hotspot on the Ground Floor)to exploit the change in the weather.
He was a clever and resourceful man.
went into liverpool town centre one saturday, to see Tom Thumb on the Forum,i was about 10 or 11 years of age. on the way back home we decided to visit Lewis’s toy department on the third floor. On the way back down on the escalator my welly got caught in one of the treads as it folded flat at the bottom.this resulted in me getting a crushed heel and a visit to the top floor to wait for the ambulance and my mum ,who proceeded to appologise profusely to the staff for my misbehaving, today you would not get out of the store for the crush of solicitors wanting to take the case.
In reply to comments left, I can remember Miss Pritchard in Staff Office, also Miss Downey, Miss Beats (quite frightening) Miss Arthur post room, Mr Keetley Counting House Manager, Mr Price Jonesnot sure what he did! Spud the potato man,Miss Redmond Salary office (known as Flossie)! Shirley in the machine room. Plus many from across the “roof” Good memories happy days.
I worked on the sixth floor(accounts) in the 60tes,the young apprentist in the office had the job of empting the weighing machines,one of which was in the toilets used for the Red Rose restaurent,I occasonaly went with her as she needed help carrying the huge amounts of copper pennies from the machines,and looking out of the window was the huge magnificent statue of the naked man,and belive me from that window he was Huge in every respect.Wonderfull memories
I worked on the sixth floor(accounts) in the 60tes,the young apprentist in the office had the job of empting the weighing machines,one of which was in the toilets used for the Red Rose restaurent,I occasonaly went with her as she needed help carrying the huge amounts of copper pennies from the machines,and looking out of the window was the huge magnificent statue of the naked man,and belive me from that window he was Huge in every respect.Wonderfull memories.One morning going into work through the food hall we spotted a mouse caught on the teeth of a fish in the cold display counter(dont know if they were just setting up or had not been put away the night before)a bit scary for us younger girls,but an older man’s remark was ,”They say there’s no fish in the polluted Mersey,rubbish,there’s so much even the mice are catchin them