THE DEPARTMENT STORE

Grace Brothers Department Store
became possibly the most famous store in the world for a while thanks to
the BBC-Television Series, Are You Being Served?

Are You being Served Theme Music

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OTHER DEPARTMENT STORES – 9 – CONTINUED

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THE DEPARTMENT STORES

OF KENSINGTON HIGH STREET

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PONTING’S DEPARTMENT STORE

Ponting’s Department Store in the 1950s

Ponting’s Department Store began as Thomas H. Ponting & Company, a small drapery establishment in Westborne Grove in West London. By 1873, Thomas and his three brothers entered into a joint venture in new premises in the area. In 1872, the brothers opened a Milliner’s Shop in Kensington High Street, and over the next few years, saw the Company increase the range of goods sold causing it to expand into additional premises.

In 1898, following the death of William Ponting, who had been the major shareholder, a new Company was formed. Between 1899 and 1901, a new premises was designed by Arthur Sykes on Kensington High Street and consisted of a basement and four floors. However, when the Kensington Railway Station was rebuilt between 1906 and 1908, a new Arcade linking the two parts of the Store was also built.

Entrance to the Station of High Street Kensington Today

Ponting’s purchased the whole western side of the Arcade, which unfortunately caused the Company to become over extended, and in December 1906, it went into liquidation.

The Modern Arcade

In 1907, the former Ponting’s Department Store was purchased by John Baker & Company, which operated another Department Store close by in Kensington High Street. The new owners continued to operate both Stores, but advertised the erstwhile Ponting’s Department Store as The House for Value.

Ponting’s Department Store – The House for Value

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In 1957, Barker’s, Derry & Toms (which had been purchased by Barker’s in 1920) and Ponting’s Department Stores were bought by The House of Fraser. The Store continued to trade under its old name while under new management until 1971 when it was closed and the freehold sold. Unsold stock was transferred to the basement of Barker’s, which was renamed Ponting’s Bargain Basement until 1974.

The House of Fraser Banner & Logo

After closure, the building became a market named Kensington Super Store, but this was not to last, and the site of the House for Value was redeveloped between 1976 and 1978. Today, the only part of the Ponting’s Department Store that remains is part of The Arcade (see above).

The Demolition of the Ponting’s House for Value Department Store
Top Left: Part of Ponting’s and Derry & Toms in the 1920’s; Right: Following the closure of Ponting’s
Bottom Left: The corner store, demolished

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Where Ponting’s Department Store once stood on Kensington High Street

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DERRY & TOMS DEPARTMENT STORE

Joseph Toms opened a small Drapery Shop on Kensington High Street in 1853. In 1862, Mr. Toms went into partnership with Charles Derry, and together, they ran this establishment. Evidently, their business was good and, in 1870, they purchased seven additional shop about their original site. The Store came to be popular with the wealthy living in South Kensington and indeed prided itself on being the main suppliers to this elite clientele.

In 1920 John Barker & Co., the owners of the Department Store adjacent, bought the Derry & Toms Department Store. John Barker & Co. had taken over Ponting’s Department Store earlier in 1907, thereby giving the Company three Stores on Kensington High Street. Although this was the case, each Store retained it own distinct identity.

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The New Building that once housed Derry & Toms Department Store at
99-121 High Street Kensington and shown here in 2014

In the early 1930s, it was decided to replace the collection of establishments of Derry & Toms with a new seven-storey building. Bernard George was chosen to be the architect and he designed it in an Art Deco style. Work began on the new Store in 1933 and was opened in 1938.

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Once I finally discovered the building that formerly housed the Derry & Toms Department Store, I could not help but take note of its remarkable facade.

The facade is extremely impressive and has:

Metalwork designed by the sculptor, Walter Gilbert (1871-1946) consisting of aluminium friezes of animals. Mr. Gilbert also designed The Buckingham Gate of Buckingham Palace);

Panel Reliefs, entitled Labour & Technology along with Bas Relief of animals at the upper corners of the Store by C.J. Mabey.

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For those readers wishing to see better photographs of the metalwork and panel reliefs of
the facade of Derry & Toms Department Store,
please click here
and here too.

In addition, should the reader enjoy
Art Deco style architecture, as I do, may I recommend
The Silk Route – England: Art Deco London
where a number of remarkable buildings are illustrated and discussed

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Christmas Decorations, 1953

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The main restaurant of Derry & Toms, was found on the fifth floor of the Store and was named The Rainbow Room and was often the site of a number of Dinner Dances for both private companies and government departments.

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THE DERRY & TOMS ROOF GARDEN

Despite these wonderful additions to the facade of the building, the erstwhile Derry & Toms Department Store is perhaps most famous for its Kensington Roof Gardens.

Ariel View of Derry & Toms Department Store Before the Laying Down of the Roof Garden

The Managing Director of John Barker & Company, Trevor Bowen, while on a trip to New York had visited Rockefeller Center and was impressed with the formal gardens on the roofs of the British Empire Building and Maison Française which form part of the 14 original Art Deco-style buildings of the original Center.

Roof Gardens of Maison Française (Left) & the British Empire Building (Right)

The roof gardens were designed by landscape architect, Ralph Hancock (1893-1950) and Mr. Bowen invited him to come to London and lay out a number of formal gardens on the roof of the Derry & Toms Department Store.

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Vintage Postcard of the Derry & Toms Roof Garden

Please follow this link to read more about the Garden

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Mr. Hancock organised three gardens on the roof of the Store between 1936 and 1938. Each garden has its own unique style and planting:

There was a Tudor Garden that had herringbone brickwork, Tudor Arches, secret corners, hanging wisteria and wrought iron;

A Spanish Garden with palm trees, fountains and Moorish style colonnades and was based on the Alhambra in Spain;

and a Woodland Garden, built with a cascade, stream and bridge and has over a hundred species of trees. Today this area is home to four pink flamingos named Bill, Ben, Splosh and Pecks, however looking at earlier photographs (see below), there appear to have been more in the past.

The Garden was formed from a base of brick and rubble together with 36-inches of top soil. At the time of opening, the Garden included over 500 different varieties of trees and shrubs, which were watered from the Store’s own Artesian Wells. Many of the original trees are still present and are protected thanks to preservation orders granted in 1978. The cost of laying down The Roof Garden was £25,000.

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The Roof Garden did not avoid being damaged during The Second World War: a 250-pound bomb landed in the Spanish Garden and destroyed the Campanile (Bell Tower) while a 1,000-pound parachute mine landed on the Tea Pavilion, but fortunately failed to explode. The Campanile was rebuilt once the war came to an end.

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The Tea Pavilion together with the Four Flamingos

Flamingos from Earlier Times
The life expectancy of the Greater Flamingo seems to be ~ 20 years although other birds have lived for ~ 60 years with one bird, known as Greater, lived for at least 83 years!

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The Roof Garden remained as it was at the time of opening until 1973 when the Derry & Toms Department Store building was sold and new owners took over its maintenance.

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CLICK HERE to view a video of THE ROOF GARDENS in 1949

and HERE to view it in 1958.

CLICK HERE to view a video of THE FASHIONS ON THE ROOF (1959).

These links were provided by Mr. John Marwood.

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BIG BIBA – 1973-1975

In 1957, the John Barker & Son Company was sold to the House of Fraser who continued to operate the three Stores on Kensington High Street and maintain the Roof Garden.

However in 1970, the House of Fraser began to downsize its operations and sold the Ponting’s Department Store. The House of Fraser continued this policy in 1971 with the sale of the Derry & Toms Department Store to British Land – Dorothy Perkins for £4 million.

Customers queuing outside the Store during the Closing Down Sale

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After taking possession of the former Derry & Toms Department Store, British Land and Dorothy Perkins agreed to allow Biba to take possession of the Store, which was currently enjoying great success in its Boutique on Kensington Church Road.

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Left: The Biba Logo & Barbara Hulanicki Right: Biba on Kensington Church Street

Biba was founded by Barbara Hulanicki (born 1936) in 1964 as a small Boutique in Kensington. Its interiors were famous for its style, which drew on Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Victoriana and The Golden Age of Hollywood, which was referred to as Retrophilia, the love of past forms. Everything was presented in distinctive packaging with the iconic Biba Logo by John McConnell prominently displayed.

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By 1973, Biba had become an Institution having played a significant part in the development of the Swinging London image prevalent in the 1960s and early 1970s. Biba goods were always of interest and fun and the company attempted to maintain prices within the budget range of most customers.

After having occupied a number of different establishments in Kensington, Biba moved into the erstwhile Derry & Toms Department Store, and calling its new incarnation, Big Biba. Markwell Associates, well-known for theatrical and television work, were employed to transform the interior of the Store into Big Biba. The transformation, to the designs of Tim Whitmore & Steven Thomas, was to cost over £14 million. In order to speed customers about the Store, escalators were installed.

Big Biba opened on the 10th September, 1973 and was an immediate attraction and visited by almost a million customers each week. Each floor was decorated to reflect a unique theme and now not only sold clothes and cosmetics for women, but also offered a range of goods for children and men, as well as a book store, a food market and home goods including paint-to-cutlery-to-furnishings-and-statues etc.

Big Biba was filled with mirrors, feathers, luxurious fabrics and Psychedelic Pop-Art–inspired displays including huge Campbell Soup Cans filled with regular tins and large fluffy toy dogs stuffed with pet foods and treats. In addition, wardrobes were used to display clothes. The aim of the Store was to induce a sense of escapism from daily life, which was a new concept at the time.

Large Display Cases in the form of a Tins of Well-Known Products

Unfortunately, Big Biba had huge overheads and soon ran into financial difficulties. Dorothy Perkins intervened and bought a large share of Biba. After disagreements and arguments, Barbara Hulanicki left the Board of Directors in 1975 and moved to Brazil. Soon after, British Land closed Big Biba and an era came to an end.

Big Biba Display Cases

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The Rainbow Room

During the time that the building was occupied by Big Biba, the Kensington Roof Garden became a fashionable venue once more. The Rainbow Room on the 5th Floor, which had opened as a restaurant, now become a meeting place for fashion-conscious people and a number of music videos were filmed here including:

Click here to watch and hear Blue Jean performed by David Bowie (1947-2016) at
The Rainbow Room in 1984

Click here to watch and hear Let’s Stick Together performed by Roxy Music at
The Rainbow Room in 1976

I am told that Roy Orbison (1936-1988 ) made an Official Video of Pretty Woman here,
but I have been unable to find it!

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The Record Player, a Big Biba Display Case

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CLICK HERE to view BIBA FASHION from 1969

and HERE to view LOOK AT LIFE: SWINGING LONDON OF THE SIXITIES.

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THE BUILDING & ROOF GARDEN TODAY
LIFE AFTER BIG BIBA

The Building today

In 1975, British Land redeveloped the erstwhile Store, with its 400,000 square feet of space, into offices and shops.

Today the main tenant of the building is the Sony Corporation of America (formally Sony BMG) together with Equinox Fitness, an American Luxury Health Club. GAP, H & M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) and Marks & Spencer occupy the ground floor area. British Home Stores once occupied the space now leased to GAP and H & M.

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With the demise of Big Biba, the Kensington Roof Garden became the property of Rama Superstores who only gave it minimal of attention between 1975 and 1978. However, in 1978, the Kensington Roof Garden underwent redevelopment.

The Tea Pavilion gave way to Regine’s Restaurant & Night Club, which was to remain open for a mere seventeen months (Regine claims that the failure of her Clubs in London was a result of the lack of style of the British!).

New lifts were installed destroying the rear part of the Garden and the removal of a bridge across the river. The Cascades were removed and the Tudor (Cloisters) Walk was greatly changed with the installation of a new air-conditioning system.

A small army of gardeners had cared for the Kensington Roof Garden from the time of opening until 1973, and replaced by a single part-time gardener with occasional help. Despite this, the Garden continued to thrive, although root-penetration from the maturing trees began to cause problems for the upper floor.

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In 1981 The Virgin Group Limited, headed by Richard Branson (born 1950), leased the Kensington Roof Garden. Regine’s was replaced by the Babylon Restaurant and a members-only night club, which opened on the 7th floor in 2001 and offers patrons views of the English Woodland Garden from the terrace.

The Babylon Restaurant on the 7th Floor

Since leasing the Kensington Roof Garden, Mr. Branson has hosted the annual Pre-Wimbledon Tennis Party there, an event which is attended by the world’s top tennis players each year.

At present, the Kensington Roof Garden is part of an exclusive group of properties known as Limited Edition and owned by The Virgin Group.

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Since 1981 the former Derry & Toms Department Store has been a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage; and in 1986, the Kensington Roof Garden was granted a Grade II listing.

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The Rainbow Room Today, an Equinox Gym

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The current owners of the former Derry & Toms Department Store are the Singaporean property company, CapitaLand, the Malaysian conglomerate, Genting Group and hotel operator, HPL Hotels & Resorts, As of March 2016, the current owners have decided to put the property up for sale at an asking price of £200 million. The sale of the building will also include the properties at 1 Derry Street and 25 Kensington Square.

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Tragically, and to my shame, I have to admit that I have not visited the Kensington Roof Garden. However, since I hear that it is still open to the public, perhaps a visit may take place in the near future.

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For those readers wishing to learn more of The Story of John Barker & Co. Ltd., may I recommend the article written by Michael Moss & Alison Turton

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