The Arding & Hobbs Department Store at Clapham Junction

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The association of Henry Arding (1844-1918) and James Hobbs (1848-1908) began in 1876 when opened a Draper’s Shop together on Fairfield (North) Street in Wandsworth.  In 1881, Arding & Hobbs opened a second establishment in Battersea at the corner of Falcon & Battersea Park Roads.  This was followed by a third premises in 1884, which was built on the south east corner of Lavender Hill and St. John’s Road.

Seemingly Mr. Arding chose the site of the third store to the surprise of many, as it was located at Clapham Junction, an, as yet, area of low population.  Mr. Arding is said to told others that the location, with its excellent railway connections, was destined to become a thriving area that would soon be in need of an emporium to support its increase in population.  Of course, he was proven correct.

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The third store became their Flagship Store  and cost an estimated £8,000 to build.  The Store was built by the company of William Marriage with James & James Tolley, a father-&-son company as architects.

Postcard of the Flagship Store

The Store was of five stories with a double-tier of shop windows with the ground floor frontages facing St. John’s Road  being of three bay windows, and those facing Lavender Hill, being of only two.  Above the shop windows, and appearing in large bold lettering, were written the words Arding & Hobbs for the Million.  The exterior of the upper stories were covered with stone and served as retail space and also for dormitories for sales staff.  Atop the store, at the corner of St. John’s Road and Lavender Hill, was a French-style dome covered with slates and with a round clock face.

The Flagship Store at Clapham Junction
This is the oldest view I have been able to find on the Internet; evidently from
the Wandsworth Heritage Service

By 1891, The Store not only sold Drapery, but carpets and a host of other house furnishings.  To cope with the increase in sales, a number of extensions were added to The Store.  These included workrooms, stables and a furniture repository built close by.  Eventually the three branches of Arding & Hobbs were brought together in the Flagship Store.

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In 1905, James Hobbs retired and the control of the company passed to Henry Ardling and his two sons, Herbert and Stanley.  Unfortunately, on 20th December, 1909, The Store was severely damaged in a fire together with the loss of eight lives.  The fire was caused by a light bulb breaking in a window causing the display of Christmas decorations and other goods to catch fire.  Apparently, a number of walls and stairways of The Store survived the fire, but some of the nearby shops were damaged and the turkeys on display outside a shop across the way from The Store were roasted!

Christmas Turkeys awaiting purchase and roasting

The Store continued to operate by taking up residence in temporary space close by.  However, a large number of the employees were given their cards together with a share of the Relief Fund that had been set up.  Many of the original staff were rehired once the new Store had been completed.

James Carmichael was employed as Builder for the new Store and work was begun in April 1910 with  J. S. Gibson, Skipwith and Gordon as architects.   Of the architects, J.S. Gibson (1861-1951), was the most celebrated, as he had designed Middlesex Guildhall in Parliament Square and Debenham & Freebody’s Department Store in Wigmore Street.  The new Store was complete and open for business by December 1910, in time for the Christmas rush.

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Looking towards Lavender Hill & Clapham Junction in 1922
and showing the New Flagship Department Store of Arding & Hobbs on the Right.
This postcard appears here with permission of Mr. Steve Kenfield at The East London Postcard Site

The new Store was built on the same site as the earlier one.   At the top of the building at the corner of Lavender Hill and St. John’s Road is a decorative Cupola complete with surrounding Aedicules, which are openings, such as doors or windows, and are framed on either side by columns or Pilasters and crowned with a Pediment (i.e. a low pitched Gable)  and with a clock face at its base.

A Window Aedicule (Left) and A Door Aedicule (Right) 

As a child, while traveling to the South Coast with my parents, I would see the Cupola in the distance from the train and I became fascinated by it and wondered what was the nature of the building that it was part of (please see the previous story).

The Cupola of The Arding & Hobbs Department Store

The exterior appearance of the new Store had much in common with the earlier one.  As before, the Store’s lower frontage on both streets was of two tiers of shop windows, however, the lower windows were now larger.  The exterior of the upper floors are covered with red brick and Bath Stone.

The Store today

The interior of the new Store looked very grand with its large main staircase.  Sadly, it was removed during one of the renovations that took place later (i.e. in 1961 and 1972-1973).  The ground floor continued to house the Drapery Department and, at one time, offered a flower shop. a writing room, an Estate Agency, a Post Office and a restaurant where Ferrier’s Blue Viennese Band performed each day.

Details of the Exterior of the Upper Floors of The Store

The first and second floors were given over to retail sales, but the upper floors housed the workrooms and staff dinning rooms.  The new Store was equipped with the Lamson Pneumatic Tube System for the transportation of payments, receipts and messages about The Store.

A Pneumatic Tube System & Operator

The reconstructed Store had the same length of frontage along St John’s Road as before the fire, while the Lavender Hill frontage was now extended to Ilminster Gardens.  In 1928, at 20–26 Ilminster Gardens, J. S. Gibson & Gordon designed extra retail space together with a restaurant and reception rooms on the two upper floors.   Public access via an arcade at 13 St John’s Road led to new grocery, meat, poultry and fish departments.   Above these departments, there was a Restaurant and the Ardington Rooms, which were available for Banquets and Balls and which were accessed on Illminster Gardens.  In addition, The Rooms also included a Masonic Temple.  Today, the Restaurant now functions as the Store’s Café and has lightening from a domed skylight with coloured glass while the Masonic Temple has now been converted for retail use.

Father Christmas arriving at The Arding & Hobbs Department Store in 1926 

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After 1938, The Arding & Hobbs Department Store were no longer controlled by the Arding family.  It was first taken over by  the John Anstee Group and later in 1948 by United Drapery Stores.

The success of The Store had depended on shoppers arriving by public transport i.e. tram, bus or railway.  However, after the post-war period, the lack of parking space at the site of The Store proved to be a handicap and sales began to decline.  As a result, United Drapery Stores sold its interest in The Store to Allders in the 1980s.

Allders, the third largest Department Store Chain in Britain, planned to re-model the interior of The Store in a phased development proposed by the Building Design Partnership. The plan was to rebuild much of the St John’s Road frontage and to reduce the trading areas by one-third thereby releasing space for restaurants and Upmarket Shops, which the new owners felt would be in great demand.  Unfortunately for Allders, this plan never came to fruition and The Store passed to the Debenham PLC.

Today The Store continues to be operated by the Debenham Group as a reduced operation with the its southern end being franchised to another retailer.

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Looking towards Lavender Hill & Clapham Junction in 1920’s
and showing the New Flagship Department Store of Arding & Hobbs on the Right.
This postcard appears here with permission of Mr. Steve Kenfield at The East London Postcard Site

The Store is a Grade II listed building, which one can only hope will keep it safe from those that have an eye on the site for development.

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During a trip to South London in 2012, I came upon The Store and recognised its Cupola!  After all these years ……… there it was, still looking spectacular in the winter sun!

I decided to go inside to have a look around.  I have to admit that I am not overly fond of Debenham Stores, as I remember too many of the company’s acquisitions elsewhere.  No matter!  I went inside and wandered around and was delighted to find the restaurant with its coloured glass ceiling, which was a pleasure to look at while enjoying a cup of tea.

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