Norman Stanley Fletcher , commonly nicknamed "Fletch" , is the main fictional character in the BBC sitcom Porridge , and the spin-off, Going Straight . He was played by Ronnie Barker .
61-462: Gamages was a department store in Holborn , London. Trading between 1878 and 1972, it was particularly well known for its toy and hardware departments. Gamages began life in 1878 in a rented watch repair shop and, after quickly becoming a success amongst its customers, was established as a London institution. It was founded by Albert Walter Gamage, who soon bought out his partner, Frank Spain. In time it
122-423: A "habitual criminal." His tactics range from the practical (stealing pills from the prison doctor and eggs from the prison farmyard), to the symbolic (finding new and imaginative ways to stick two fingers up at Mackay , the antagonist prison officer, and get away with it). In return, Mackay's frenzied, neurotic attempts to catch Fletcher out, when fruitful, give the warder a level of smugness and satisfaction that
183-428: A "swift half". He is upset that his wife Isobel has left him and struggles to cope with the responsibility of holding his family together. Fletch is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter; in 'Porridge' S1E6, Fletch tells an inmate that he spent a weekend on compassionate leave "in the pub," "eating roast beef," and "watching Spurs win at home." In Going Straight S1E1 he collects his personal possessions upon his release from
244-421: A First Aid Room, and a Silence Room, with soft lights, deep chairs, and double-glazing, all intended to keep customers in the store as long as possible. Staff members were taught to be on hand to assist customers, but not too aggressively, and to sell the merchandise. Selfridge attracted shoppers with educational and scientific exhibits; in 1909, Louis Blériot 's monoplane was exhibited at Selfridges (Blériot
305-542: A bi-annual basis. The store soon outgrew the Marble House and erected a cast-iron building on Broadway and Nineteenth Street in 1869; this "Palace of Trade" expanded over the years until it was necessary to move into a larger space in 1914. Financial problems led to bankruptcy in 1975. In New York City in 1846, Alexander Turney Stewart established the " Marble Palace " on Broadway , between Chambers and Reade streets. He offered European retail merchandise at fixed prices on
366-563: A department store in 1910. In 1924, Matsuzakaya store in Ginza allowed street shoes to be worn indoors, something innovative at the time. These former kimono shop department stores dominated the market in its earlier history. They sold, or instead displayed, luxurious products, which contributed to their sophisticated atmospheres. Another origin of the Japanese department store is from railway companies. There have been many private railway operators in
427-421: A larger retail chain , while others are an independent retailer. Since the 1980s, they have come under heavy pressure from discounters, and have come under even heavier pressure from e-commerce sites since the 2000s. Department stores can be classified in several ways: Some sources may refer to the following types of stores as department stores, even though they are not generally considered as such: One of
488-423: A much larger number than modern department stores. There was a substantial hardware department on the ground floor which included specialist motor parts and car seat cover sections. There was a photographic department, and camping, pets, toys and sporting departments, the latter selling shotguns. The toy department was extensive and there were substantial fashion, furniture and carpeting departments and in latter years
549-529: A parcel with the Gamages label. Finally, the gift is revealed to be a poncho. David Jason wrote in his book The Twelve Dels of Christmas that the Captain Fantastic segment of the 1968 Christmas episode of Do Not Adjust Your Set was filmed at Gamages. 51°31′03″N 0°07′15″W / 51.5176°N 0.1209°W / 51.5176; -0.1209 Department store A department store
610-528: A quick temper, shown by how quick he is to shout at his daughter Ingrid. He is also something of a drinker - on one occasion, after sneaking away from an outdoor trip, he goes straight to a pub and drinks several pints of beer, one of which he downs in one. In Going Straight , he consumes several pints of beer and a few whisky chasers just on the train from Carlisle to London. He mentions that an "average day" in Muswell Hill involved visiting four different pubs for
671-445: A shift to working from home, which stimulated e-commerce further and reduced demand for business apparel. Click-and-collect services at department stores had been increasing during the 2010s, with many creating larger, distinctly signed, designated areas. Some of the more elaborate ones included features such as reception and seating areas with coffee served, computers with large screens for online shopping, and dressing rooms. With
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#1732872346508732-550: A small food supermarket. In 1928 Gamages signed a lease for 489–497 Oxford Street from the Duke of Westminster , and set about building a new store with residential accommodation under architects C. S. and E. M. Joseph, with input from the Duke's chosen architect for his estate, Sir Edwin Lutyens . A new company was set up, Gamages (West End) Limited, for the expansion with 500,000 £1 shares sold to
793-670: A variety of dry goods, and advertised a policy of providing "free entrance" to all potential customers. Though it was clad in white marble to look like a Renaissance palazzo , the building's cast iron construction permitted large plate glass windows that permitted major seasonal displays, especially in the Christmas shopping season. In 1862, Stewart built a new store on a full city block uptown between 9th and 10th streets, with eight floors. His innovations included buying from manufacturers for cash and in large quantities, keeping his markup small and prices low, truthful presentation of merchandise,
854-679: Is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and the definition of service and luxury. Similar developments were under way in London (with Whiteleys ), in Paris ( Le Bon Marché ) and in New York City ( Stewart's ). Today, departments often include
915-404: Is leased out to other retailers, big-box category killer stores (e.g. Best Buy, Decathlon), hypermarkets, discount stores (e.g. Walmart, Carrefour), markets, or souqs. *store has no branches **opened at this location (may have expanded significantly in the years after initial opening) Norman Stanley Fletcher In the pilot episode, Fletcher claims to Mr. Barrowclough that he
976-501: Is now no trace of the store to be seen. Gamages reopened in the old Waring & Gillows store in Oxford Street but this venture was short-lived and closed in 1972. In London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins , Connie visits Gamages to buy a new cage for her beloved canary, Duke. In an episode of the BBC sitcom Porridge titled ' Heartbreak Hotel ', Fletcher tells his daughter how, at
1037-434: Is only accentuated by his charge's hostility and skulking. Fletch is also surprised when this spell in prison finds him taking on the role of father figure. It is left to him to help Warren when he needs a letter read or written and to oversee new, younger inmates such as McClaren and Godber . Fletch is manipulative and can play upon the sympathies and weaknesses of people like the liberal warden, Mr. Barrowclough , and
1098-470: Is talking about his past. The large amount of time he has spent in prison has left him feeling that he has wasted his life. In the final episode of Going Straight , he is convinced not to return to crime after walking into a pet shop and seeing the animals in cages, reminding him of his time in prison. He struggles to adapt to life on the outside after his spell in Slade prison, and his frayed nerves have resulted in
1159-961: Is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper". The Paris department stores have roots in the magasin de nouveautés , or novelty store ; the first, the Tapis Rouge, was created in 1784. They flourished in the early 19th century. Balzac described their functioning in his novel César Birotteau . In the 1840s, with the arrival of the railroads in Paris and the increased number of shoppers they brought, they grew in size, and began to have large plate glass display windows, fixed prices and price tags, and advertising in newspapers. A novelty shop called Au Bon Marché had been founded in Paris in 1838 to sell items like lace, ribbons, sheets, mattresses, buttons, and umbrellas. It grew from 300 m (3,200 sq ft) and 12 employees in 1838 to 50,000 m (540,000 sq ft) and 1,788 employees in 1879. Boucicaut
1220-471: Is the longest trading defunct British retailer. An observer writing in Ackermann's Repository , a British periodical on contemporary taste and fashion, described the enterprise in 1809 as follows: The house is one hundred and fifty feet in length from front to back, and of proportionate width. It is fitted up with great taste, and is divided by glazed partitions into four departments, for the various branches of
1281-667: The Great Recession of 2008-9, shifts in spending to experiences rather than material goods, relaxed dress codes in workplaces, and the shift to e-commerce in which Amazon.com and Walmart dominated versus the online offerings of traditional retailers. COVID-19 increased the number of permanent store closings in two ways: first through mandatory temporary closing of stores, especially in March and April 2020, with customers largely staying away from stores for non-essential purchases for many more months after that; and secondly, by causing
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#17328723465081342-629: The Leach trench catapult . Gamages was an extremely successful and profitable store. In 1968 a second store was opened in the Liberty Shopping Centre in Romford , Essex. This had a relatively short life as the whole company was taken over by Jeffrey Sterling 's Sterling Guarantee Trust in 1970 and the Romford site was sold off to British Home Stores in 1971. The Holborn site closed in March 1972 and there
1403-577: The San Fernando Valley at Laurel Plaza . Starting in 2010 many analysts referred to a retail apocalypse in the United States and some other markets, referring to the closing of brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains. In 2017, over 12,000 U.S. stores closed due to over-expansion of malls, rising rents, bankruptcies, leveraged buyouts , low quarterly profits other than during holiday peak periods , delayed effects of
1464-409: The auction, who said it was "regrettable the property had to be put onto the market after only a few months of trading." The report said the premises "had a working area, excluding staircases, of 210,000 square feet. The site was practically self-contained with a frontage of 318 feet to Oxford Street, long frontages to Park Street and North Row, and a ground area of 56,800 square feet... The agreement for
1525-423: The character was revived in a stage production, penned by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais , and is played by Shaun Williamson . In the 2016 revival of the show , also titled Porridge , it is revealed that Fletcher died circa 2011. For a man of his age and poor education, Fletch is highly intelligent. He speaks with confidence and a large vocabulary on a wide range of topics including politics, race relations,
1586-557: The company of men. These, for the main part, were newly affluent middle-class women, their good fortune – and the department store itself – nurtured and shaped by the Industrial Revolution . This was transforming life in London and the length and breadth of Britain at a dizzying pace on the back of energetic free trade, fecund invention, steam and sail, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of expendable cheap labour. This pioneering shop
1647-438: The day, and the Gamages catalogue , which was a well-loved gift during the autumn, in time for Christmas present requests to be made. One of the store's main attractions was a large model railway which alternated between a day and night scene by the use of lighting. The railway was provided by a man called Bertram Otto who was German by birth. It received many thousands of visitors every Christmas. Gamages had many departments -
1708-470: The diffusion of such ideas. A number of department stores teamed up together to create the International Association of Department Stores in Paris in 1928 to have a discussion space dedicated to this retail format. The U.S. Baby Boom led to the development of suburban neighborhoods and suburban commercial developments, including shopping malls. Department stores joined these ventures following
1769-526: The downtown shopping district display; the "theme" window displays became famous for their ingenuity and beauty, and visiting the Marshall Field's windows at Christmas became a tradition for Chicagoans and visitors alike, as popular a local practice as visiting the Walnut Room with its equally famous Christmas tree or meeting "under the clock" on State Street. In 1877, John Wanamaker opened what some claim
1830-621: The early 1950s, including service in the Malayan Emergency . He joined the Royal Army Service Corps or RASC, which he refers to in army slang as "Run Away, Someone's Coming". He was "King of the Teds " in Muswell Hill, circa 1955, and retains fond memories of Gloria, a seamstress with whom he had an affair at that time, and who used to tighten his trousers for him. Upon release from prison, Fletch decided to give up his criminal career. In
1891-626: The establishment of a superiority over every other in Europe, and to render it perfectly unique in its kind. This venture is described as having all of the basic characteristics of the department store; it was a public retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different departments. Jonathan Glancey for the BBC writes: Harding, Howell & Co was focused on the needs and desires of fashionable women. Here, at last women were free to browse and shop, safely and decorously, away from home and from
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1952-415: The extensive business, which is there carried on. Immediately at the entrance is the first department, which is exclusively appropriated to the sale of furs and fans. The second contains articles of haberdashery of every description, silks, muslins, lace, gloves, &etc. In the third shop, on the right, you meet with a rich assortment of jewelry, ornamental articles in ormolu, French clocks, &etc.; and on
2013-488: The first department stores may have been Bennett's in Derby , first established as an ironmonger (hardware shop) in 1734. It still stands to this day, trading in the same building. However, the first reliably dated department store to be established, was Harding, Howell & Co. , which opened in 1796 on Pall Mall , London. The oldest department store chain may be Debenhams , which was established in 1778 and closed in 2021. It
2074-631: The follow-up series, Going Straight , he took a job as a hotel night-porter but found himself often tempted back into crime, although he resisted. His wife, Isobel, had left him, leaving him in sole charge of Raymond. When last seen, in the mockumentary Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher , Fletch was the landlord of a pub in Muswell Hill , alongside his second wife, Gloria (an old flame briefly mentioned in Porridge ). In 2009,
2135-566: The following: clothing, cosmetics, do it yourself , furniture , gardening, hardware, home appliances , houseware , paint, sporting goods, toiletries, and toys. Additionally, other lines of products such as food, books, jewellery, electronics, stationery , photographic equipment, baby products, and products for pets are sometimes included. Customers generally check out near the front of the store in discount department stores , while high-end traditional department stores include sales counters within each department. Some stores are one of many within
2196-462: The growing market of baby boomer spending. A handful of U.S. retailers had opened seasonal stores in resorts, as well as smaller branch stores in suburbs, in the 1920s and 1930s. Examples include, in suburban Los Angeles , The Broadway-Hollywood , Bullocks Wilshire , The May Company-Wilshire , Saks - Beverly Hills , as well as two Strawbridge and Clothier stores: Suburban Square (1930) and Jenkintown (1931) outside Philadelphia. Suburban Square
2257-509: The ineffectual prison governor to acquire more pleasant employment , accommodation , or special privileges. Fletcher was born, in his words, "two-two-thirty-two" - 2 February 1932. He is a native of Muswell Hill . His elder daughter Ingrid was conceived in Highgate Cemetery , shortly before his marriage to Isobel at the age of 19. He also has a younger daughter Marion and a son named Raymond. Fletcher did his post-war National Service in
2318-488: The justice system, and society in general. It appears he possesses a considerable degree of natural intellect. He is a tolerant man who briefly dabbled in Marxist politics in his youth but is often cynical about the world and generally pessimistic. His attitude never goes beyond simple complaining and playful teasing of Mr. Mackay, although Fletch occasionally shows a darker side which reflects his true mental state, usually when he
2379-411: The lease was for £30,000 a year from 1932. It might (said Mr Edgson) seem a high ground rent, but, being only 11s. a foot, it was extremely low for Oxford-street." There was no response to an opening offer of £600,000, or of £500,000, "half of what the building cost". The premises was withdrawn from sale at £330,000. The building was eventually bought by C&A . During World War I, Gamages manufactured
2440-403: The left, with all the different kinds of perfumery necessary for the toilette. The fourth is set apart for millinery and dresses; so that there is no article of female attire or decoration, but what may be here procured in the first style of elegance and fashion. This concern has been conducted for the last twelve years by the present proprietors who have spared neither trouble nor expense to ensure
2501-459: The nation and, from the 1920s, they started to build department stores directly linked to their lines' termini . Seibu and Hankyu are typical examples of this type. In the middle of the 1920s, American management theories such as the scientific management of F.W. Taylor started spreading in Europe. The International Management Institute (I.M.I.) was established in Geneva in 1927 to facilitate
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2562-422: The national prestige brought by the great Parisian stores. The great writer Émile Zola (1840–1902) set his novel Au Bonheur des Dames (1882–83) in the typical department store, making it a symbol of the new technology that was both improving society and devouring it. Australia is notable for having the longest continuously operating department store, David Jones . The first David Jones department store
2623-472: The one-price policy (so there was no haggling), simple merchandise returns and cash refund policy, selling for cash and not credit, buyers who searched worldwide for quality merchandise, departmentalization, vertical and horizontal integration, volume sales, and free services for customers such as waiting rooms and free delivery of purchases. In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy founded Macy's as a dry goods store. Marshall Field & Company originated in 1852. It
2684-448: The onset of COVID-19 in 2020, most U.S. retailers offered a curbside pickup service as an option on their websites, and a dedicated area at one of the store entrances accessible by car. Along with discount stores, mainline department stores implemented more and more "stores-within-a-store". For luxury brands this was often in boutiques similar to the brands' own shops on streets and in malls; they hired their own employees who merchandised
2745-531: The public. The store opened in 1930, and the architectural correspondent of The Times said that the "skilful manner of [Lutyens'] 'stone binding of the brick mass' is very apparent". The store failed as a business and was closed just eight months later, with the building being auctioned off. A report of the auction of Gamages Department Store (including its 41 flats) appeared in The Times on 15 July 1931. Mr W. S. Edgson of Hillier Parker May & Rowden conducted
2806-460: The radical notion of shopping for pleasure rather than necessity and its techniques were adopted by modern department stores the world over. The store was extensively promoted through paid advertising. The shop floors were structured so that goods could be made more accessible to customers. There were elegant restaurants with modest prices, a library, reading and writing rooms, special reception rooms for French, German, American and "Colonial" customers,
2867-665: The selling space, and rang up the transactions at the brand's own cash registers. The main difference was that the boutique was physically inside the department store building, although in many cases there are walls or windows between the main store space and the boutique, with designated entrances. Incomplete list, notable stores of 50,000 m (538,196 sq ft) or more. Individual department store buildings or complexes of buildings. Does not include shopping centers (e.g. GUM in Moscow, Intime "Department Stores" in China) where most space
2928-513: The store had buildings on both sides of Deansgate linked by a subterranean passage "Kendals Arcade" and an art nouveau tiled food hall. The store was especially known for its emphasis on quality and style over low prices giving it the nickname "the Harrods of the North", although this was due in part to Harrods acquiring the store in 1919. Harrods of London can be traced back to 1834, though the current store
2989-756: The time of her conception, her mother had 'a nice steady job in the hardware department at Gamages'. In an episode of the LWT TV drama Poirot titled ' The Yellow Iris ', Arthur Hastings reads to Poirot from the Daily Express newspaper. A prominent advertisement for Gamages department store promoting a 'great sale of furniture at lowest cash prices' can be seen. In an episode of the Granada TV crime drama The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes titled 'The Cardboard Box', Mrs Hudson advises Sherlock Holmes to buy Dr Watson's Christmas present at Gamages. Later, we see Holmes arrive with
3050-556: Was built between 1894 and 1905. Opened in 1830, Austins in Derry remained in operation as the world's oldest independent department store until its closure in 2016. Lewis's of Liverpool operated from 1856 to 2010. The world's first Christmas grotto opened in Lewis's in 1879, entitled 'Christmas Fairyland'. Liberty & Co. in London's West End gained popularity in the 1870s for selling Oriental goods. In 1889, Oscar Wilde wrote "Liberty's
3111-678: Was closed down in 1820 when the business partnership was dissolved. All the major High Streets in British cities had flourishing department stores by the mid-or late nineteenth century. Increasingly, women became the main customers. Kendals (formerly Kendal Milne & Faulkner) in Manchester lays claim to being one of the first department stores and is still known to many of its customers as Kendal's, despite its 2005 name change to House of Fraser . The Manchester institution dates back to 1836 but had been trading as Watts Bazaar since 1796. At its zenith
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#17328723465083172-528: Was famous for his marketing innovations; a reading room for husbands while their wives shopped; extensive newspaper advertising; entertainment for children; and six million catalogs sent out to customers. By 1880 half the employees were women; unmarried women employees lived in dormitories on the upper floors. Au Bon Marché soon had half a dozen or more competitors including Printemps , founded in 1865; La Samaritaine (1869), Bazar de Hotel de Ville ( BHV ); and Galeries Lafayette (1895). The French gloried in
3233-514: Was founded in 1900. Arnold Constable was the first American department store. It was founded in 1825 as a small dry goods store on Pine Street in New York City. In 1857 the store moved into a five-story white marble dry goods palace known as the Marble House. During the Civil War, Arnold Constable was one of the first stores to issue charge bills of credit to its customers each month instead of on
3294-567: Was opened on 24 May 1838, by Welsh born immigrant David Jones in a "large and commodious premises" on the corner of George and Barrack Streets in Sydney , only 50 years after the foundation of the colony. Expanding to a number of stores in the various states of Australia, David Jones is the oldest continuously operating department franchise in the world. Other department stores in Australia include Grace Bros founded in 1885, now merged with Myer which
3355-410: Was sentenced for stealing a truck, which then crashed through garden walls and a toolshed when its brakes failed. This turns out to be a shaggy dog story leading up to the punchline "I asked for six other fences to be taken into consideration". In other episodes, it is stated that he was sentenced for breaking and entering and that he is a career burglar. The opening of each episode refers to Fletcher as
3416-585: Was the United States' first "modern" department store in Philadelphia : the first to offer fixed prices marked on every article and also introduced electrical illumination (1878), the telephone (1879), and the use of pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents (1880) to the department store business. Another store to revolutionize the concept of the department store was Selfridges in London, established in 1909 by American-born Harry Gordon Selfridge on Oxford Street . The company's innovative marketing promoted
3477-486: Was the first shopping center anchored by a department store. In the 1950s, suburban growth took off – for example, in 1952, May Company California opened a four-level, 346,700-square-foot (32,210 m ) store in Lakewood Center near Los Angeles, at the time, the largest suburban department store in the world. However, only three years later it would build an even bigger, 452,000-square-foot (42,000 m ) store in
3538-505: Was the first to fly over the English Channel ), and the first public demonstration of television by John Logie Baird took place in the department store in 1925. In Japan , the first "modern-style" department store was Mitsukoshi , founded in 1904, which has its root as a kimono store called Echigoya from 1673. When the roots are considered, however, Matsuzakaya has an even longer history, dated from 1611. The kimono store changed to
3599-594: Was the first to introduce the concept of the personal shopper, and that service was provided without charge in every Field's store, until the chain's last days under the Marshall Field's name. It was the first store to offer revolving credit and the first department store to use escalators . Marshall Field's book department in the State Street store was legendary; it pioneered the concept of the "book signing". Moreover, every year at Christmas, Marshall Field's downtown store windows were filled with animated displays as part of
3660-533: Was the premier department store on the busiest shopping street in the Midwest at the time, State Street in Chicago. Marshall Field's served as a model for other department stores in that it had exceptional customer service. Marshall Field's also had the firsts; among many innovations by Marshall Field's were the first European buying office, which was located in Manchester, England, and the first bridal registry. The company
3721-522: Was to grow large enough to take up most of the block in which it was situated, it was unusual in that its premises were away from the main Oxford Street shopping area, being at 118–126 Holborn, close to Holborn Circus , on the edge of the City of London . Gamages also ran a successful mail-order business. Many of those who were children at the time remember Gamages because of its unparallelled stock of toys of
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