A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand , central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many parts of the world. A franchise retail establishment is one form of a chain store. In 2005, the world's largest retail chain, Walmart , became the world's largest corporation based on gross sales.
69-999: J. Lyons & Co. was a British restaurant chain store , food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884 by Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein . Lyons' first teashop opened in Piccadilly , London in 1894, and from 1909 they developed into a chain of teashops , with the firm becoming a staple of the High Street in the UK. At its peak the chain numbered around 200 cafes. The teashops provided for tea and coffee, with food choices consisting of hot dishes and sweets, cold dishes and sweets, and buns, cakes and rolls. Making their first cakes and pastries in 1894, several Lyons cake products are still available on grocers' shelves, including Lyons' treacle tart , Lyons' Bakewell tart , Lyons' Battenberg , and Lyons' trifle sponges, which are sold by Premier Foods . The company
138-691: A chain of teashops which would ultimately number around 200 locations. The company also ran high class restaurants, founding the Trocadero in 1895, and hotels including the Strand Palace, opened in 1909, the Regent Palace, opened in 1915, and the Cumberland Hotel, opened in 1933, all in London. In 1918, to increase sales in northern England, Lyons bought the old established tea company Horniman & Sons. From
207-585: A 'T': all subsequent records use an initial 'T'. The manor was subsequently described as Totehele in the Domesday Book of 1086. The area was described as Totenhale in 1184 and Totenhale Court by 1487. Although the road's name has a similar word root to Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey , the two are not directly related. The manor occupied the south-western part of the parish of St Pancras , whose boundaries are now used to delineate most of
276-476: A certain working-class chic, but by the 1950s and 1960s they were quick stops for busy shoppers where one could drink a cup of tea and eat a snack or an inexpensive meal. The teashops always had a bakery counter at the front, and their signs, Art Nouveau gold lettering on white, were a familiar landmark. Before the Second World War service was to the table by uniformed waitresses, known as ' Nippies '; after
345-442: A chain of teashops which became a staple of the High Street in the UK, and at its peak, the firm numbered around 200 cafes. The displacement of independent businesses by chains has sparked increased collaboration among independent businesses and communities to prevent chain proliferation. These efforts include community-based organizing through Independent Business Alliances (in the U.S. and Canada) and "buy local" campaigns. In
414-524: A day, and at their peak each branch employed around 400 staff. They featured window displays, and, in the post-war period, the Corner Houses were smarter and grander than the local tea shops. The artist Kay Lipton designed all the windows for the Corner Houses under the supervision of Norman Joseph, the director post-war. Between 1896 and 1965 Lyons owned the Trocadero , which was similar in size and style to
483-508: A distance of about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km). The road lies almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden near its boundary with the City of Westminster . South of Torrington Place (originally Francis Street) the road marks the traditional boundary of the parishes of St Pancras (of which the manor of Tottenham Court was part) to the west, and St Giles to the east (due to longstanding shared administrative arrangements, St Giles
552-570: A fire in 1877. A 17th-century farmhouse at the rear of No. 196 Tottenham Court Road was demolished in 1917. During the period leading up to and during the First World War, an amusement arcade that contained a miniature rifle-shooting range called Fairyland was at No. 92 Tottenham Court Road. In 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra practised shooting here prior to his assassination of Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie . Other residents of India House and members of Abhinav Bharat practised shooting at
621-468: A painter; and Louis Gluckstein , a Conservative politician. A descendant of the Salmon side of the original partnership is Nigella Lawson . Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher worked as a chemist for the company prior to becoming a barrister and then a Conservative Party MP . While working for the company she helped develop methods for preserving ice cream. Peter Bird began work operating
690-516: A part of the manor estate towards the end of the 18th century. There was a manor house at the northwest end of the road, which subsequently became the Adam and Eve pub. This was demolished to build the Euston Tower . Tottenham Court Road had become a place of entertainment by the mid-17th century. In 1645, three people were fined for drinking on a Sunday. A Gooseberry Fair was held sporadically throughout
759-514: A reasonable man always has reasonable powers of self-control and is never intoxicated. The shooting range was owned and run by Henry Stanton Morley (1875–1916). The road was, for many years, a one-way street : all three lanes were northbound only; the corresponding southbound traffic used the parallel Gower Street, to the east. The new two-way traffic flows on Tottenham Court Road and the surrounding streets were fully completed in March 2021. The road
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#1733202093890828-479: A substantial food manufacturer, with factories at Cadby Hall in Hammersmith , and from 1921 at Greenford , producing bread, cakes, pies, tea, coffee and ice cream. Lyons branded cakes included treacle tarts , Lyons Bakewell tart , Lyons Battenberg , and Lyons trifle sponges. To the public, J. Lyons & Co. were best known for their chain of teashops which opened from 1894 and finally closed in 1981, and for
897-517: A tea distributor based in New York, into a grocery chain that operated almost 200 stores. Dozens of other grocery, drug, tobacco, and variety stores opened additional locations, around the same time, so that retail chains were common in the United States by 1910. Several state legislatures considered measures to restrict the growth of chains, and in 1914 concern about chain stores contributed to passage of
966-455: Is a major road in Central London , almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden . The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tube station lies just beyond the southern end of the road. Historically a market street, it became known for selling electronics and white goods in the 20th century. The street takes its name from
1035-401: Is a proposal to restore the mural after the current works to renovate the gardens are completed. In 2005, 12 so-called "Our Glass" panels were erected in the gardens. Each is about five feet (1.5 m) high, with two sides showing a collage of people associated with the area, from satirical cartoonist William Hogarth to the popular singer Boy George . There is a 13th panel showing an index of
1104-451: Is also known for its pioneering use of computers in the office. The company began as a collaboration between a group of entrepreneurs, the professional artist Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein , as a spin off from the Salmon & Gluckstein tobacco company. In 1894 the company started a teashop in Piccadilly , London, and from 1909 developed this into
1173-633: Is also mentioned in several Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ; in the Saki story "Reginald on Christmas Presents"; several stories by John Collier ; in A Room with a View by E.M. Forster ; in The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd ; in The Late Mr Elvesham and The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells ; in The Wish House by Celia Rees ; in the short story "Rumpole and
1242-763: Is featured in the first five novels; in Diana Gabaldon's novel The Fiery Cross (Outlander series) it is featured in character Roger McKenzie's flashback/forward of 1960s London; in The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins ; in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf ; in Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie ; in Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw ; and in Saturday and Atonement by Ian McEwan . It
1311-451: Is near the north end of the road. The origin of the road's name is that it is the road to the Manor of Tottenham Court. The manor house lay just to the north of the road's junction with Euston Road . The first surviving record of the manor is, as Þottanheale, from a charter from around AD 1000. The initial 'Þ' (pronounced 'th') may have been a mistake by the scribe, who should perhaps have used
1380-529: Is often described as a part of Bloomsbury ). North of Torrington Place, both sides of the road are in St Pancras. The term Fitzrovia was first coined in the late 1930s as an informal description for some of the surrounding area. Tottenham Court Road is sometimes used to distinguish Fitzrovia to the west from Bloomsbury to the east (St Giles often being thought of as part of Bloomsbury). Fitzrovia has never had any formal limits applied, and its informal extent
1449-553: Is served by three stations on the London Underground —from south to north these are Tottenham Court Road , Goodge Street and Warren Street —and by numerous bus routes . The Elizabeth line , which opened in 2022, is expected to increase passenger traffic at Tottenham Court Road station by 40 per cent. On 3 June 2014, Camden Council announced plans to reserve the road for buses and bicycles only, during daylight hours from Monday to Saturday. The council claimed it would make
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#17332020938901518-509: Is sometimes also said to extend further east to Gower Street , thus potentially overlapping with the more formal definitions applied to St Giles and Bloomsbury. The south end of the road is close to the British Museum and to Centre Point , the West End 's tallest building. There are a number of buildings belonging to University College London along the road, and University College Hospital
1587-453: Is the last remaining music chain store in the United States and has shrunk from over 1,000 at its height to 270 locations in 2018. In 2019, Payless ShoeSource stated that it would be closing all remaining 2,100 stores in the US. A restaurant chain is a set of related restaurants in many different locations that are either under shared corporate ownership or franchising agreements. Typically,
1656-400: The 1930s Lyons began to develop a pioneering range of teas, biscuits and cakes that were sold in grocery stores across the world. Lyons was appointed to run the company, and it was named after him. J. Lyons & Co. was a pioneer in introducing computers to business. Between 1951 and 1963, the company manufactured and sold a range of LEO (Lyons Electronic Office) computers. The company was
1725-602: The 1984 song "Transmetropolitan", written by Shane MacGowan . David Gray references Tottenham Court Road in the song "Everytime" on his 1996 album Sell, Sell, Sell . Tottenham Court Road is mentioned in many works of fiction . It is featured briefly in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling when Harry and his friends are escaping from Death Eaters; in Robert Golbraith's CB Strike mystery series it
1794-671: The 1986 Bruce Robinson cult-classic movie Withnail and I . In My Fair Lady , Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Freddy's mother, lives in Tottenham Court Road. Also, Tottenham Court Road tube station is where one person becomes victim to the werewolf's rampage in An American Werewolf In London . In the Lerner - Loewe musical My Fair Lady , Tottenham Court Road is mentioned as the place where Eliza Doolittle sells her flowers. Andrew Lloyd Webber 's musical Cats references
1863-692: The Corner Houses. As well as the tea shops and Corner Houses, Lyons ran other large restaurants such as the Angel Cafe Restaurant in Islington and the Throgmorton in Throgmorton Street in the City of London. Its chains have included Steak Houses (1961–1988), Wimpy Bars (1953–1976), Baskin-Robbins (1974–present) and Dunkin' Donuts (1989–present). The Regent Palace Hotel , Glasshouse Street, London
1932-794: The Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act. Isidore, Benjamin and Modeste Dewachter originated the idea of the chain department store in Belgium in 1868, ten years before A&P began offering more than coffee and tea. They started with four locations for Maisons Dewachter (Houses of Dewachter): La Louvière , Mons , Namur and Leuze . They later incorporated as Dewachter frères (Dewachter Brothers) on January 1, 1875. The brothers offered ready-to-wear clothing for men and children and specialty clothing such as riding apparel and beachwear. Isidore owned 51% of
2001-554: The Judge's Elbow" from the book Rumpole's Last Case by John Mortimer ; in a The Matrix -based story, "Goliath", by Neil Gaiman . It features often in novels by Mark Billingham and in The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon . Sherlock Holmes once said that he purchased his Stradivarius from "a Jew broker in the Tottenham Court Road". It is mentioned briefly as the location where 'I' was allegedly arrested for ' toilet trading ' in
2070-559: The LEO computer and rose to be a director of Lyons Computer Services. He later wrote a history of the company and its computers. The chairmen of J. Lyons were: Chain store In 1792, Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna established W.H. Smith as a news vending business in London that would become a national concern in the mid-19th century under the management of their grandson William Henry Smith . The world's oldest national retail chain,
2139-477: The Lyons Corner Houses in the West End of London . The teashops provided for tea and coffee, with hot dishes and sweets, cold dishes and sweets, and buns, cakes and rolls. Lyons' teashops were slightly more up market than their ABC ( Aerated Bread Company ) competitors. They were notable for their interior design , from the 1920s Oliver P. Bernard being consultant artistic director. Until the 1940s they had
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2208-446: The ROFs, in respect of control of raw materials and "perishable" finished products, were somewhat similar to those used in the catering business; and J. Lyons was ideally suited to this task. They do not appear to have any involvement in managing these after 1945, when the ROFs started to run down. Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten were offered many cakes from well-wishers around
2277-466: The Symbol Biscuits name to Lyons Biscuits Ltd. The rearmament period just before World War II saw a big expansion in the number of Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs), which were British government-owned. However, due to shortages of management resources some ROFs were run as agency factories; and J. Lyons and Co. ran at least one, ROF Elstow . The management and stock control systems needed in
2346-492: The U.S. Supreme Court in 1931. Between then and 1933, 525 chain-store tax bills were introduced in state legislatures, and by the end of 1933 special taxes on retail chains were in force in 17 states. A chain store is characterised by the ownership or franchise relationship between the local business or outlet and a controlling business. While chains are typically "formula retail", a chain refers to ownership or franchise, whereas "formula retail" or "formula business" refers to
2415-653: The U.S., trade organizations such as the American Booksellers Association and American Specialty Toy Retailers do national promotion and advocacy. NGOs like the New Rules Project and New Economics Foundation provide research and tools for pro-independent business education and policy while the American Independent Business Alliance provides direct assistance for community-level organizing. A variety of towns and cities in
2484-676: The US), or as exceeding municipal zoning authority (i.e., regulating "who owns it" rather than the characteristics of the business). Non-codified restrictions will sometimes target "chains". A municipal ordinance may seek to prohibit "formula businesses" in order to maintain the character of a community and support local businesses that serve the surrounding neighborhood. Brick-and-mortar chain stores have been in decline as retail has shifted to online shopping , leading to historically high retail vacancy rates. The hundred-year-old Radio Shack chain went from 7,400 stores in 2001 to 400 stores in 2018. FYE
2553-415: The United States whose residents wish to retain their distinctive character—such as San Francisco ; Provincetown, Massachusetts and other Cape Cod villages; Bristol, RI ; McCall, Idaho ; Port Townsend, Washington ; Ogunquit, Maine ; Windermere, Florida and Carmel-by-the-Sea, California —closely regulate, even exclude, chain stores. They don't exclude the chain itself, only the standardized formula
2622-602: The University of Cambridge's Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) which was the second electronic digital stored-program computer to go into regular service, and built their own programmable digital computers . They became the first user of these in businesses, with the LEO I digital computer: the Lyons Electronic Office I , designed and built by Dr John Pinkerton under the leadership of John Simmons. It handled
2691-614: The ardent users of LEO computers was the General Post Office (GPO), who bought them in the mid/late 1960s to produce telephone bills. They were kept going until 1981, helped by buying other companies' redundant machines and using them for spare parts. The company was losing money in the 1960s but remained under the control of the Salmon family, descended from a founding partner. Lyons began to close some of its London tea shops and hotels; in 1963 it also merged its LEO Computers business with English Electric 's computer interests to form
2760-482: The area for offering a range of computers and accessories. Opposite Habitat and Heal's is a small public open space called Whitfield Gardens, occupying the former site of a chapel. On the side of a house is a painting, the "Fitzrovia Mural", which is about 20 metres (over 60 feet) high and shows many people at work and at leisure. It was painted in 1980 in a style resembling that of Diego Rivera . The mural has suffered from neglect and has been daubed with graffiti. There
2829-486: The century, and featured numerous booths with street entertainers. The Horse Shoe Brewery was established in 1764 on the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street . The current Horseshoe pub was built in the 19th century. Whitefield's Tabernacle was built in 1756 for the Reverend George Whitefield , and subsequently became the world's largest Methodist church after it was extended in 1760. It
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2898-565: The chain uses, described as " formula businesses ". For example, there could often be a restaurant owned by McDonald's that sells hamburgers, but not the formula franchise operation with the golden arches and standardized menu, uniforms, and procedures. The reason these towns regulate chain stores is aesthetics and tourism. Proponents of formula restaurants and formula retail allege the restrictions are used to protect independent businesses from competition. Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR )
2967-466: The characteristics of the business. There is considerable overlap because key characteristic of a formula retail business is that it is controlled as a part of a business relationship, and is generally part of a chain. Nevertheless, most codified municipal regulation relies on definitions of formula retail (e.g., formula restaurants ), in part because a restriction directed to "chains" may be deemed an impermissible restriction on interstate commerce (in
3036-414: The company's accounts and logistics. Lyons also included the weather forecast to ensure goods carried by their "fresh produce" delivery vans were not wasted in large quantities. Google chairman Eric Schmidt called this "the world's first office computer", built in 1951. A subsidiary LEO Computers Ltd was formed in 1954 and went on to build 11 Leo II and 94 Leo III computers that were sold worldwide. One of
3105-420: The company, while his brothers split the remaining 49%. Under Isidore's (and later his son Louis') leadership, Maisons Dewachter would become one of the most recognized names in Belgium and France with stores in 20 cities and towns. Some cities had multiple stores, such as Bordeaux, France . Louis Dewachter also became an internationally known landscape artist, painting under the pseudonym Louis Dewis . By
3174-487: The early 1920s, chain retailing was well established in the United States, with A&P, Woolworth's , American Stores, and United Cigar Stores being the largest. By the 1930s, chain stores had come of age, and stopped increasing their total market share. Court decisions against the chains' price-cutting appeared as early as 1906, and laws against chain stores began in the 1920s, along with legal countermeasures by chain-store groups. State taxes on chain stores were upheld by
3243-467: The early twenty-first century, the growth of e-commerce has reduced the importance of electronics retailing in the area, and cafes and fashion stores like Primark have become more prevalent. Whilst Tottenham Court Road still has some specialist furniture and electronics retailers, it is becoming more of a general business district. However, some of the original electronics stores on Tottenham Court Road still trade, such as House of Computers, well-known in
3312-553: The end of 1994, Lyons sold Lyons Biscuits to Hillsdown Holdings, which later sold it to a U.S. investment firm which subsequently sold it to British biscuit manufacturer Burton's Foods . Lyons' cake products, such as Bakewell tart and Battenberg , are owned by Premier Foods . The J. Lyons & Co. papers are now stored in the London Metropolitan Archives . The niece and nephew of the Gluckstein brothers were Gluck ,
3381-580: The firm took advantage of the railway boom during the Industrial Revolution by opening news-stands at railway stations beginning in 1848. The firm, now called WHSmith, had more than 1,400 locations as of 2017. In the U.S., chain stores likely began with J. Stiner & Company, which operated several tea shops in New York City around 1860. By 1900, George Huntington Hartford had built The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company , originally
3450-601: The first fish and chips restaurant (as opposed to a take-away) in London, and its instant popularity led to a chain comprising 22 restaurants with locations around London and seaside resorts in southern England including Brighton , Ramsgate and Margate . In 1864, the Aerated Bread Company (ABC) began operating a chain of teashops in Britain. ABC would be overtaken as the leader in the field by Lyons , co-founded by Joseph Lyons in 1884. From 1909 Lyons began operating
3519-505: The former manor (estate) – which was the location of a royal court at times – of Tottenham Court, whose lands lay toward the north and west of the road, in the parish of St Pancras . Tottenham Court had no direct connection with the district of Tottenham (which is now in the London Borough of Haringey ). Tottenham Court Road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus (the junction of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road ) at its southern end,
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#17332020938903588-541: The jointly owned English Electric LEO. In 1964, Lyons sold their half-stake; and English Electric merged the company with Marconi 's computer interests to form English Electric LEO Marconi Computers. A continuing problem in the British computer industry was both lack of investment capital and competition with the much larger U.S. computer companies, such as IBM . English Electric LEO Marconi Computers merged with other companies to form International Computers Limited (ICL) which
3657-749: The junction towards (New) Oxford Street. The Dominion Theatre opened in 1929, on the site of the old Horseshoe Brewery on Tottenham Court Road. It became a cinema in 1932, before reverting to being a theatre. It has a capacity of 2,000. The UK flagship location of the Spearmint Rhino is located in this street. Tottenham Court Road is a significant shopping street , best known for its high concentration of consumer electronics shops, which range from shops specialising in cables and computer components to those dealing in package computers and audio-video systems. Further north there are several furniture shops, including Habitat and Heal's . Another well-known store
3726-536: The manor was leased for 99 years to Queen Elizabeth I , and it came to be popularly called Tottenham Court . In 1639, the land was leased to Charles I ; following his execution ten years later, it was sold to Ralph Harrison. It regained Crown ownership upon the Restoration of the monarchy , where it was given a 41-year lease to Charles II . The manor became the property of the Fitzroys , who built Fitzroy Square on
3795-543: The north of what is now Euston Road (which was not built until 1756). The manor is mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral . In the time of Henry III (1216–1272), a manor house slightly north-west of what is now the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road belonged to one William de Tottenhall. In about the 15th century, the area was known variously as Totten , Totham , or Totting Hall . After changing hands several times,
3864-583: The people depicted. William Hogarth's painting The March of the Guards to Finchley is set outside the Adam and Eve at the northwest end of Tottenham Court Road. Pink Floyd played many early concerts at the UFO Club at 31 Tottenham Court Road, where they were the house band. The road is referred to in the lyrics of Underworld 's Born Slippy .NUXX . The Kinks reference the road in their 1970 song "Denmark Street". The Pogues mention Tottenham Court Road in
3933-409: The range and rehearsed assassinations they planned to carry out. Also in 1909, it was reported in a police investigation that the range was being used by two Suffragettes in a possible conspiracy to assassinate prime minister H. H. Asquith . It was also where Donald Lesbini shot Alice Eliza Storey. R v Lesbini (1914) was a case establishing in common law that with regard to voluntary manslaughter
4002-430: The restaurants within a chain are built to a standard format through architectural prototype development and offer a standard menu and/or services. Fast food restaurants are the most common, but sit-down restaurant chains also exist. Restaurant chains locations are often found near highways , shopping malls and densely populated urban or tourist areas . In 1896, Samuel Isaacs from Whitechapel , east London opened
4071-436: The south-west of the wider modern London Borough of Camden , of which St Pancras is the principal component. South of Torrington Place, Tottenham Court (and therefore St Pancras) lay between Tottenham Court Road and what is now the borough boundary with the City of Westminster . North of Torrington Place, Tottenham Court (and hence also St Pancras) occupied both the east and west sides of the road. The manor house lay just to
4140-412: The street safer and boost business ahead of the opening of the new Elizabeth line station. The current one-way system would be replaced with two-way traffic flows. Wider pavements, cycle lanes and safer pedestrian crossings would also be installed as part of the £26m plan. As of spring 2019, Tottenham Court Road has been two-way, with buses, cycles and motorbikes permitted to use the southbound road towards
4209-474: The third tier. The cake's panels depicted Princess Elizabeth's coat of arms, the couple's initials and a Naval crown. Atop the third tier sat a larger Jasper vase, filled with fresh flowers and trailing orange blossom. The top management of Lyons, with its background in the use of mechanical adding machines, saw the necessity of new electrical computers for organising the distribution of cakes and other highly perishable goods. They, therefore, substantially financed
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#17332020938904278-519: The war the teashops converted to cafeteria service. Lyons' Corner Houses, which first appeared in 1909 and remained until 1977, were noted for their art deco style. Situated on or near the corners of Coventry Street , Strand and Tottenham Court Road , they and the Maisons Lyons at Marble Arch and in Shaftesbury Avenue were large buildings on four or five floors, the ground floor of which
4347-472: The world for their wedding on 20 November 1947. Of these they accepted only 12, including one from J. Lyons and Co. They created a three-tiered cake, mounted on a silver stand, made by F E Jacobs, chief decorator of J Lyons' Ornamental Department. It stood 1.8 metres high and weighed 63 kg. The first and second tiers featured specially commissioned 10 cm blue and white Wedgwood Jasper vases set in alcoves behind silver pillars, with smaller vases on
4416-415: Was a food hall with counters for delicatessen, sweets and chocolates, cakes, fruit, flowers and other products. In addition, they possessed hairdressing salons, telephone booths, theatre booking agencies and at one period a twice-a-day food delivery service. On the other floors were several restaurants, each with a different theme and all with their own musicians. For a time the Corner Houses were open 24 hours
4485-570: Was bought by Fujitsu in 1990. In 1978, Lyons was acquired by Allied Breweries and became part of the resulting Allied Lyons . It fell on hard economic times in the late 1980s; and was sold, eventually being broken up with its ice cream and ice lolly products, which were branded as Lyons Maid , being sold to Nestlé . Other parts that were sold off included Lyons Cakes (sold to RHM and ending up as part of their Manor Bakeries subsidiary which also makes Mr Kipling's Cakes ) and Ready Brek cereal (ending up being owned by Weetabix Limited ). At
4554-462: Was operated by Strand Hotels Limited, a subsidiary of J. Lyons and Company and opened on 16 May 1915. Strand Hotels also operated the Cumberland Hotel (Marble Arch, London), Kingsley Hotel, Park Court Hotel, Windsor Hotel, White's Hotel and the Strand Palace Hotel after the inception of Strand Hotels Limited. The last London hotel that they operated until the demise of the group in the mid-1970s
4623-486: Was rebuilt in 1857 after being destroyed by fire, and again in 1888 after the building collapsed. It was bombed during the Second World War and rebuilt as the Memorial Chapel. Tottenham Court Road was predominantly rural in nature until well into the 19th century. When Heal's was established on former farmland, the lease stipulated there must be appropriate accommodation for 40 cows. These cowsheds were destroyed in
4692-620: Was the Tower Hotel situated by Tower Bridge in London. In 1938, Lyons purchased the Bee Bee Biscuit Company, which manufactured biscuits from its factories in Blackpool . Six years later, Lyons changed the company's name to Symbol Biscuits Ltd. and began selling biscuits under the Symbol and Lyons brand names: one of their innovations was Maryland Cookies in 1956. In 1990, Lyons changed
4761-532: Was the furniture maker Maple & Co. In the 1950s and 1960s, Tottenham Court Road and a few of the adjoining streets became well known for stores selling Second World War surplus radio and electronics equipment and all kinds of electro-mechanical and radio parts. Shops such as Proops Brothers (established in 1946) lined both sides of the road at that time. By the 1960s they were also selling Japanese transistor radios , audio mixers and other electronic gadgets. Many British-made valve stereos were offered too. In
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