Registration number:

Company name: Kendal Milne & Co
Dates in business: 1862-1919

Type of business: Department store retailer

Type of company: Partnership 1862-1919

Locations:

• Oxford Road, Toll Lane, Back South Parade, Moss Lane, King Street, Police Street, Manchester, Manchester, England

Company history

Kendal milne was founded by John Watts in 1796 when he opened a small drapery in the Deansgate area of Manchester. The business expanded and further premises were leased on the other side of Densgate. By 1821, Watts had appointed a London buyer to purchase all the latest fashions for the store. By 1832 the store had moved to premises on the corner of Police Street and Deansgate. In 1835 the business was sold to three of Watt's employees, as the Watts family wished to concentrate on the wholesale busines.

Thomas Kendal had trained as a draper in London, and James Milne and Adam Faulkner had both been apprenticed in the textile trade.The store traded as Kendal Milne & Faulkner from 1836. The business advertised in areas like Stockport and Bolton and held sales of regular goods and bankrupt stock. Stables were leased in Wood Street for the delivery fleet of horses, and gas lighting was added throughout the store. When Adam Faulkner died in 1862, the store traded as Kendal Milne & Co, and increased the number of services the offered customers ovcer the following years, opening cabinet showrooms on the other side of Deansgate in 1870, as well as a cabinet factory at Garden Lane and upholstery rooms at Back Bridge Street.

In 1884 Thomas Kendal retired from the business, leaving the day to day running to John Dewhurst Milne, the son of James Milne, James Herbert Milne, Samual Kendal and Thomas Herbert Kendal. In 1890s the store employed over 900 staff and had opened tearooms and new departments for Ladie's and Children's shoes. In the late 1890s Kendal Milne & Co bought premises facing King Street which were linked to the main store by an and a first floor level bridge underground passage.

After the death of Herbert kendal and James Herbert Milne John in 1908, John Dewharst Milne and Samuel Kendal managed the frim until it was purchased by Harrods Stores Ltd in 1919. The store was extensively refurbished, a fifth storey added to the Police Street building in 1921. The alley between the two stores disappeared and the King Street site was joinmed to the main store. The Deansgate store was again refurbished in 1936. Work started on the store on the other side of Deansgate, but it was badly damaged in a fire in 1939. The work was completed in 1940, and the new store housed new departments such as hairdressing, a library, a travel agents and estate agents.

In 1959, Harrods Sores Ltd was bought by house of Fraser. In 1981 the store on the other side of Deansgate was sold and its departrments moved to the main store. Between 1983 and 1984 the store was again refurbished, and opened a food hall on the ground floor. House of Fraser ontinues to trade from these premises (2009)

Access points: Department stores - Retail trade