This year marks 75 years since the John Lewis Partnership arrived in Watford. Many of its customers will remember it as Trewins, the name under which the store traded for 121 years.

In 1880, Arthur Trewin, a young Cornishman, purchased a small draper’s shop in Queen Street, Watford. Customers could browse a wide range of household linens, dress piece goods, mantles, furs, children’s hosiery and trimmings. The business prospered, and in 1887 Arthur moved the business to the newly-built Osborne House on Queens Road. He was joined by his brother, Henry, and from then on the business became known as the Trewin Brothers.

In the early twentieth century, the shop fitted four external lamps to light the windows after dark. Other innovations followed, including the provision of electricity to the shop two days before the rest of Watford.

Special attractions included a public tea room and new showrooms. There were demonstrations of goods and services, and at Christmas time parents brought their children to visit Santa in his lavish grotto.

The shop was sold to an American, H. Gordon Selfridge, in 1918. Trewins was one of the first of his purchases in what was to become the Selfridge Provincial Stores (SPS) group. They opened a ‘Television Theatre’ and celebrities regularly visited the shop to promote various goods.

In the 1930s, if you wanted to purchase goods but couldn’t afford to buy them outright, there was the option of a hire-purchase agreement also known as the never-never. You made a deposit and agreed to pay a monthly amount for the rest. You were given a receipt book which was stamped each time you made a payment. The final amount was signed off over a postage stamp and then a notice was issued saying that the item was yours. Until then the store still held an interest in the goods and could repossess them if payments lapsed.

In 1940, the Selfridge family decided to sell the SPS group, which by then comprised fifteen shops, and it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership.

During World War II, Watford was frequently attacked in air raids. One bomb in 1941 damaged the shop, but it managed to remain trading.

Despite restrictions remaining on many goods remaining until well into the 1950s, Trewins continued to trade in cramped conditions. One employee recalls that, when it was really hot, permission had to be given by the managing director before men could remove their jackets and ladies allowed to go barelegged.

In 1963 work finally commenced to build a new extension to the shop adjacent to the old one. Two years later when the work was complete, the shop had doubled in size.

Alan van der Pant was the general manager of Trewins in the 1970s. When asked how the shop was doing so well, he replied that it was because of the store’s position in an expanding town with a wealthy catchment area, little unemployment, close transport links and plenty of car parks. He is quoted in the Gazette as saying, “This is a good area to trade in. I know of no better in England.”

As part of the initiation of a new staff member in kitchenware, the newbie was invited to visit the stockroom (known as the Dungeons) below the store in order to collect something. The employees omitted to tell their new colleague about the First World War stretchers in a recess in the stockroom wall, with a pair of wellington boots resting on the end, complete with an old OXO label around one ankle. Surprisingly after this scare, no staff member ever left on their first day at the department.

In August 1990, Trewins moved to their new shop in the Harlequin Centre. The stock was trundled through the town centre in cages and trolleys.

The next major change came in September 2001 when Trewins changed its name to John Lewis and opened for Sundays all year round. 140 new Partners were recruited to help staff the extra day and the branch celebrated the change with a party.

John Lewis now sits in the newly renamed Intu Watford shopping centre.

Information courtesy of www.johnlewismemorystore.org.uk