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Oxford Street, long frontages to Park Street and North Row, and a ground area of 56,800 square feet... The agreement for 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 The premises was withdrawn from sale at £330,000.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
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Gamages had many departments - 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,
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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 was to grow large enough to take up most of
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conducted 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
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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.
526:"In the Captain Fantastic Story, I was to be seen rampaging around Gamages, the grand department store in London, and making a risky getaway run along the flat roof of the portico above the main entrance, where the store placed a row of sumptuously decorated Christmas trees."
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titled 'The
Cardboard Box', Mrs Hudson advises Sherlock Holmes to buy Dr Watson's Christmas present at Gamages. Later, we see Holmes arrive with a parcel with the Gamages label. Finally, the gift is revealed to be a poncho.
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in 1971. The
Holborn site closed in March 1972 and there 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.
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said that the "skilful manner of '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.
88:. A new company was set up, Gamages (West End) Limited, for the expansion with 500,000 £1 shares sold to the public. The store opened in 1930, and the architectural correspondent of
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the latter selling shotguns. The toy department was extensive and there were substantial fashion, furniture and carpeting departments and in latter years a small food supermarket.
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newspaper. A prominent advertisement for
Gamages department store promoting a 'great sale of furniture at lowest cash prices' can be seen.
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Many of those who were children at the time remember
Gamages because of its unparallelled stock of toys of the day, and the Gamages
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tells his daughter how, at the time of her conception, her mother had 'a nice steady job in the hardware department at
Gamages'.
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551:"Retail Difficulties: Gamages in 1930 ... what shops today can learn from the bleak festive season of 1930"
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Gamages was an extremely successful and profitable store. In 1968 a second store was opened in the
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the block in which it was situated, it was unusual in that its premises were away from the main
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A report of the auction of
Gamages Department Store (including its 41 flats) appeared in
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Robert Head (16 September 1970). "YOUR MONEY': Small shops gang up on the giants".
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The twelve Del's of
Christmas : my festive tales from life and Only fools
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439:. Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. p. 13.
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140:'s Sterling Guarantee Trust in 1970 and the Romford site was sold off to
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435:"4: 164–212 Oxford Street, Winsley Street to Great Portland Street".
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Guide to the
Archive of Art and Design, Victoria & Albert Museum
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Elizabeth Lomas; Archive of Art and Design (Great
Britain) (2001).
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In 1928 Gamages signed a lease for 489–497 Oxford Street from the
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War on the Western Front: In the Trenches of World War I
61:. Gamages also ran a successful mail-order business.
53:shopping area, being at 118–126 Holborn, close to
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318:"Oxford Street: The Rebuilding of Oxford Street"
633:Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom
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247:"In Pictures: London's Lost Department Stores"
113:During World War I, Gamages manufactured the
200:In an episode of the Granada TV crime drama
193:', Arthur Hastings reads to Poirot from the
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411:"British Home Stores Part 3: 1960 to 2016"
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301:The Letters of Rudyard Kipling: 1920-30
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341:"Auction Of Gamages (West End), Ltd."
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277:. Taylor & Francis. p. 102.
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101:on 15 July 1931. Mr W. S. Edgson of
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359:. Osprey Publishing. p. 201.
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399:. 16 September 1970. p. 4.
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203:The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
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643:History of the City of London
516:"Do Not Adjust Your Stocking"
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549:Freedland, Jonathan (2008).
215:The Twelve Dels of Christmas
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450:Collins, Norman (2009).
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229:was filmed at Gamages.
130:Liberty Shopping Centre
540:Gamages 1913 catalogue
322:British History Online
226:Do Not Adjust Your Set
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483:Jason, David (2022).
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181:In an episode of the
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115:Leach trench catapult
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452:London belongs to me
155:London Belongs to Me
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142:British Home Stores
82:Duke of Westminster
589:51.5176°N 0.1209°W
415:Building Our Pasts
213:wrote in his book
149:In popular culture
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494:978-1-5291-3614-2
461:978-0-14-144233-4
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284:978-1-57958-315-6
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454:. Penguin.
211:David Jason
607:Categories
577:51°31′03″N
503:1338683990
366:1846032105
233:References
580:0°07′15″W
470:271771660
343:The Times
217:that the
185:TV drama
99:The Times
91:The Times
66:catalogue
189:titled '
176:Fletcher
170:titled '
167:Porridge
557:9 March
542:at the
256:9 March
134:Romford
108:C&A
44:History
38:Holborn
30:Gamages
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187:Poirot
32:was a
420:6 May
327:6 May
559:2016
499:OCLC
489:ISBN
466:OCLC
456:ISBN
422:2021
361:ISBN
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279:ISBN
258:2016
183:LWT
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157:by
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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