August 2022 Media Report
THE CO-OPERATIVE DEPARTMENTAL STORE, DARTFORD (Part 1)
It was no surprise that our meeting on 9th August was so well attended as many of us remember visits to this once iconic store, now a boarded up site awaiting development.
In recounting the early days of this store Keith Whitmore, our speaker and SHG member, shared copious photographs and illustrations showing the co-operative stores and street scenes of Dartford - his affection for his former workplace was very evident.
Keith explained that the first co-operative store opened in Rochdale on 28 March 1844 when a group of mill workers, named The Rochdale Pioneers, decided to pool their resources and sell goods more cheaply (such as vegetables they grew on allotments), later adding items such as butter, flour, sugar and oatmeal. Customers collected ‘dividends’ on what they purchased. Their shop is now a museum. Other towns followed this initiative.
Dartford Industrial Co-operative Society opened the first store in the town in September 1889 in Spital Street, next to The Coach and Horses. A leading figure in the development of this business was Mr. W. T. Turnbull. (His daughter Ethel became the Society accountant in 1945). In 1892 coal was added to the growing range of items for sale, delivered to customers by a fleet of horse drawn wagons with livery stables in Essex Road. By 1915 this was the biggest store in Dartford, having added departments for calico and linens, drapery and millinery and men’s outfitters and a bakery in Kent Road.
Expansion continued – a dairy opened in Watling Street providing milk deliveries. A funeral service was established – the flowers provided by Ellis Florists situated in Ripley Market, Lowfield Street. In the 1920’s the Co-op garage opened in Springvale and a ‘New Model Bakery’ replaced the old one. There was also an in-house Works Department, offices and butchery. More space was needed for this major business so four adjoining shops were demolished and in 1928 the two storey first phase of the new store opened. Customers could join the Co-op Mutuality Club, paying a weekly amount for vouchers of ten shillings each to spend in the store with change given in mutuality coins.
During this period co-op stores opened on London Road, Horns Cross, and The Newtown Grocery Store in Colney Road and stores in Sutton at Hone and South Darenth and in 1930 in Crockenhill.
The Co-operative Store in Dartford, in the Art Deco style that most of us would recognise, was opened in July 1935 and described as a ‘modern clothing emporium’ – the same day as trolley buses replaced trams in Dartford. We admired scenes of the grocery counters with suitably attired assistants behind and the cashier station in the middle, looking like Harrods or Fortnum and Mason. Keith showed photographs of the Lamson Pneumatic Cash System where cash was sent in cartridges, by a vacuum pipe system housed in the basement, from the counters to the cash department on the second floor. The basement was used as an air raid shelter during World War 2. Keith will present the second instalment at our next meeting on Tuesday 06 September.
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During his presentation Keith showed newly discovered photographs of the impressive first departmental store in Swanley which was opened in Swanley High Street in 1894 and called Job Mace Universal Supply Stores. The Co-operative Store, with flats for staff above, opened in 1955 further down the High Street.
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser
THE CO-OPERATIVE DEPARTMENTAL STORE, DARTFORD (Part 1)
It was no surprise that our meeting on 9th August was so well attended as many of us remember visits to this once iconic store, now a boarded up site awaiting development.
In recounting the early days of this store Keith Whitmore, our speaker and SHG member, shared copious photographs and illustrations showing the co-operative stores and street scenes of Dartford - his affection for his former workplace was very evident.
Keith explained that the first co-operative store opened in Rochdale on 28 March 1844 when a group of mill workers, named The Rochdale Pioneers, decided to pool their resources and sell goods more cheaply (such as vegetables they grew on allotments), later adding items such as butter, flour, sugar and oatmeal. Customers collected ‘dividends’ on what they purchased. Their shop is now a museum. Other towns followed this initiative.
Dartford Industrial Co-operative Society opened the first store in the town in September 1889 in Spital Street, next to The Coach and Horses. A leading figure in the development of this business was Mr. W. T. Turnbull. (His daughter Ethel became the Society accountant in 1945). In 1892 coal was added to the growing range of items for sale, delivered to customers by a fleet of horse drawn wagons with livery stables in Essex Road. By 1915 this was the biggest store in Dartford, having added departments for calico and linens, drapery and millinery and men’s outfitters and a bakery in Kent Road.
Expansion continued – a dairy opened in Watling Street providing milk deliveries. A funeral service was established – the flowers provided by Ellis Florists situated in Ripley Market, Lowfield Street. In the 1920’s the Co-op garage opened in Springvale and a ‘New Model Bakery’ replaced the old one. There was also an in-house Works Department, offices and butchery. More space was needed for this major business so four adjoining shops were demolished and in 1928 the two storey first phase of the new store opened. Customers could join the Co-op Mutuality Club, paying a weekly amount for vouchers of ten shillings each to spend in the store with change given in mutuality coins.
During this period co-op stores opened on London Road, Horns Cross, and The Newtown Grocery Store in Colney Road and stores in Sutton at Hone and South Darenth and in 1930 in Crockenhill.
The Co-operative Store in Dartford, in the Art Deco style that most of us would recognise, was opened in July 1935 and described as a ‘modern clothing emporium’ – the same day as trolley buses replaced trams in Dartford. We admired scenes of the grocery counters with suitably attired assistants behind and the cashier station in the middle, looking like Harrods or Fortnum and Mason. Keith showed photographs of the Lamson Pneumatic Cash System where cash was sent in cartridges, by a vacuum pipe system housed in the basement, from the counters to the cash department on the second floor. The basement was used as an air raid shelter during World War 2. Keith will present the second instalment at our next meeting on Tuesday 06 September.
************
During his presentation Keith showed newly discovered photographs of the impressive first departmental store in Swanley which was opened in Swanley High Street in 1894 and called Job Mace Universal Supply Stores. The Co-operative Store, with flats for staff above, opened in 1955 further down the High Street.
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser