Lewis's Department Store

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Sun 13 Apr, 2008 8:32 pm

[quotenick="BLAKEY"][quotenick="fevlad"] fevlad wrote: BLAKEY wrote: fevlad wrote: despite all the alterations and changes in display styles you could always spot signs of the original lewis' the bronze bannisters, some aspects of the flooring, the rickety escalators, ceiling detail. i'd love to see those pics Have now resued the pictures from my old computer, but could someone please tell me how to post pictures on here - Thanks You have to open a new message - you cannot put up a picture without some comment. When you have typed your message tick the box that says 'add attachment' this opens up a screen for adding attachments - the crucial item is the underlined word 'browse' - click on this.This will open up a new window - this time there is a button with the word' browse' on it - click on thisYou can then search your computer for the pic you want.click on it and press the 'open' button'its plain sailing from there - click on ' next' then 'finish'(you can edit/crop the pic at this stage) and finally 'continue'And you're done!!!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sun 13 Apr, 2008 11:39 pm

Here is an attempt to show a couple of the pictures of Lewiss's wonderful staircases and brass bannisters - hope they bring back happy memories.Oh dear - many thanks to Drapesy for clear instructions, but ticking the "add attachments" box has done nowt so far - no screen or anything - more comments if you will please, preferably tailored for the dopey !!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sun 13 Apr, 2008 11:42 pm

Ahhh - that's done it, didn't realise you had to press POST before browsing - sorry. here's another now :-

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sun 13 Apr, 2008 11:49 pm

Lost it again, the others eeem to be too big to post - will keep working on it, sorry folks.

Leeds Lass · Post by **Leeds Lass** » Sun 13 Apr, 2008 11:51 pm

Wow, thanks for that, it brought back some lovely memories and a lump to my throat!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sun 13 Apr, 2008 11:57 pm

There are several more Leeds Lass - but I shall have to downsize them when I know ho - for some reason they are over1.0kb, whereas this one is only 409 mb. Watch this space.

Leeds Lass · Post by **Leeds Lass** » Mon 14 Apr, 2008 12:17 am

Si wrote: Was the 'Croft' cafeteria in Lewis's or Schofields? Can't remember. Nah, the Croft was definately Schofields. I mentioned it somewhere else, cos I remembered going when I was a kid and looking out over the rooftops of Leeds. I knew it was Schofields, but couldn't remember the name of the cafe! Phill reminded me in the end!I loved Lewis's as a kid and remember the food hall very well, Mum used to get us gherkins, PROPER thick yellowy cream cheese, weighed out into little polystyrene tubs and sliced garlic sausage.Also remember Santa; for a number of years he frightened me to death!!I have several photo's of me, from around 2yrs to 8yrs old, trying to escape his deadly clutches!!! I can never remember what he gave me, except the heebie jeebies!!!!

Leeds Lass · Post by **Leeds Lass** » Mon 14 Apr, 2008 12:18 am

BLAKEY wrote: There are several more Leeds Lass - but I shall have to downsize them when I know ho - for some reason they are over1.0kb, whereas this one is only 409 mb. Watch this space. Thanks Blakey, that'd be great! I'll look out for them!

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Mon 14 Apr, 2008 9:54 am

I have a photo of myself at about age 5, holding a chimpanzee (yes, you can just about tell which one is me!) - it was taken in a small kiosk at Lewis's in the mid-1960s. Goodness knows what that was all about, but perhaps it was an add-on to the Santa Grotto?Other memories of Lewis's - the food hall, ham-off-the-bone and some wonderful bread which had curd cheese in the middle, the best Santa in Leeds, the magical animated Christmas window displays and the distinctive "ping" which the lifts made as they reached each floor. I also remember Lewis's having the first "down" escalator I had ever been on (my mother called it the "moving staircase"!).I remember there was a big fire in the Manchester Lewis's in the 70s or 80s (the YEP placards said "City centre store blaze" and I bought the paper assuming it meant Leeds, and felt conned to find out it was in Manchester!).

StoneyRocker · Post by **StoneyRocker** » Wed 23 Apr, 2008 11:48 pm

In the 70's, I heard a story that the original design for Lewis's store was to have an extra floor in height. According to this tale, some powerful people pulled strings to prevent this because the extra height of the building would have blocked out the sun from the sundial above the entrance to St. John's church.If you look at the 1930 architect drawings on Leodis, there is an extra floor that wasn't built. The back of the store is also lower so the sundial sees the sun in winter. Construction took six or seven years as subsequent floors were added.