Temple Fortune: Opening and history

Waitrose Temple Fortune opening notice 1945
The Gazette
Temple Fortune 1964 - conversion to a supermarket
John Lewis Partnership archive collection
Temple Fortune advertisement 1965
John Lewis Partnership archive collection
Temple Fortune advertisement 1965
John Lewis Partnership archive collection
Waitrose Temple Fortune c1975
The Gazette
Temple Fortune Refurbishment - Dennis Coelho, BM
The Gazette

Waitrose Temple Fortune (125)

32-39 Temple Fortune Parade Finchley Road London NW11 0QS

Waitrose Temple Fortune, Golders Green, is one of the oldest Waitrose branches still trading.  Waitrose Temple Fortune (125) opened in 1945, as Waitrose branch 65.  The site had formerly been a branch of Cope’s stores, trading since the late 1930s.

1945 In the Gazette of 15th December 1945 the following announcement appeared:

“Waitrose have now added two new branches.  These were previously trading under the name of Copes Stores, and are situated at 33 and 35 Temple Fortune Parade, Golders Green and 12 Belle Vue Road, Wandsworth Common.  All of the staff connected with these businesses (of whom there are twenty) are continuing in the business, and we feel sure that all Partners will wish to extend a hearty welcome to them on joining the Partnership”.

1948 Refrigeration ‘With the increasing popularity of fresh frozen fruit and vegetables, it may interest Partners to know that Waitrose were amongst the first to install the special refrigerator cabinets in some of their branches; this was in 1938. The number of branches able to retail these items has been increased, but of course the demand still exceeds the supply. South Kensington, Surbiton, Windsor, Ealing, Gerrards Cross, Temple Fortune, Belmont, Golders Green and Wandsworth branches are equipped with these cabinets. [Gazette 12.6.1948 pg 215]

1960 Self-service In October 1960 the shop was converted to self-service, and delivery and credit were abolished. “Since the Waitrose shop at Temple Fortune was converted to self-service, and delivery and credit were abolished, in October 1960, turnover at the branch has more than doubled. Sales per square foot are so high that an extension has become essential for any further progress. Gazette 15.8.1964 pg 719.

Present working space behind the scenes is not only cramped but awkward for the running of a self-service type of shop. Shelves have to be frequently refilled (some items need replenishing almost hourly during the week-end peak) with goods wheeled or carried from the stockrooms. ‘It’s quite a job getting through doors and narrow passages with loads’, reports Mrs M Jackson, a shelf-filler.” The Branch Manager was Mr R S Jones.

1964 Extension  Three neighbouring shops have been bought and the work of conversion began in May [1964]. When rebuilding is completed in April next year Temple Fortune will rank as a supermarket and have about 4,500 square feet of selling space against its present 1,800 square feet. Temple Fortune will become the second branch in Waitrose to have a delicatessen department. The first was Slough.

1965 Re-opening after extension “Waitrose Partners at Temple Fortune in North London this week opened the group’s newest supermarket in what was one of its oldest shops. The final stage of preparation for opening began on Saturday evening. In an hour and a half every shelf was cleared of stock and a crash programme began. In two days, the shop was redecorated and every shelf filled, opening at nine on the Wednesday morning – no special opening ceremony – the doors were simply opened and the customers came back.

Many customers were using the new trolleys on the first day (previously the density was such that there was only room for four trolleys). The selling team was not quite up to its full double strength of fifty people, but the doubled selling area needed double the amount of filling. Sales on the first day were a comfortable 66 per cent above the previous year.” [Gazette 27.3.1965 pg 180]

1968 At the end of January 1968, some Waitrose branch numbers were reallocated and Temple Fortune became branch 125.

1971 Conditions ‘Temple Fortune must be well known by now for the big increases it has been putting on in the past year. The sales density is very high. The branch had the sixth highest sales per square foot in the Waitrose group in the half year that ended in January 1971.

All this has been achieved despite relatively poor facilities both in the shop and behind the scenes. As with most of the older supermarkets the building was not designed for such a high volume of trade. The stockroom is painfully inadequate and inevitably boxes have to be stored all over the building, wherever space can be found. Perhaps the worst aspect of the cramped conditions is the lack of a large enough room for preparing deliveries of fruit and vegetables. After a large delivery some stock has to stay outside in the yard before it can be brought in for preparation. Dealing with this situation in wet weather is no fun.

The branch is in the middle of a busy high street with no private parking facilities, yet despite this most of their customers are car-borne. The area is a wealthy one and the manager of the branch, Mr G Tweedale, thinks that Waitrose probably draws the same kind of customers as John Barnes which is “just down the road”. People buy in large quantities and Mr Tweedale quotes the case of one customer who regularly spends between sixty and seventy pounds in a single visit.

The frontage of the shop is extremely long, deceptively so as an indication of the shop’s size, because inside there is very little depth. The checkouts are at one end of the shop, at right angles to the windows and when the branch is at its busiest on Friday and Saturday, queues of customers, nearly all with trolleys, sometimes stretch a long way into the shop. One way of helping to relieve this congestion would be to install another checkout, but as Mr Tweedale points out, there just isn’t room for one. [Gazette 2.10.1971 pg 888]

1993 The store was extended again in 1993, with the acquisition of neighbouring shops. Despite its difficulties (lack of car park etc) the branch has always had loyal customers.

2024 The branch was refurbished during a 6 week closure.

Comments about this page

  • That’s an interesting discussion point, as our internal systems quote 07 October 1937 as the opening date.  Could this be the date it opened as Cope’s?

    By David Goddard (03/10/2017)
  • Thanks for the clarification on the date of acquisition of Temple Fortune, I’ll put a note in my copy of Fairer Shares as Temple is specifically listed as 1937.

    By Terry Hammond (23/01/2013)
  • Regarding the opening date for Temple Fortune, the Gazette has a notice to say that the Partnership purchased Temple Fortune from Copes Stores in November/December 1945. I believe the reference to 1937 in Fairer Shares, is to the purchase of Waitrose by the Partnership.

    By Linda Moroney (21/01/2013)
  • As the last remaining original Waitrose branch, I have a lot of affection for it as it was the first branch I worked on following my move from branches to the Layout section of Merchandising in 1978. The branch was having difficulty implementing a new Squash layout and as soon as I visited them I could see why. Alongside the slope in the shop floor the Squash section was located in a redundant refrigerated cabinet with metal shelves bolted to their brackets. The bolts were seized tight and the shelf heights couldn’t be adjusted for the new layout. A liberal dose of WD40 left overnight did the job and I helped the delighted branch with the new layout the following day. In the days before the M25 Temple was ideally situated on the North Circular Road for a break and Denis Coehlo as Branch Manager was always happy for me to stop for a bacon roll and a coffee, a friendship that endures today. A certain Des Fitzgerald was ASM Service Deli before the counter was removed to make way for more checkouts. I later had the pleasure (in 2007) of being involved with the refrigeration upgrade which had to jump some considerable financial hurdles before gaining approval. The investment immediately started producing the hoped for returns. I’m intrigued by the quoted opening date heading this item as on page 206 of Fairer Shares it is listed as October 1937.

    By Terry Hammond (14/01/2013)

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