Waitrose Streatham was acquired on 5th April 1948. The Gazette announced the acquisition, welcoming “The old established grocery and provision business formerly carried on by Messrs. T Wilkey Ltd at 558 High Road. We welcome Mr W H Kearnon and his team to the Partnership and hope that in it they will find happiness and prosperity.” Mr Kearon went on to manage the shop until closure in 1963.
The branch then relocated to No.123-127 Streatham High Road, which used to be the premises for Messrs. George Pratt & Company. The branch became the Partnership’s first supermarket on 6 September 1955. It had 2,500 square feet of selling space – just less than a tennis court! The fascia was in eggshell green vitriolite, with neon-lit lettering in dark green perspex and sheet bronze. Opening hours were 8.30am to 6pm with half day closing on Wednesday and a late night on Friday.
Pratts of Streatham, already a branch department store of the John Lewis Partnership, produced a leaflet to promote the new supermarket: “Pratts customers are strongly recommended to try this modern method of buying in speed and comfort from a wide selection of foods.”
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Still waiting for Waitrose to come back to Streatham- there are many outlets that are vacant so even a local ( where we can also pickup JL purchases) would be very welcome- please can JL partnership consider
Pratts was a JLP department store on Streatham High Road, not a supermarket.
I have a memory of a grocer’s shop that was called Waitrose in the parade of shops on the high road between Glencairn Road and Aragon Gardens at the southern end of Streatham – almost on the border with Norbury. This would be in the early 1950s as we moved into Glencairn Road in 1951, just after the trams were abandoned.
My memory is of a conventional small shop, counter on the right as you went in, goods for sale on shelves behind, and goods like sugar and biscuits being sold from bulk containers. Granulated sugar was sold in thick blue paper bags, with the required amount being shovelled in and weighed.
I also clearly remember Pratts and the way that you could move along the high street within the store and come out much further down. The cinema was still called the Astoria in those days.
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