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91:(or Baedeker Raids) on 27 and 28 April 1942. The current owner, Ernest Bond, was in business again within three days of the bombing, selling what he could salvage from his damaged stock. He took possession of a fleet of damaged and disused buses using them as shops. They were put in the store's car park where they also set up a makeshift restaurant in an old corrugated iron building.
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newspaper a Grand Sale, selling the stock of the previous owners at heavily discounted prices. In 1881, Robert and his wife Mary were living above the premises with five of their staff, including a millinery assistant who helped Mary Bond set up
Department No 1. The business expanded buying up two of
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In 1924, Robert Bond died. He was succeeded as chairman by
William. The store was rebuilt with frontages on Ber Street and All Saints Green, with an arcade running in between in 1914. In the 1930s the store expanded by buying the Thatched Cinema on All Saints Green and using it as a restaurant and
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During the 1970s, however, trade steadily deteriorated. Chief
Executive, Nicholas Hinde, left the business in 1979, taking the East Dereham store. A modernisation project and the addition of a further 14,000 square feet of selling space was completed in the same year in an attempt to turn the
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the adjacent properties, and by 1903 Robert's two sons
William and Ernest joined the business. The company name was changed to R H Bond & Sons. The third son James Owen Bond became an architect - his firm The Owen Bond Partnership exists today and designed the 1938 store extension.
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Bonds was established in
February 1879 by Robert Herne Bond when he took over Woodlands drapery shop at the end of Ber Street. Robert was the son of a farmer, but first started working as a grocer in London, before learning the drapery trade with his brother James in
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In 1938 23-25 All Saints Green became available, and a new extension was added. However, the buildings were damaged during the war with the
Thatched Cinema being burned down. The store continued by using empty properties in Norwich.
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After the war, Robert Owen Bond, working in his fathers Owen Bond practice designed the new store which was completed in 1951. The business grew after the war, buying Green in
Haymarket and Cluttens in East Dereham.
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Changes at the
Norwich store failed to arrest the decline in the company's fortunes, however, with operating losses since 1978 culminating in the sale of the company in 1982. The
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The drapery business was very competitive with nearly 90 businesses in
Norwich alone. To get noticed Robert Bond advertised on the front of the
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51:. Bonds in Chelmsford would become a department store in its own right and was bought by
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The store continued to trade as Bonds until 2001 when the
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purchased the business in 1982. The store was renamed
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bought the business for a fee said to be £1 million.
87:The store was almost completely burnt down in the
22:was a department store based in All Saints Green,
192:"Moulsham Street, Chelmsford 1911 census summary"
244:Department store buildings in the United Kingdom
219:Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom
224:Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom
83:The former Bonds store as a John Lewis today.
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134:"Bonds of Norwich - John Lewis Memory Store"
239:Retail companies disestablished in 2001
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229:Retail companies established in 1879
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55:prior to the Second World War.
249:1879 establishments in England
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16:Former department store
234:John Lewis Partnership
104:John Lewis Partnership
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32:John Lewis Partnership
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172:on 28 October 2014
113:name was adopted.
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99:business around.
67:Twentieth century
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168:. Archived from
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20:Bonds of Norwich
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166:"Norwich HEART"
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60:Norwich Mercury
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89:Baedeker Blitz
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42:Early history
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195:. Retrieved
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174:. Retrieved
170:the original
137:. Retrieved
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213:Categories
197:1 November
176:1 November
117:References
111:John Lewis
49:Chelmsford
36:John Lewis
72:offices.
53:Debenhams
38:in 2001.
28:England
24:Norwich
139:5 May
199:2014
178:2014
141:2020
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125:^
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
