inside GHL/John Lewis building

I rang this morning to ask about taking photos and a nice man said no problem as long as I told a member of staff on each dept I was in.
By the time I finally got into town it was 3 o'clock and I'd only been in there 5 minutes when a tannoy announcement invited customers to wander about the building and take photos if they so wished. there were loads of people snapping away.
I'm now uploading some of the pics I took and will post them in small batches. I've started this thread before I post pix in case anyone else was there taking any and was looking for somewhere to post them.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2410/...7a596b5a_o.jpg
The staircase in John Lewis store on the last day of trading before moving
to their new premises

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/...37070c7c_o.jpg
Ground floor on the last day

photobucket being a swine...grrr. taking ages to upload pics
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture981.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture979-1.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture975.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture968.jpg

more to follow

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture952.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture942-1.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture941-1.jpg

excellent pics Quincy & Gregs Dad :PDT_Piratz_26:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture908.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture907.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture906.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture911-1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture916.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture928.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture950.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture963.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture960.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture930.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture932-1.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture934-1.jpg
the architects wife lost a baby which is why he incorporated this into the design. the angel has 1 wing up and 1 down
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture933-1.jpg

last batch I think...you hope!
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture971.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture970.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Picture966.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...cture968-1.jpg

Fantastic pictures - I hope that the building is well used again and set out in such an easy layout.

I just hope the business isn't moving just because it wants to be at the 'in' place in Liverpool.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cadfael

Fantastic pictures - I hope that the building is well used again and set out in such an easy layout.

I just hope the business isn't moving just because it wants to be at the 'in' place in Liverpool.

---

JL are the flagship store of the new set up. I guess they want somewhere bigger.
Marks are going in the old GHL first so I doubt there will be too many changes. My concern for the building comes from when Rapid go in. there's a lot of great decoration in the building and I fear it could be all ripped out.

Great pics, well done.:handclap:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ged

Great pics, well done.:handclap:

---

I'll second that.Very good:PDT_Piratz_26:

Have I got this right? - When John Lewis move into Liverpool One, Marks & Spencer and Rapid Hardware are moving into the vacated building (assumedly split back up into two buildings). What then is happening to the building vacated by M&S and the half of Renshaw Street vacated by Rapid?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Howie

Have I got this right? - When John Lewis move into Liverpool One, Marks & Spencer and Rapid Hardware are moving into the vacated building (assumedly split back up into two buildings). What then is happening to the building vacated by M&S and the half of Renshaw Street vacated by Rapid?

---

as far as I can make out M&S are having the whole building until their current one is refurbished, then Rapid are taking it over in 2011

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by quincyg

as far as I can make out M&S are having the whole building until their current one is refurbished, then Rapid are taking it over in 2011

---

So the M&S move is only temporary. Thanks for clearing that up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Howie

So the M&S move is only temporary. Thanks for clearing that up.

---

oh yes sorry for not making that bit clearer. still got a head full of paint fumes. even my 2 hour outing today hasn't livened my brain up much lol. not that many would have noticed the difference :PDT_Xtremez_42:

Store closes before flagship move

One of the best-known stores in Liverpool city centre is closing its doors for the final time.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...wis_bbc226.jpg
The new flagship store opens on Thursday

John Lewis, formerly known as George Henry Lee, is moving to a new flagship store on South John Street as part of the Liverpool One development.

It means the store on Basnett Street, where the company has traded for 60 years, will close on Monday.

The first phase of the £1bn Liverpool One retail development is opening on Thursday morning.

An army of staff will be involved in moving stock and other items to the new store on Tuesday and Wednesday before the opening.

Margaret Jacques, managing director of John Lewis in Liverpool, said the move was being planned like a "military operation".

The new John Lewis store is the biggest outside London and is one of the flagship developments of Liverpool One.

The development features shops, bars and hotels and centres on a 42-acre site near the city's Paradise Street.

Its official grand opening, when all of the units will be open, is taking place in September.

Source: BBC NEWS | Merseyside

i used to love that going in that building

There's still an entrance that has retained the George Henry Lee name over the doors. It's visible down the side-street, off Parker street.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by marky

There's still an entrance that has retained the George Henry Lee name over the doors. It's visible down the side-street, off Parker street.

---

It's used as a staff entrance.
I'd like to say it's Listed, but I've a horrible feeling it isn't.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2014/...e3dcbab6_o.jpg

^ I did see staff having a break outside that entrance. That's one of the back-streets of Liverpool, that few people visit.

John Lewis's closes its doors at historic site

May 27 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

Curtain down on shopping era

THE curtain came down on more than 150 years of shopping history yesterday, when one of Liverpool’s best-loved stores closed its doors for the last time.

Hundreds of serving and former staff gathered at John Lewis’s at the close of business yesterday to mark the end of an era for the Basnett Street department store.

On Thursday, John Lewis’s new 260,000ft complex will open for business as one of the anchor stores at the new Liverpool One development.

It is all a far cry from the department store’s origins as a bonnet shop, employing 13 people when it opened in 1853.

And yesterday was an opportunity for staff members to gather around the famous grand staircase and share their memories of the iconic Liverpool store, known to generations of families as the upmarket George Henry Lee’s.

The managing director, Margaret Jacques, read out a moving poem about the history of the building, which had many of those present in tears.

Among those in attendance for the closing ceremony yesterday were current staff members Maria Hewitt, Meryl Hartley and Lynn Balshaw, who between them have more than 100 years’ service.

All three will be transferring to the new store when it opens later this week. Lynn, 60, who started work as a junior clerk at the store in 1966, said: “It’s been very emotional and we’ve all had a good cry.

“It’s changed an awful lot in the time I’ve been here, and it’s a lot more informal. When I started, it was olde worlde, the restaurant was silver service and there was a hairdressing salon.

“Now it’s a lot more informal and all the staff are known by their first names.” Colleague Maria Hewitt, a relative newcomer with 28 years’ experience, said: “It’s just like one big family. Today was my day off, but I couldn’t not come for the closing of the doors because I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.

“But we’re all looking forward to doing our best when we get to the new building as well.”

Meryl Hartley, who joined the firm straight from school at the age of 16 and has been at the store for 32 years, said: “The managing director gave the most wonderful speech from the bottom of her heart, and there were quite a lot of tears.”

The former and serving staff members were joined yesterday by those who are stocking the new branch, along with many who work in John Lewis’s warehouse in Speke.

Over the next few days, a military-style operation will see more than £1m worth of stock transferred to the new store. It will be one of John Lewis’s largest branches outside London, and is 40% larger than the Basnett Street store it replaces.

The current John Lewis site will be temporarily taken over by Marks & Spencer while it refurbishes its own Church Street store, before Rapid Hardware moves in permanently in 2011.

alanweston

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by quincyg

as far as I can make out M&S are having the whole building until their current one is refurbished, then Rapid are taking it over in 2011

---

It would be nice if M&S when doing their revamp were to incorporate small shop fronts along the sides of their building in Basnett Street and Tarleton Street.

They could use them as their own outlets, such as a wine shop or flower shop, cooked meats etc, selling the same goods that they currently sell inside.

It would still be their own brands, but wouldn’t it make those two streets more pleasant to shop in, instead of the two blank canyons they resemble at the moment!

Comments anyone?

What a smashing idea Samp. It would, as you say, make those streets more interesting and it would be great to be able to pop into a smaller shop to purchase something like flowers or wine - without having to tackle the queues at the checkouts in the big store.

I loved the old building !, even if I did get lost nearly every time I went in !, I have been in the new store and have to say that it has lost all its character !, it will always be George Henry Lee to me !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by squiggs

I loved the old building !, even if I did get lost nearly every time I went in !, I have been in the new store and have to say that it has lost all its character !, it will always be George Henry Lee to me !

---

same here .. I'll always call it George Henry Lees. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by squiggs

it will always be George Henry Lee to me !

---

And for me! Still, as long as Blood Brothers runs, "George Henry Lee" will be perpetuated worldwide by Willy Russell's fine perception of its unique place in Liverpool history. I've often wondered what audiences beyond this area made of that line.