Knight & Lee

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Knight & Lee is a department store in Southsea, Hampshire, England. The store was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership in 1934. The store's origins can be traced back to 1831 with the lace business conducted by Mr William Wink near Portsea Docks. The shop was taken over by Frederick Wink in 1865 to trade as 'Wink & Co.'. The business moved to its present Palmerston Road site in 1874 and was bought by Jesse Knight and Herbert Soden Lee, two experienced drapers from London, in 1887. 'Knight & Lee' was made a private company two years later. In 1910 the varied premises of the store were completely rebuilt to create one unified department store in typical Edwardian style. This building was completely destroyed by incendiary bombing on 10th January 1941. Business continued thereafter from ten small shops in the Southsea area until the present building was completed in 1956. The Menswear and Sports departments continued to be housed in separate premises until 2001. The current department store trades on three floors and offers a wide range of goods and services across many departments. Since the closure of Caleys, in 2006, Knight & Lee has become the smallest of the John Lewis department stores. A new John Lewis Partnership department store, 'John Lewis Portsmouth', is currently planned on the site of the former Tricorn Centre in the commercial heart of Portsmouth, although construction has yet to commence. This new shop is expected to open in 2011 and will mark the closure of Knight & Lee.

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