| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | Department Store |
| Founded | 1867 |
| Founder(s) | Frank Bentall |
| Headquarters | Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom |
| Number of locations | 2 |
| Key people | Leonard Edward Rowan Bentall (Chairman 1968-78, President 1978-93) |
| Parent | Fenwick |
| Website | www.bentalls.co.uk |
Bentalls is an English department store chain with branches in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, and Bracknell, Berkshire. The well regarded 'county' department store began as a drapery shop, founded by Frank Bentall in 1867. Since 2001 it has been owned by the private Fenwick group.
The principal buildings of the Kingston store were completed in 1935 to a design by architect Maurice Webb (son of Sir Aston Webb) and inspired by Wren's design for Hampton Court. The fine stonework on the facade was the work of Eric Gill. This original facade has been retained as part of the Bentall Centre shopping development, in which the principal Bentalls store is now located. The store previously occupied buildings covering the entire site of the development and between 1935 and 1976 was the UK's largest department store outside central London.
In addition to the Kingston and Bracknell stores, Bentalls once operated stores in Worthing, Ealing, Tunbridge Wells, Chatham, Tonbridge, Lakeside and Bristol. The Bournemouth based Beales group acquired the lease to three of these sites and the Worthing and Tonbridge stores continue to trade under the Beales name.
As Kingston is one of the largest shopping areas in London (bar Central London itself), it is very well attended, and Bentalls itself is popular among many shoppers. In the days approacing Christmas, some stores in Bentalls are said to take over £1 million per day.
Singer Dusty Springfield once worked at Bentalls in Ealing and singer Petula Clark gave her first public performance as a child at Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames.
Contents |
In 1987, construction began on creating a new Bentalls department store and shopping centre. This new development was to include a five level department store and a four level adjoining shopping centre including over 100 retail units.
The development took five years to complete and was built in two phases, allowing the existing department store to trade throughout the development period. The first phase, the 'new' department store opened in July 1990. The completed shopping centre was opened in November 1992 by Edward Bentall (descendant of Frank Bentall) and Nick Price from Norwich Union with a floor area of 600,000 sq ft.[1]
The shopping centre's atrium ceiling is higher than the nave of Westminster Abbey or the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. The original department store's façade was retained.
Another significant feature of the centre is an escalator which travels from the ground to the second floor. It is the largest single truss escalator in the world with only a top and bottom support.
When opened, a statue of Leonard Bentall by William Reid Dick was placed on the top floor looking down across the whole centre. However when Fenwick bought the department store, they moved it to a secondary location as they believed it affected the sight lines into the store.
On opening, the Bentall Centre was the first shopping centre in the UK to adopt a "no smoking" policy throughout.
In July 2007, the shops and restaurants occupying The Bentall Centre included:
|
|
|
As of October 2011, the shops and restaurants occupying The Bentall Centre are: