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Plummer Roddis

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The Plummer Roddis building in Hastings, 1927

Plummer Roddis was a chain of department stores based in the South of England which was acquired by the Drapery Trust, before being absorbed by its parent company Debenhams.

History

Plummer Roddis started out as separate companies in the 19th Century. William Plummer started out as a draper in Hastings and in 1871 had a store at 3 Robertson Street,[1] before opening another store in Southampton on the corner of Above Bar and Commercial Street.[2] George Roddis in 1870 was listed as a draper in Market Harborough,[3] but by 1881 was a partner in a drapers & milliners called Roddis & Goldsmith at 1-2 Robertson Street, Hastings.[4]

In 1896 William Plummer, George Roddis and Reginald Tyrrell, a Bournemouth draper, joined forces to create Plummer, Roddis & Tyrrell Limited. This new business was set up to purchase the stores in which the various partners already had an interest, Plummer & Lawford of Eastbourne;[5] R. Tyrrell & Sons of Bournemouth and Boscombe[6] and Plummer, Roddis & Beecroft of Hastings and Folkestone.[7][8][9] Two years later, however, Reginald Tyrrell relinquished his interest in the company to concentrate on his other burgeoning business, Tyrrell & Green, in Southampton. At this point the remaining partners changed the name of the company to Plummer Roddis Limited.[10] Plummer Roddis had become a well known name along the south coast of England by the time it secured a mention in 'Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul' by H. G. Wells in 1905.[11]

In 1914, the company reported profits of £19,208. By 1919, however, this figure had almost trebled, to £56,927, paying a dividend of 10%.[12] The business continued to expand with the purchase of Sharmans of Brighton in December 1919.[13][14][15]

In 1927 the flagship Hastings store was rebuilt to a design by architect Henry Ward (he also designed additions to the Brighton store), while the Southampton and Bournemouth branches were extensively rebuilt. The last building work to be completed before World War II was the extension at Bournemouth, to a design by Jonathan Makepeace, in 1938.[16] The head office of the Plummer Roddis group was at Sillwood Road, Brighton.

By 1928, the business had become part of the Drapery Trust, owned by Debenhams.[17][18] The new parent company supported the continuing development of the Plummer Roddis group with the addition of a new branch at Weymouth (formerly Robert R. Talbot) in 1928.[19][20][21]

Advert for Plummers in Hastings

During the Second World War the Southampton store was completely destroyed by German bombing. Trading continued thereafter from a scattering of temporary locations across the city until a new permanent store could eventually be completed.[22] The acquisition of stores in new locations helped supplement trade and counter the wartime damage endured by existing parts of the business. New branches were secured at Bath (formerly F. Ealand, 1941),[23][24] Yeovil (formerly Frederick Taylor, 1941),[25][26][27] Andover (formerly W. Percival Clark, 1942),[28][29] Lewes (formerly C. Morrish & Son, 1943) and Winchester (formerly T. A. Brown & Sons).[30]

Parent company Debenhams extended the group's presence on the south coast after the war, adding a store at Southsea, in 1956.[31][32] A further store was also secured in the Essex seaside town of Southend-on-Sea.[33][34] The completion of the new Southampton store in 1965 was followed by another substantial investment by Debenhams, this time at Guildford, where a large new department store was constructed on an island site alongside the River Wey. The new Plummer Roddis Guildford opened in 1968.[35]

The 1970s were a period of great change for the Debenhams business as rationalisation and plans for a nationally visible brand identity across the group were implemented. The Plummer Roddis Southsea store was closed in 1970 and sold at auction.[36]

In the early 1970s the stores were rebranded as Debenhams, except for the Southampton store. In 1972 the Bournemouth store was re-opened as a Debenhams, by Terry Wogan,[37] only for the store to be closed down a year later when Debenhams decided to rebrand the Bobby & Co. store in the town. The Boscombe branch had been closed the previous year.

The Southampton store continued to operate under the Plummers name after a management buyout,[38] but eventually closed on 14 August 1993.[39] The store is now home to a teaching centre for Southampton Solent University.

By 2000 only Hastings and Guildford, the first and last stores of the Plummer Roddis group to be opened respectively, continued to trade as Debenhams.

References

  1. ^ "The Birth of Robertson Street, Hastings". Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  2. ^ "Plummers Department Store – the pioneer of Southampton shopping". Southern Daily Echo. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Roddis, George Friends of Hastings Cemetery". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  4. ^ "The Birth of Robertson Street, Hastings". Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Golden days of the gas showroom". Eastbourne Herald. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Plummers shuts up shop in 1973". Daily Echo. October 2008. p. 21. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  7. ^ "Plummers Department Store – the pioneers of Southampton shopping". Southern Daily Echo. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  8. ^ "Plummer, Roddis & Tyrrell Ltd". The Statist. 37: 942. 27 June 1896.
  9. ^ "Plummer, Roddis & Tyrrell Ltd". The Saturday Review. 81: 651. 27 June 1896.
  10. ^ "Plummers shuts up shop in 1973". Daily Echo. 21 October 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  11. ^ Wells, H. G. (March 2012). Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul by H G Wells. ISBN 9781775456193. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  12. ^ "Board of Trade Bill". 1919: 539. Parliamentary Debates. House of Representatives. New Zealand Parliament. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ^ "Bexhill on Sea Observer". 6 December 1919: 8. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4884038
  15. ^ http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume19/source/jg_19_013.html
  16. ^ "Royal Institute of British Architects – RIBAPIX.com". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  17. ^ "Debenhams Securities". The Statist. 120: 599–603. 1932.
  18. ^ Labour Year Book 1928 Page 150
  19. ^ "Plummers Department Store – the pioneers of Southampton shopping". Southern Daily Echo. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  20. ^ Labour Year Book 1928 Page 150
  21. ^ https://weymouthhistory.org/2015/12/22/a-happier-christmas-1862/
  22. ^ "Plummers Department Store – the pioneer of Southampton shopping". Southern Daily Echo. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  23. ^ "Plummers opens at Ealands Corner". Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette. 1 March 1941. p. 8. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  24. ^ "Bath in Time". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  25. ^ https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/yeovil-used-debenhamssort-3407506.amp
  26. ^ "An A to Z of Yeovil's History". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  27. ^ "FRED. TAYLOR'S / PLUMMER'S BUILDING". Yeovil History. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  28. ^ "Tidmouth Mail Van Robbed". Andover Advertiser. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  29. ^ https://www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/news/18989989.andover-history-coronation-celebrations-1902/
  30. ^ "The Stock Exchange Official Year-book". 1944. p. 1548. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  31. ^ "Debenhams". New Dawn. 1963. p. 203.
  32. ^ "Appointments". Leathergoods. Vol. 80. 1956.
  33. ^ "Provinces". Leathergoods. Vol. 102. 1967. p. 53.
  34. ^ "Southend-on-Sea, 70 High Street". The Estates Gazette. Vol. 219. 1971. p. 756.
  35. ^ "Plummer Roddis Department Store Circa 1973". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  36. ^ "Debenhams Department Stores for Auction". The Estates Gazette. Vol. 214. 1970. p. 84.
  37. ^ "Plummers shuts up shop in 1973". Daily Echo. 21 October 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  38. ^ "Bombed then rebuilt - Plummers was something of an institution in Southampton". The Daily Echo. 15 April 2015.
  39. ^ "Plummers Department Store – the pioneer of Southampton shopping". Southern Daily Echo. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
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