Arding & Hobbs is a former department store and Grade II listed building at the junction of Lavender Hill and St John's Road, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. [1]
Arding & Hobbs was established in 1876. A second store was established on the corner of Falcon Road, Battersea, known as the Falcon Road Drapery Store, but this was sold to former employees Mr. Hunt & Mr. Cole in 1894. [2] The original building was destroyed by a fire on 20 December 1909. [3] The present building was constructed in 1910 in an Edwardian Baroque style, and the architect was James Gibson. [1]
The department store was sold to the John Anstiss Group in 1938, however, John Anstiss was purchased by United Drapery Stores in 1948. [4] The store was added to the Allders group in the 1970s and continued to operate until Allders went into administration in 2005. [5] The building was subsequently broken up and sold, with the building split between a branch of Debenhams department store and TK Maxx retail. As of 9 June 2020, the Debenhams section of the building had been permanently closed.
The store and building are featured in a number of films and television programmes including the 1981 action-thriller Nighthawks, where the shop was bombed, and the 1994 Mr. Bean episode " Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean". [6] It is very prominent in the video " Life On Your Own" by the band The Human League which is set in a future, apocalyptic London where the lead singer is the only person left alive and lives in the building.
Arding & Hobbs is a former department store and Grade II listed building at the junction of Lavender Hill and St John's Road, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. [1]
Arding & Hobbs was established in 1876. A second store was established on the corner of Falcon Road, Battersea, known as the Falcon Road Drapery Store, but this was sold to former employees Mr. Hunt & Mr. Cole in 1894. [2] The original building was destroyed by a fire on 20 December 1909. [3] The present building was constructed in 1910 in an Edwardian Baroque style, and the architect was James Gibson. [1]
The department store was sold to the John Anstiss Group in 1938, however, John Anstiss was purchased by United Drapery Stores in 1948. [4] The store was added to the Allders group in the 1970s and continued to operate until Allders went into administration in 2005. [5] The building was subsequently broken up and sold, with the building split between a branch of Debenhams department store and TK Maxx retail. As of 9 June 2020, the Debenhams section of the building had been permanently closed.
The store and building are featured in a number of films and television programmes including the 1981 action-thriller Nighthawks, where the shop was bombed, and the 1994 Mr. Bean episode " Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean". [6] It is very prominent in the video " Life On Your Own" by the band The Human League which is set in a future, apocalyptic London where the lead singer is the only person left alive and lives in the building.