Landport Drapery Bazaar was a department store located on Commercial Road, Portsmouth.
History
editIn 1870 Robert E Davies, the three time Mayor of Portsmouth opened a department store on what is now called Commercial Road (previously Union Road and Landport Road).[1] He called his new enterprise the Landport Drapery Bazaar after the district that the store was located in.[2] The store was also known to locals as the "LDB".
The original store was destroyed by fire in 1908, and subsequently rebuilt.[3] However, in 1941 the store received a direct hit from a German Bomber which left a giant crater in the middle of the store.
The business however returned as part of the Portsmouth rebuilding programme, with a new store within the re-constructed Town centre during the 1950s. But in 1965 the store was purchased by the United Drapery Stores and subsequently in 1982 the store was converted to an Allders.[4]
The Allders store was sold in 2005 to Debenhams. The Debenhams store was permanantly closed in March 2020 after Debenhams was liquidated.
References
edit- ^ "R. E. Davies Landport Drapery Bazaar". Retrieved 1 December 2014.
- ^ Pubs of Portsmouth from Old Photographs by Ron Brown Section 5
- ^ "The Landport Drapery Bazaar Company". Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
- ^ "R. E. Davies Landport Drapery Bazaar". Retrieved 1 December 2014.