For those who are not aware of the history of Hull's answer to Selfridges, this was the original Hammonds store... please log in to view this image Inside the Dome ballroom(insert of the shop floor)... please log in to view this image This is how the Luftwaffe left it in 1941... please log in to view this image And does anyone remember when the pavement was at two different levels outside the front... please log in to view this image
I can't remember when - but it was bought by House of Fraser and renamed Binns (after H of F's north-eastern stores - Newcastle/Edinburgh). At a later date, it reverted to Hammond again. Lammy - when was the low-level area filled in (and used as a car-parking area)?
Kind of a shame that it was bombed, it looked nice before and would of made such a nice welcome with the train station across the road, the building that replaced it is awful
The original Hammonds store down Osbourne Street in 1895... please log in to view this image The vacant site after the bombing(this picture also shows the original Cecil Cinema on the corner of Anlaby Road and Ferensway, which was knocked down for the mirrored office building)... please log in to view this image
I've been trying to remember back to how it used to look outside there and I can't remember how it was when I was knocking about in the city centre.
I think this may have been the re-opening, check out the people on the roof... please log in to view this image
My old man used to work at Hammonds, must of been early 70s. I think he left to go to Willis Ludlow's, which I believe later became Alders before Princes Quay.
Interesting pic. I have a sort-of memory that there was a single-storey pre-fab store before the rebuild in the pic. Next-door in Ferensway was Zimmermans, which was deffo a pre-fab store (later replaced by C&A). You can see the bits of the same style further down (at Hiltons Photographic), about opposite the hotel and Hull Truck (?). [Edit - the truck looks like very early 60s]
This sounds about right, I remember it being Hammonds until about 1975ish then changing back mid 90s?
I can just about remember Alders, wasn't it part of Princes Quay? It was where Primark is now wasn't it?
Store was re-opened May 52. Company history H W Hammond founded his drapery business, trading as H W Hammond situated on the old North Bridge in Hull, England, in 1821. The company stayed at its original location for 40 years before moving to larger premises in Osborne Street, Hull. James Powell and his three sons purchased H W Hammond's business in 1889 and the store, trading as H W Hammond & Co in July 1913 and remained a family business until 1972. Owing to a gradual change in the centre of Hull, a new store was opened in May 1916, which contained elevators and a large restaurant. An escalator was added at a later date. An additional storey was added to the building in 1932. In 1941, the main building was destroyed during air raids, however, within a week 47 departments reopened in a temporary location and carried on the business. Despite the difficult times spent in the temporary location, the business continued to flourish and plans for a new store were developed. The new building was opened on 16 May 1952. After the completion of the remaining part of the building the business developed considerably. The 3rd floor was opened partially in 1954 and the remainder, which included a restaurant, was opened in 1957. Two years later a hairdressing salon was opened. In 1960, a new warehouse was opened to house the furniture, carpet and soft furnishing workrooms, the food group office, stock rooms and the packing rooms. It was extended four years later. A fourth floor was added to the main building to create more selling space on the lower floors. In January 1969, Carlton's department store in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England, was acquired and within 14 months the old building had been pulled down and a new 30,000 square-feet building was rebuilt on the site. The services in the new store were very similar to the one in Hull. In May 1972 the store was acquired for GBP8,000,000 by House of Fraser Ltd , department store retailers, Glasgow, Scotland, and the company changed its name from Hammond's Ltd to Army & Navy Stores Ltd on 20 November 1973. The store, Hammond's, situated at 1 Paragon Square, Hull, continued trading as part of House of Fraser plc
Top floor, next to the toy department. Always used to have ice-cream sundae, which was just a lump of ice-cream in a fizzy pop with a straw. The mince was like nothing I've ever tasted before or since. Probably horse. I always remember it as hot, steamy, noisy,echoey and with brightly coloured Formica tables, with everyone smoking.
If I remember wasn't Edwin Davis's was a similar type of shop ... Parents used to spend shopacheck there. http://www.pjshakesby.com/hull_history_viewer/about.html
The only event my husband remembers such a massive crowd as depicted was the visit of the Queen in 1957. She arrived at Paragon Station to start her tour of Hull.
