Pratts of Streatham

Pratts was a department store located in Streatham High Road, London. Established in the 1850s it became part of the John Lewis chain before its closure in 1990.

George Pratt arrived in Streatham from Silchester at the age of 13 to start an apprenticeship in drapery on the High Road. Within eleven years Pratt had purchased the business and was the sole owner, but Streatham was only a sleepy village with a population of 7000. The Railways arrived in 1856 and within 50 years the population had grown to 71,000.

With the growth of Streatham, George purchased two shops on the opposite side of the High Road which he called Eldon House. This was the start of great expansion with his sons Henry and Charles joining the business and the store expanding into neighbouring shop units.

In 1912 the business was incorporated and the store expanded. Pratts Ltd had expanded to offer a greater range of products which included a funeral service. Pratts was acquired by Brixton department store Bon Marche for £90,000 in 1919.

The Bon Marche group of three department stores, including Pratts, was bought by the Selfridge Provincial Stores group in 1926. Under Selfridge control the store was further extended and advertising and special promotions were carried out on a regular basis. This was a short lived change, however, as the Provincial Stores group collapsed and was purchased by the expanding John Lewis Partnership in 1940.

Although World War II had started and there were difficulties in purchasing the necessary goods for a store to survive, Pratts grew during the war. They closed a staff hostel that had occupied part of the store to increase the selling space available. Pratts was not damaged during The Blitz on London, and put itself at the forefront of community funding initiatives to help the war effort.

After the war the business continued to grow and space for expansion became a recurring problem. The largest part of the building did not extend above the ground floor. Restrictions to development at the original site prompted the move of several departments out of the main store for a number of years.

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