IanVisits, the perennially popular website on London life, has given London’s Lost Department Stores a long and enthusiastic review. ‘It’s a gloriously nostalgic look at the grand old days of the grand department stores,’ writes Ian, ‘but is in no way a hagiography of them, being very clear about the darker side of working in the department stores.
‘For anyone interested in history’, he goes on, ‘it’s a good mix of the social and architectural history of a lost part of London. However, I suspect that if given as a Christmas present to your parents and grandparents, they will quickly look up a familiar name and sigh in delight at childhood memories of the glamour of their local department store. And spend the entire Christmas lunch talking about it.’