Looking back at the Littlewoods department store in Carlisle

Littlewoods Pools was founded by John Moores in Liverpool in 1923.

The business adopted the name of one of Moores’ original partners, Colin Henry Littlewood. In 1932, it expanded to include mail-order retailing, organised through local clubs.

The subsidiary Littlewoods Mail Order Stores Ltd was formed in 1937, and the first outlet opened on Waterloo Road in Blackpool.

Littlewoods stores were similar to British Home Stores (BHS), selling a variety of low-cost clothing and household goods.

Blackpool was followed by a number of other prime locations, including Oxford Street in central London, Brixton, Birmingham and Manchester. Littlewoods – like Woolworth – seems to have specifically targeted popular seaside towns, including Morecambe and Ramsgate as well as Blackpool.

By 1939 there were 24 stores. However, Carlisle's store did not open until the 60's.

Carlisle was a busy place for business in the 1960's, with its busy covered market, cattle marts in Earl Street and Botchergate and a variety of building projects in the city centre. In one of the photos of Bank Street in 1963, you can see in background on the left, a new Littlewoods store is being built on the site of the former City Cinema. 

The Carlisle branch was as prominent as any, occupying a prime site next to Marks and Spencer on English Street, and when it closed in January 1998 M&S bought the building to extend its own sales floor.

There is also a photo included on Littlewoods extra from 2004. In 2000, Littlewoods confirmed plans to rebrand its Index Extra catalogue as Littlewoods Extra. High street Littlewoods stores would become Littlewoods Extra, while Index stores would be renamed Littlewoods Index.