How Knight and Lee in Southsea went from a lace business to a thriving John Lewis department store, and its eventual heartbreaking closure

THE journey from humble beginnings to a thriving department store and tragic closure dates back further than some might realise.
The Knight and Lee Building in Palmerston Road, Southsea.

Picture: Habibur RahmanThe Knight and Lee Building in Palmerston Road, Southsea.

Picture: Habibur Rahman
The Knight and Lee Building in Palmerston Road, Southsea. Picture: Habibur Rahman

It started as a lace business, which operated in Queen Street, run by William Winks but by 1865 Frederick Winks had taken over the business and he moved it to Palmerston Road in 1874.

He expanded the business and increased it's offering to become a department store.

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The company was then bought by brothers-in-law Jesse Knight and Edward Herbert Soden Lee in 1887.

They greatly expanded the business to include a novel boyswear department which was followed by a menswear department.

Knight and Lee was a popular place to work at the start of the 20th century and there was a waiting list of people hoping to get a job with the company.

In the years following they expanded shop by shop until eventually a considerable distance of Palmerston Road fell under the Knight and Lee umbrella.

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Mr Knight died in 1922 and Mr Lee passed away two years later in 1924.

John Lewis Partnership purchased the store in the 1930s as part of its provincial expansion plan and it is one of only two stores to retain its original name.

In 1941, the building on the street corner of Stanley Street, Clarendon Road and Palmerston Road was damaged by bombs that fell during the German blitz.

As the country recovered, in the mid-1950s an impressive three storey building was constructed – which became the new home for John Lewis.

Business thrived until 2019, when John Lewis announced the building would be closing for good, to the tune of 127 jobs being lost.