Archive Material
Until
the late 1950s the trading and service
departments of J. Lyons were pretty much
centralised with one or two notable
exceptions, hotels and Henry Telfer for
example. Between the 1950s-1980s the main
trading departments (tea, bakery, ice
cream, coffee), and most of the service
departments (building, motor cars, outdoor
catering), converted to a 'Ltd' status.
During this change much of their histories
were dispersed under the control of the
new management. Some was destroyed as the
new regimes focussed on the day to day
tasks. In some cases space was a problem,
in others history did not seem important.
That material consisted mainly of paper
records which in any case is always
difficult to file especially when space is
at a premium.
By
the 1980s J. Lyons & Co Ltd came under
new management and many of their
subsidiary businesses were sold. This
resulted in further dispersion/erosion of
company records with the result that after
100 years trading little remains for
historians and researchers. Some records,
mainly of a ephemeral nature, were
preserved and are deposited with the
London Metropolitan Archives, 40
Northampton Road, London. EC1R 0HB.
Other
material is kept by Peter Bird, an ex
employee of 25 years. His complimentary
collection of archival material consists
of a complete collection of trading
accounts for J. Lyons & Co. from
1894-1978, a large collection of the house
magazine Lyons Mail (which includes the
wartime issues) and a number of
photographs and other paper records. He
has also researched the names of the Lyons
war dead and would be grateful for any
information in this respect as much still
needs to be done. He has accepted a range
of historical documents and other
important artefacts into his collection
and would be happy to accept any other
historical document(s) which will help to
tell, and preserve, the story of J. Lyons
& Co.
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