After 164 years as one of Newcastle's most familiar shops, Bainbridge is set to change its name to John Lewis at the end of the month. Elaine Galloway looks back at the history of the world's first department store and delves into the memories of staff members. IT is as much of a Newcastle landmark as the Tyne Bridge, Grey's Monument or St James's Park. But Bainbridge, thought to be oldest department store in the world, is soon to be little more than a memory. For 164 years, the store has served generations of Tyneside shoppers under the name of its founder, Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge. Now staff have decided the time has come to relegate the name to the history books and instead look to the future. The store, famous for its "Never knowingly undersold" price promise, will become John Lewis on September 30. And when the familiar sign is removed from the Prudhoe Chare exterior on Monday, scores of staff and customers alike will mourn the end of an era. The name change was suggested by Anne Lake, a section manager at the store. She says: "It will be sad to see the name go, but I felt it was good for the business. Customers have said it will be a shame, but we have been John Lewis for 50 years and they know they will continue to get the same service." Emerson Bainbridge, the store's founder, was born into a Weardale Methodist family in 1817. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed to a Newcastle draper and just eight years later, in 1838, the Bainbridge store was born. The original shop, a woollen, linen and drapery stall at Nos. 12 and 14 Market Street, had just 200 square yards of floor space. But from its humble beginnings, the shop quickly expanded and by 1850 had 23 departments under one roof - the world's first department store. Over the years, the store grew further, taking up more and more of Market Street and by 1899, the showroom space totalled a mile-and-a-half of aisles. Emerson Bainbridge saw that, despite the changes being heralded by the Industrial Revolution, the way people bought their necessities and luxuries had changed little since medieval times. Bainbridge was responsible for introducing shopping as we know it today by abolishing the age-old custom of haggling over the cost of goods and bringing in fixed pricing. Nineteenth century Newcastle was one of the world's fastest growing cities, with a young population and an increasingly affluent middle class. They wanted a new, and stylish, way of shopping, and Bainbridge delivered. Even during the war years, when women drew lines on their legs to give the illusion of stockings, female staff at Bainbridge continued to wear nylons to keep up the smart image. In 1952, the store was sold to the John Lewis Partnership, but the new owners decided to retain its name, which had become instantly recognisable to shoppers across the region. Staff at the store became "partners", with a say in decision making and a share in the company's annual profits. Some of the partners currently working in the Eldon Square store have been with the company for decades and remember the Market Street days with fondness. Project manager Caroline Talbot said: "Some people are going to feel sad that the Bainbridge name is no longer going to be there, but we have been part of John Lewis for 50 years. "People from outside the area don't realise this, so changing the name will increase business." Gavin Bayne joined the store's kitchenware department, then called hardware, as a 16-year-old. Thirty years on, he is the department manager. He said: "It was like a completely different shop. "It was so far removed from the slick business of today. "We didn't have computerised tills like we have now. We used to put the money into tubes and they would be pulled along to the cash office." When Eldon Square opened in 1976, Bainbridge moved to its current location in the complex. Gavin, 47, said: "I can remember when we moved to the new location. I was paid £25 and my lunch to carry a roll of lino from Market Street to Eldon Square." Despite his nostalgic memories of a long career at Bainbridge, Gavin thinks the store is making the right move by changing its name. He said: "It is what we want. Newcastle is a cosmopolitan city and we get people from all around the country in the store. "If they see the John Lewis sign, they know they will get good customer service, so it will be good for business." Shop warehouse manager Mick Wood also joined Bainbridge as a school leaver 28 years ago. Mick, 44, said: "There have been some big changes over the years. When I started, we had a grocery department and we would get deliveries in a barrow covered with straw. I can really remember the smell. "Market Street was an old building even then and in the winter we used to keep our coats on behind the scenes because it was so cold. The temperature wasn't controlled to 75F like it is today. "They were hard times, but they were good times." Fashion department systems clerk Doreen Cole, 55, will celebrate 40 years with the company next year. Doreen first worked at the Corporation Street depot before starting work in the new Eldon Square store in 1976. She said: "Everything has changed. The main thing has been the introduction of computers. Back then, we had to write everything by hand. "We used to write our orders on cards and mark off how many of each item we needed. "I remember getting 200 kettles instead of 20 one day because someone made a mistake." Elsa Usher, who has worked as a sales assistant in the fashion department since joining Bainbridge 27 years ago, remembers the days before computerised tills. She said: "We used to use the old Lamson tills and everything was manual. "You had to wind the handle on the till then write the receipts out by hand. "Another sales assistant wrapped the goods up with paper and string" Despite the name change, management are keen to preserve the memories of the past. General manager Kevin Rogers said: "The history is important to us and we are not going to lose our traditional roots, but we are looking at becoming the North-East's leading contemporary department store. "We are looking forward but we are not going to lose sight of where it began." | 
