News / Shop of the Week
Shop of the Week: Lion Stores, Bedminster
Derek Knapman has worked at Lion Stores for half a century and never comes into work without his hat.
“If he didn’t come in with his woolly hat, something would be wrong,” Derek’s colleague Lucy tells Bristol24/7 on a recent afternoon.
Lion Stores has been a fixture on North Street for more than 100 years and is a veritable Aladdin’s cave with its shelves full of screwdrivers, nuts and bolts, cleaning products, kitchen utensils, seeds, padlocks, watches and – of course – woolly hats.
is needed now More than ever
They also cut dozens of keys a day. “You wonder where they all go really,” says Derek.
It cannot be purchased but many people visit Lion for Derek’s advice. “People always come in with a problem and ask for something and if we’ve got it, we’ve got it and I will get it for them,” he explains.
Padlocks are some of Lion Stores’ bestsellers
The shop is reminiscent of the Two Ronnies’ famous ‘four candles’ sketch as pointed out by shop assistant Lucy: “People come in asking for something and they have no idea what they’re actually asking for.”
“We give the service that other shops don’t,” says Derek, who happily gives personal customer service each time, climbing up his ladder to reach whatever is needed.
Derek tells the story of one customer who came into the shop asking for a refund or store credit.
Of course, Derek obliged and asked to see their receipt which was dated February 22 1962 and so it proved difficult to give a refund.
Lion Stores’ first location was on East Street in 1897
Derek’s parents bought the shop in 1972 from Moses and Topsy Reynolds who began the business in 1897 on East Street, moving to Warden Road before becoming established in its current location.
Derek grew up in a farm shop opposite what is now the Tobacco Factory, just a few hundred yards from today’s shop.
Beginning to work at Lion Stores after coming home from school, Derek inherited the shop from his parents and has thought it is “lovely” working here for 50 years now, with no plans to stop any time soon.
The shop stocks everything from seeds to fork handles
All photos: Leah Hoyle
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