Resource created by M&S Company Archive.
Aim of resource:
This resource is part of 'Heart of the High Street', a series that focuses on selected M&S high street stores across the UK, the aim of which is to provide local history resources in the shape of case study histories.
The images here and in the following pages show the development of the Bromley M&S store through time (you can download all the images in a PDF document to print out - see also Downloads link below). Also included in this resource are highlights of archival evidence from the store’s own records, giving you snapshots of the life of the store (download Store History - see also Downloads below).
Learning Objectives
- Knowledge of the history of a particular high street store
- Understanding of how local M&S stores have changed over time and which characteristics have remained the same
- Skills to use primary sources to gain an understanding of life in the past
Curriculum Links
KS1
History: Changes within living memory and significant historical events, people and places in their own locality
Maths: Addition, subtraction and working with money, sequence events in chronological order
Geography: Studying the geography of their school and its surroundings
KS2
History: A local history study
Maths : Practical application of maths – money, percentages and fractions
Geography: Observe, measure and record human features of landscape in the local area and changes in locations over time
KS3
History: A local history study, challenges for Britain 1901 to present day and social, cultural and technological change in post-war British society
Maths: Interpreting and solving problems, statistics, fractions, percentages
Geography: Analysis and conclusions from geographical data
Discussion Ideas
KS1 – History and Maths
- Take a look at the Bromley store history (see also Downloads link below) . Does it sound like a fun place to work, and why?
- Look at the 1977 photo of the inside of the store, how is it different to shops nowadays?
- How is the store in the photo from 1912 different from the store in the photo from 2005?
- In the 1955 photo of the store, how many bay windows are there upstairs? In the 1960 photo of the store how many bay windows are there upstairs? Why? How many times bigger has it become?
KS2 History, Geography and Maths
- Are there any shops near school? What do they sell?
- Does your family shop at M&S? What do they buy from there
- M&S stores in some places (such as Manchester) moved all over the city to find the right spot, but the Bromley store moved just a few minutes walk away, why do you think that was?
- In the 1977 photo of the store interior, some trousers are priced £5.99. How much change would you get from £10?
- How many years has there been an M&S in Bromley? (1912 – present day)
KS3 History, Geography and Maths
- Does your family shop at M&S? If so, why do you shop there and what do you buy? If you don’t shop there, who do you think does?
- The Bromley High Street store moved once and was extended four times. What does that tell you about how well M&S was doing as a business?
- In the 1977 photo of the store interior, some trousers are priced £5.99. If there was a 50% off sale, how much would they cost you?
- Through fieldwork on Bromley High Street and other research, could you find a business which has been on the High Street longer than M&S, and if not, which is the next oldest?
Why not try the currency convertor on the National Archives website to see how much old M&S prices would be in today’s money? (see Related Links at the bottom of the page).