The grand opening of John Lewis Bristol

Opened in record time!

On Tuesday 7th April 1981 at precisely 9am, John Lewis Bristol opened its doors to customers for the very first time. The strict deadline had been met, and surely somewhere a record had been smashed. The achievements of just six weeks of work could now be enjoyed by everyone.

Some of the statistics obtained by the Bovis, the Project Management company in charge, are just astounding:

• Their 13 man management team supervised at peak times up to 200 staff.
• Fifty painters applied 6000 litres of paint.
• Thirty five electricians installed 30,000 metres of cable.
• Thirty-two carpet layers put down 2 miles of broadloom in 3 days.
• One hundred shop fitters from 30 different companies worked on the installation of shelving, display units and racking.